Just a quickie to let you know that the Christmas girls and cakes are finished and will be in the shop sometime later this afternoon. Thanks for all the inquiries. UPDATE: They are now in the shop. SECOND UPDATE: Sorry, Holly and Noelle have both been sold.

The one in the green dress (Holly) has two tiny holly leaves and 3 french knot holly berries on her dress. Noelle (in the red dress) has 4 snow-covered trees with silver seed bead decorations – because of the beads she may not be suitable for small children.

Yesterday a package arrived for me and was eagerly torn open – to reveal…this lovely needlecase and great vintage buttons – the goodies from my very first swap with the charming Jackie of Wren’s Nest. I love the idea of swapping with a fellow crafter and am very lucky to score such beautiful things on my first swap. I’ve been gathering all my various boxes and tins of sewing stuff together and have started to put together a proper work box. I was lucky to inherit this wonderful wooden sewing box from my Great Granny but I don’t know how long she had it. As a student I used it as an art box and stored all my gouache paints and brushes in it but I’ve not painted for years and it’s been stuck in a forgotten corner of our attic. Now I have my needle-case and pincushion (from Raspberry) it seems appropriate to return the box to it’s original function. It makes me feel like a proper crafter – I just need a work room now!!