In our house, so that we get what we’d really like, we tend to make use of ‘Christmas elves’, who get a note in November with a nice list of ‘possibles’ – sometimes with details of exactly where to get the actual product from, in case the elf isn’t exactly sure!
So, this year, I was delighted, but not altogether surprised, to get some really lovely things for Christmas…
This is a book that I’ve been wanting to own since it came out in the autumn – it’s ‘Willing Hands’, by Betsy Morgan. Betsy’s book has 8 projects in, all created in her really artistic style, using cross stitch and other stitches to make lovely etuis. I’ll be doing a proper book review of this one soon.
This is another book that I’ve had my eye on for a few months – this pretty ‘Embroidered Country Gardens’ book by Lorna Bateman has lots of projects in her delicate surface embroidery style, to make sewing accessories. I can never have too many sewing accessories!! I’ve got the scissor case ready to make up in my stash, but these all co-ordinate with it, so it’s really tempting to get on with it and make them all. It’s obviously a very different embroidery style from Betsy Morgan’s book, but I love the differences between the styles. I’ll be doing a review of this book soon, too.
This is something new for me – watercolour paints!! I’ve been using coloured pencils ever since Johanna Basford’s colouring books became popular a few years ago, but watercolours always seemed a bit scary. But I’ve decided that I’ll have a go, as these two brands seem really good, and the colours are just gorgeous – very tempting to try. The large palette is by a Russian company called St Petersburg. The brand is White Nights, and this set is their Fantasy Set, as it has lots of bright shades, and very few browns (I don’t like brown!). I’ve also got 12 extra colours added to the spaces that are usually left in the centre of the box, so that I can have more purples than are usually included (you can never have too many purples!).
This small tin is very special. These are 12 metallic mica paints from KJDesignByKaren on Etsy- these are really lovely colours, and I can’t wait to try them out. Many people use these for calligraphy, but I’m going to use them for details in my Johanna Basford colouring books.
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Janet Granger's Blog 
Lucky you Janet sounds like you got what you wanted for Christmas 😀👏🏻! I applaud you for taking on painting in watercolors can be very challenging – but I guess that has never stopped someone as talented as you before- happy painting!33
Rosemary Halter
Well, I’m glad you’ve got confidence in me! At the moment, my painting looks like a five year old has done it 🙂 But I like doing it, so that’s the main thing.
I always buy my own presents because the husband just doesn’t do Christmas. So this year I got a whole collection of Sullivan’s floss. It was an amazing deal. I will mostly use them for surface embroidery.
Since I also paint I finally got an airbrush and compressor. I am learning how to use that and because acrylic paints are used in the airbrush I bought a whole set of 60 colors.
Your custom paints sound lovely. I bought my own set of mica colors which I am using for calligraphy, making my own ink and they work great.
You got some nice books and I can wait to see how you use them. I don’t have any new embroidery projects lined up for this year yet. Still taking down the Christmas decorations. Happy New Year to you.
Your Christmas present sounds great! At least it’s a consolation when a partner doesn’t ‘do’ Christmas – you always get things that you like if you choose them yourself!
Janet, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, looking forward to your reviews of the books. Glad you are getting into watercolours, I like to do miniatures and I think you might find the small size (as that’s what you are used to!) interesting. Don’t think of watercolours as “hard”, think of them as personal, relaxing and enjoyable. Happy New Year
Thanks – I’m hoping to just ‘play’ with the watercolours, and not get freaked out by how ‘hard’ they are to use 🙂
The paints look amazing. I love Betsy’s new book. Do you plan on stitching a particular design?
I’ve got my eye on several designs in the Willing Hands book. There’s one that looks like a prairie school sampler book, and another that is a kind of book shape, with a band around it with a drawstring closure. But eventually I’d love to do all of them (except the Pennsylvania Dutch toy chest etui, which I’ve already made!).
A friend and I might be doing a stitch a long together. I like the stitching wallet 🙂
That’d be nice, to be stitching with someone else on the same project 🙂