Mud, Pies and Pins

July is in full swing, and for many that means Christmas in July and the start of their seasonal sewing. However for myself and Fiona over at Celtic Thistles Stitches it means that it is month seven of our Ho, Ho, Ho and On We Sew link party. We have been busy working away on our Christmas projects since the start of the year, with the aim of being extra organised this year, and each month we, and a series of guest hosts, have been hosting the Ho, Ho, Ho and On We Sew link party, sharing tutorials for handmade gifts and working on making sure that, unlike last year, we are very organised for Christmas this year.

Now I must admit that I very nearly didn’t make it to the party this month. It’s been a bit of a crazy time for me and the 18th literally snuck up on me without a single piece of Christmas sewing having been completed this month. Thankfully though my boys decided that this morning was a good day to wake up extra early, and the earlier than normal start allowed me to sneak in a couple of hours sewing. For a super quick make I decided on a pouch design I have been using a lot lately.

The design, which I am working on a tutorial for, is very simple and quick to make. The pouch has a boxed base and the covered button is purely decorative, hiding a sew-on magentic clasp underneath. My original plan for this month had been to make lots more of my Christmas ornaments because, although I have enough for myself, I do not yet have enough to gift. I may not have gotten around to making the ornaments yet, but now I do have the perfect package to gift them in.

As I plan on gifting ornaments to more than one person I reckoned it was just as easy to make a few pouches as it was to make one, and so I completed three. Each has a slightly different flap shape but all were made to the same simple design.

Now of course you can’t have a link party without somewhere to link-up all of your makes. This month’s link party is being hosted by the very talented Nicole over at Modern Handcraft. If you haven’t visited Modern Handcraft before then I urge you to do so as Nicole has no end of wonderful ideas and tutorials that will inspire you. In addition to hosting the link party this month Nicole is also sharing her tutorial for a really fun countdown to Christmas advent chain.

As with every link party there will be a random giveaway for all of those who link up. This month’s prize is a lovely fabric scrap bundle from Backstitch and you can see the bundle in question over on Fiona’s post. The link party remains open till the end of the month, so even if you haven’t started your sewing yet you still have plenty of time to do so and link up a finished project. I look forward to seeing all your makes.