Friday Finish!

The presents are done, the cards are out, though I didn't do as many as previous years, I did what I could and now it is time for me to relax and enjoy working on Christmas projects. This year will be my Christmas year, I will be working on larger quilts to put around the house. I still like to do small projects and they are nice to do at night while I watch tv, so that is what I did this week.

This is an older pattern that a friend gave me, called I Believe by Country Stitches. For this one I used 3 strands of floss, so it would stand out more. No antique medium on this one, I wanted it to be lighter and bright, something the kids will like when they visit.

The pillow is 11" x 15". The filling is a mix of battings, mostly from a pillow I bought. I needed a smaller sized pillow for my whale, so I bought a pillow form, took out stuffing, till it was the right size, then sewed it up and cut of the excess. A great way to get the size you need and there was a lot of stuffing, enough to fill another pillow.

Another project I will work on after the holidays is a quilt for my ocean room and now I have another one to make that I can enjoy, as well. My friend Karen sent me this piece that she had started. And she sent the material she bought to use with it. I am going to add more border to it and make it into a quilt, maybe even some extra appliqué around the first border area. I also have some whale and seagull fabric, so if it matches, I may use that.

Not the best photo, the fabrics look so much better in person, love the colors and fabrics. This will be a fun one to practice quilting on, something with a nautical theme.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am in the mood to find a new Christmas sweater to wear, so hopefully I can find something this weekend. My closet is filled mostly with black, which is my favorite color to wear, but I think it is time to wear something more festive for the holidays.

Friday Freebie and Winner!

Thank you all for entering my contest, it was fun reading the comments and quips. The winner of a free pattern is Kim Budash! Congratulations Kim, you can pick any pattern from my E-Crater store and email me with your choice.

For everyone else, I thought I would offer my newest idea as a freebie. I wanted to try a technique with Press and Seal and I have been wanting to make something as a gift that I can give to members of our choir, especially the ones who sang at Dani's funeral and I thought this would be a wonderful gift for them.

As for the press and seal, I liked it in one way and not in others. I found sewing through it, hard with the larger needle that I use for pearl cotton. It stayed on but the lettering faded as I went and I used a black art pen on dark wool, so I am sure that didn't help either.

This is how it looked with the stitching on the Press and Seal.

It pulled off fairly, easily but then I had to get around those small letters, that was not easy. I pulled and the stitches pulled so it messed a few up. Then I realized it would be easier to clip as much as I could and that made it easier to pull out the pieces between the stitching. Once I got going, it went faster. I also messed up on some spacing, and I guess it shifted a bit, the design is not perfect and I had a hard time following lines with the chain stitch.

I took out some of the stitches on the wing and fixed it up a bit. I cut out a second piece of wool and a piece of batting cut smaller than the design and blanket stitched them together. Then I added some leaves and red balls. I used pearl cotton through the top and put the leaves on top of that.

This is how it came out. I am not thrilled with this one, the wings are a mess and I think the lettering needs to be lighter? You can also add a bell to the bottom, this one is rusty but I may use new ones for choir gifts. What I want to do is try another but make it neater and not so prim, as the gifts.

Here is the pattern I used, you may use it for yourself or as gifts. All I ask is, if you come up with a better look, please share. I really wanted to make something special and I think this is a wonderful idea as a gift so please share you pieces with us and better ideas to make nicer lettering.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, filled with joy and adventures.

The bell is 5 1/2" long, but you can make it as small or large as you want. I think this would be nice in a larger version to put on the wall.

Christmas pillow!

I decided to make a hanging pillow for my daughter. She has a new place and I wanted something she could hang on a door and add some holiday cheer. I also added Balsam so she could have the fresh smell of pine, to enjoy. I found the design online, but I can't remember where. If you do an image search, you can find lots of free patterns to make into pillows and ornaments. Coloring pages are also a great source and you can reduce the size of the larger ones.

I didn't prim this one up, since my daughter likes bright and fun things.

Another thing that has been going on is, we have a new visitor. I think this is a female and her bones are sticking out, so not sure who she belongs to and how old she is, but she doesn't seem to be in very good health. It breaks my heart to see her standing at my door every day, she sits there and looks in at my kitties, all snuggly and warm. We have been feeding her, but I need to find out who she belongs to and find her a new home. I have no idea if she has had shots and I have to be careful with my kitties, so I don't dare, let her in.