Hi everyone,

Yes, Christmas has started early this year Beside the Sea. In the past, I have been known to be still knee deep in preparations on Christmas Eve. In fact, one year I had to rush to get the tree up before midnight! I got it all decorated rather tastefully, in my opinion, then I stood back to admire….and the whole thing, lights and all, came crashing at my feet and some of the baubles bounced off my my forehead. Everyone else thought it was hilaaaaarious 😆 I was not amused at the time.

However this year, something (or someone) has given me a gentle push in the right direction. If I want handmade goodies for the tree, I need to get started now.

There are lots of FREE charts available for these little lovelies over at Claire’s blog. She has being working away like one of Santa’s Elves to share her lovely designs in English and French. You can choose from “silent night”, “jingle bells” and soooo many more. Why not make a full set? If you do decide to download a chart, please make sure you leave a comment to say a quick “Thank you”. I’m sure she would appreciate that.

All of the materials for the one above came from scraps left over from other projects. I even put a little padding behind the stitching to give it a bit of body. I’ll definitely be making more of these.

If you haven’t already popped in to my other blog Oh Sew Tempting, you might wish to take a look at some Christmas star decorations I made earlier this week. Here is a little taster.

Have fun!

Avis x