Here's one I made earlier...

Well, I may have been away from blogging, but that's not to say that I have been away from my other  pursuits.  My weeks have been filled with a fair few bits of craftiness, some of which were possibly partly to blame for my silence, because when you make these sorts of things in September, you can't really blog about them!  

I was thrilled when an already shrunken jumper, in a lovely festive hue,  came into the charity shop.  It wasn't an especially large one, but I was determined to squeeze as much as possible out of it.

First a bit of deconstruction took place...

After much consideration, I decided to make a snuggly cushion from the largest part of the front.  

I used a pre-cut reindeer I had purchased from Panduro last year (it was made from such thick felt that I peeled it into two!)  blanket stitched it on, and combined the red with some cream jumper scraps and some Nordic-looking ribbon over the seams.

The cushion was quickly snapped up, making £15 for the hospice!

Needless to say, there were plenty more scraps waiting to be given a new lease of life.

Some of last year's makes came to mind.   

The baby boot pattern came out, the red felt embellished with embroidered snowflakes.

I LOVE embroidering snowflakes!

I simply start with a six-pointed cross and then extend each arm, using a combination of simple stitches - straight stitches, lazy-daisies, feather stitches and French knots.  Each one is unique, as it should be!

Then the elf boots...

More snowflake embroidery...

More items flew out of my workroom and as they did so, my collecting tin filled with other people's pennies.

Needlecases...

Mug wraps and coasters...

Brooches and hair clips - loads of these...

I haven't sold everything yet, but when my collecting tin was emptied at the shop a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised and delighted to find it contained £80!  

Not bad for a shrunken jumper, eh?