CHRISTMAS GIVING

During the year, I often amuse mself by producing little handmade gifts and trinkets which will come in handy for a "gift from the heart and hands", especially at Christmas.

Most years, I make a batch (should that be "choir"?) of little angels, usually slightly different each year. Some of these are given away at our Thanksgiving get-together, especially to the little girls, but the bigger girls, and even the boys, sometimes like to get them too. One year, a little 6 year old boy specially requested one 'for his bike!'The angels are usually button dolls, but this year I decided to use some of the beads from my large jar of Indian glass beads.

For this year's angels, I used a few bits of hand-dyed fabric from an earlier experiment, and some wild assorted yarns for the hair.

Little Christmas stockings are also quick and easy to make and can be decorated in a variety of ways. They can also hold a small gift, and are small enough to use as a tree decoration.This 'batch' shown below uses the layered technique of trapping snippets of fabric and fibre and sequins under tulle. When it came to making the hanging loops, I used red beads and green leaf beads to hold the cords down. But when I looked for beads with large enough holes to attach to the ends of the dangling cords, I was somewhat stumped .....until I remembered the jar of fabric beads I had made earlier in the year. These were great fun to make, although at the time I was not sure what I would use them for. Now I will need to make a whole new batch...watch this space!!!

Then last week at the Op Shop, there was a black velvet skirt with just a hint of 'sparkle" - perfect for a little batch of stockings in a more romantic style when combined with lace, which mostly comes from old doileys. For these, I raided my stash of ribbon roses...now I will have to get some more (just in case!)

Now, this batch of stockings were lined with a colourful stripey taffeta that I bought for 50 cents a metre well over 20 years ago. If you hang on to anything long enough. you will always find the perfect place to use it, as long as you can still find it!

Here are some of the angels I have made in previous years, in the "Button Doll" style. Each one uses about 64 small shirt-type buttons. I think have enough buttons left still for a whole heavenly host of angel dolls. The picture does not include the ones that ended up looking like little old ladies, and which my sarcastic sons labelled "Nana Angels."

In fact, a few of my earlier efforts have been assigned to the deepest recesses of the cupboard where we keep our Christmas decorationsI