Monday Finishes and Winner Announced!

First I want to send my prayers and blessings to all those who were in the storm's path.

I finished my pillows today, I was running around all weekend, shopping for fun things to keep the baby entertained. Tonight my son called me on face time and Nicholas was laughing and trying to grab the pad, warms my heart that he is finally seeing me as someone who makes him happy:)

I am better, not great, but not any worse. I did go for xrays, nothing broken, he said it was tendonitis but had no idea what to do. I go to my doc this week, so he can help me out, I hope. I was able to do a lot more today, house is all clean so I can spend the day playing with Nicholas. He comes later, so that will be easier on me.

These pillows were waiting to be sewed and stuffed. I used batting since they are gifts for friends that they can use anytime, so I didn't want to scent them. Sometimes I dab a pillow with cinnamon so the packaged items smell good when they open it.

The angels are designs by Primitive Blessings. The nativity is an old design and I modified it a bit, meant to put a star on it, guess I will do that tomorrow. The two little pillows in front are stuffed with balsam. I wanted to have something that I could make up quick to hand out or add to packages, and I finally found a nice pine design to use. This way they can add it a bowl, place it in a tree, or wherever they want a scent. I made them 4", so small in size, but more in scent.

Mary is on the left, I messed up and cut out the wrong colors for the outfits, she should be in blue, lol.

These ornies are a design by Whimsicals. I have had the book for years and I finally got around to making some. I used marvy markers on two and pitt artist ink markers on the others, but I forgot what, was what, duh. They both worked, they did not run after heat setting, but you do have to be careful when you color in the letters and start away from the line so it doesn't soak out too far. I did the outline stitching after I colored and dried them. The ink doesn't need to be set, but I do it as an added precaution. Of course I soaked them in walnut to grunge them up. The jute is something new at Jo anns, Martha Stewart colored jute, it is a nice dark olive.

And now for the winner. Thank you all for playing along with me, I truly enjoy everyones company since I am stuck home most of the time, I feel blessed to have friends around the world. The winner of a free Epattern or booklet, is Annie of Scrappalachia. Annie, pick any pattern you would like and email me with your choice. Don't forget, Friday is Giveaway day, I will be showing the goodies I will be sending and more about the giveaway.

Speaking of giveaways, the generous folks at Sauder's Fabrics, are giving away a beautiful Featherweight, be sure to visit their Blog.

The last of the Christmas Creations!

I made up a couple of small things this week to have in case I have unexpected company.
I always like a little something that I can give, just in case. If not, they will be for someone next year;)

The appliques I used for the pillows are from Cheri Saffiote Payne in her older book, 301 Christmas quilt blocks. You can still get copies of her two older books on ebay for good prices, and they are great for making gifts as well as some beautiful projects, that I will make someday.

These ornies I made up from a pattern on Create and Decorate. I found the pattern in their section for pattern corrections. It was for additional snowflake patterns in the December 2011 link. I used the snowflakes and made up some more penny ornies. I liked the patterns on these, nice designs to do up and a nice idea for next year, to add one inside a card or to a package.

Christmas sewing marathon!

Today I was busy sewing up pillows, antiquing and stuffing. I wanted to make some pillows stuffed with crushed balsam to put into packages, so that is what I did. I had the tree applique made first and today I finished those and made some quickie pillows. The tree appliques are fun to make, quick and easy, just cut up scraps of triangles and whip stitch them onto a backing. I used wool for the stem. I got some buttons to add to the trees. The other pillows are some old and some new christmas fabrics and I stained them to age them.

 These pillows I made with fabric I  found at Jo anns. I thought it would be fun and faster to use pre printed fabric, but I didn't realize that the designs are a bit skewed, but I tried to sew them straight, so they didn't come out too bad. I aged these, as well.

 This is the original fabric, a lot brighter and whiter. I do like the design and have enough to make a nice lap quilt for next year, good practice for my quilting skills too.

And for myself, I repurposed these old ornaments. I washed them with soapy water and then antiqued them. Then I made a little tube from scrap fabrics and filled that with the balsam and put that inside the stocking. Then I hung them on a rack, so I have fresh pine smell in the house. Notice the date, that is when these were originally made.

Carousel Horse Ornaments

I wanted to try something different, so I did a search for Carousel Horse Coloring Pages.
It is amazing, the fun things you can find in online coloring books;)
I reduced the design and made it into ornaments.
Stitchery is easy to do, just a simple backstitch and you can use muslim or any light material that you have lying around.
It is a great idea for inexpensive gifts and you can customize them to suit the person's tastes.