Embroidered Pillow Cover for Megan

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours was great. We went to church on Christmas eve and it was a lovely service done by our youth group that really reminded us of the real reason for celebrating Christmas.

I focused on taking it very easy with Christmas buying this year. I tried to make some handmade gifts and I actually only went into the mall once to buy some chocolate for the kids stockings; 20 minutes in and out! The kids actually really enjoyed a more low key Christmas which was really nice to see and it was great to come in well under budget too. It just reminded me that it really isn't necessary for the kids to get hoards of stuff they just forget about in a few weeks!

When my daughter asked for a handmade pillow cover with an embroidery on it on her Christmas list I was surprised as I had already started an embroidery to make exactly that!

In early December I received my stamp of the month kit from Unity Stamps and as a free gift there was a small set of  Love Bug stamps included. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to use the VW bug image designed by Lisa Hetrick as an embroidery pattern and make something for my daughter with it; she absolutely loves VW bugs! I promptly emailed Lisa and Angela from Unity and they were both gracious enough to allow me to enlarge the image and use it for embroidery.

When my daughter opened it she loved it. She thought it was so pretty and she was hugging the cushion quite a bit all evening. I know she will treasure it for years to come. I wish I had gotten a picture of her opening the gift.

Above is a back view of the pillow. I used every scrap I had cut. I cut 1 2.25 inch strip of WOF for each fabric I used on the front and the top panel and the back is what was leftover after completing the front of the cushion. I love it when I can use up everything I initially cut (Even the excess around the image was used up)!

Christmas Gift for Piano Teacher

I've been trying to hand make as many Christmas presents as possible this year. My daughter asked it we could make a Christmas card and cushion for her piano teacher. Last Friday I drew this larger image inspired by Musicabella (Stamping Bella) and hand embroidered it. Today I made a cushion using the embroidery.

We also made her a card using the Musicabella stamp. I hope she likes them!

Our Christmas Stockings

Thirteen years ago, my oldest child was 6 and my youngest of 4 was a couple of weeks from being born, I decided we needed stockings. I was pretty much housebound as it was snowing outside so I got creative with supplies I already had on hand.

St. Nick Close up (I made 2 using this design, it's my favorite)

Little did I know that I was creating precious family heirlooms. My kids love these stockings, and my husband and I love knowing that we made these, I made him help cut out shapes, I was in a hurry (I guess the nesting instincts were taking over)! These still thrill our kids when we pull them out of the decorations box. I always wrap these in tissue and place them carefully in a separate box within the large box so they don't get damaged.

They are designed by me. I used wool felt, drew the designs, cut out all the shapes, hand stitched them all on with blanket stitch and then took them to the sewing machine to sew the stocking. I feel delighted when I pull them out and see my kids are just as excited to see them as the boys were that first year when I made them and they remind me of such a precious time when I was expecting our daughter.

 
They just remind me to be thankful for the many blessings God has given us!

I Heart Pillows - Friday Flckr Finds

1. Patchwork quilted pillow, 2. Hexagon pillow, 3. Zig zag pillow 1, 4. Contest Winner, 5. Contest Winner, 6. birdie's wee friend, 7. toadstool quilted pillow cover, 8. Pillow Talk Swap *Sent*, 9. string block quilted pillows, 10. Hexillow, 11. green log cabin pillow, 12. Tuesday blog pillow, 13. colorful bits pillow 002, 14. linen and green pillow with embroidered dahlia, 15. Windmill pillow , 16. wood & wool pillow

I have been stalking the Pillow Talk Flckr Pool for a while now and there are just some amazing pillow sleeves showing up on  there. Above are some of my favorites; these are all pillows I would love to make one day.

Enjoy!

Ripple Blanket Finish

A few weeks ago I signed up for Jacquie's Joy in the New Year Challenge. We had to send in the amount of UFO's we wanted to finish before the new year; she is offering a prize and we get an entry for each finished object we finish before New Years.

I went into the studio and looked at my projects and came up with the following list:

1) Pink Ripple Blanket - finish last 12 colorbands

I  finished this yesterday (2009-12-06). I was so excited to have this done. I crocheted 142 rows of stash yarns of my daughters choice as it will be hers. I love the finished project. Here is a reveal photo.

Now I better get to work on the rest of the list.

2) Christmas Table Topper (Disappearing 9 Patch)- Quilt and bind

3) Brea Bag - Line and attach handles and button

4) Navy Ripple Blanket - finish last 15 colorbands

5) Brown Woodpile Quilt - quilt and bind  posted about here

6) Octagon Quilt - quilt and bind
(Photo is of a magazine pic of pattern I used from American Patchwork and Quilting-details on reveal)

7) Mambo Mod Sampler - Quilt and bind

Winner - SewMamaSew Giveaway

Wow 323 entries to the giveaway!

I just want to thank everyone for visiting my blog and especially welcome to those who decided to be followers of my blog. It is great to know that when I put the work into creating a post that there are people out there reading it and it is great to share things I create and get some feedback from others who share similar interests.

Now, I'm sure you are all waiting for the winner. The random generator picked number 283 which is Naptime Quilter. Please send me your address and I'll have the bag and 4 beautiful fabrics in the mail to you right away.

Sewmamasew Giveaway Day

This contest is now closed. I will be announcing a winner in the next post either later tonight or early tomorrow morning.  (Edited 9:00 pm 2009-12-06.)

It's time for the annual Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day and I am so excited to be giving away 4 half yard cuts of coordinating designer fabrics (3 by Dena Designs and 1 by Heather Bailey) & a fantastic coordinating felted bag knit and felted by me with a removable flower.

For 1 entry just leave a comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway between now and December 6 at 9 p.m. PST.

For a second chance to win become a follower of my blog or let me know you are already a follower in a separate comment.

On December 6th I will use the random generator to choose a winner. If your comment doesn't link up to a blog than please ensure you leave an email address where I can contact you to let you know you won or bookmark and check back on the 7th. International entries welcome. The giveaway prize will be shipped by December 12, 2009.

Close up of fabric set

Good luck and thanks for visiting!

Please stop by again.