Union Jack Trivet

So the other day I posted about the gifts that I had made for friends and family for Christmas.

One of those projects that I am especially happy about is the trivet (mug rug).

I have a friend who was born and raised in England who now has a wonderful family of her own in the states, and wanted to make her something to remind her of home. And since we both share the love of tea, I thought that something tea related would be perfect.

I had originally planned on making a tea pot cozy, but it just didn't turn out right on paper, so I decided a little quilting skills should work nicely.

I've always liked the Union Jack design, it's fun.

 I wanted it to look a little rugged, and folksy.

I barely used a pair of scissors.  I just ripped away.

I didn't realize that I made it so square, but it looks good anyway.

I painstakingly made the bias type and learned how to bind a quilt while I was at it. :)

Christmas gifts of 2012

First I would like to apologize for the lack of posts last month. I had some family issues that took precedents over this blog. But everything is pretty much back to normal now.

Phew! ::wipes sweat from brow::

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Handmade goodness!

 I drew this design up awhile ago.

Heart with wings.

 I kinda have a mini tutorial for this one in the queue. :)

 I'm not really all that thrilled with how this one came out. At least it's neat and tidy.

(Sublime Stitching)

 I did a simplistic outline with this one.

All those french knots!

(Sublime Stitching)

 These are the whole products. They are clothes hanger covers.

 You may remeber the top design.

 Yet another box bag. (I'm kinda addicted)

A Union Jack trivet (mug rug).

Retro Stitches

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been working on Christmas gifts and started a new job that's taking a lot out of me (but not in a bad way).

I can share one Christmas gift that I was working on. It's for my grandmother. I wanted to use my Colonial Patterns' Stitcher's Revolution Kitchen Stitch'n. Wow, that was kinda a mouth full.

Just a nice simple tea towel to hang in her kitchen.

I know that she will enjoy it.

I Little Birdie Told Me

Pintrest is a HUGE time sink. But a fun one. I have made all sorts of craft projects from there. 

And I've made a lot of gifts from there also. I usually pay close attention to what my friends are pinning. And if it's something that I know I can do, I'll do it. :)

These little birdies were super easy and fun to make. 

Just felt and some yarn.

Took about a day, from sun up to sun down (hey, I like to take breaks).

 

I have a rather large collection of embroidery floss and I managed to match all the felt I used.

Lemon Lime Citrusy Goodness!

 I find it funny that while I'm blogging about one project, I working a different one.

I saw a cute tutorial on citrus coasters on The Purl Bee

I just had to make them.

They were super easy and made out of felt.
I made these a few months ago. But I had to wait to post them because they were a Christmas gift. She liked them.

Sushi!

I made wallets for my sisters-in-law.
For the oldest I made one with an oriental theme.
I stitched up this cute piece of sushi. I LOVE it.


And I'm very happy that she loves it too.
I tried using a snap that you clamp on but I never can get them to stay one or look alright, so I used the kind you sew on. I also sewed on a plain black "fake" button to cover up the stitching from the snaps and it looks pretty good (too bad you can't really see it in the photo).

This is a cute wall hanging that I made for my tea loving friend.


The best part about this teapot is that I did a kick ass job on the satin stitching on the eyes. I didn't get a close up pic because I didn't think to at the time. :(

I'm still trying to decide if that is a doughnut in it's mouth...

That's the most quilting that I do. Very simple. I don't think that I would have the patience to sit there and finish a very large project like that.

Hard Work Pays Off

French knots.
Are the devil.

But if you practice long enough and hard enough, they become your bitch.



I stitches up another Jenny Hart design for one of my friends for christmas.
It's one of those doorknob hanger thingy that I like making so much. I mean, come on, it's a tiny pillow on some string.


After a while the french knots became so freaking easy that I didn't even think about them anymore. They no longer have any control over me!
I added a couple sequins to the tear drops to make it sparkle.

After I took the photos I realized that I had a big old string sitting on it. lol

A Very Busy End of the Year

I made a bunch of embroidered goodies for my friends this year.

A lot of them were my our design and some were from various designers.
One of them, I made a doorknob hanger.

I saw a similar design on a little kids shirt and I thought that it would look very pretty embroidered.


I used a variegated yellow, you can't see it too well. But it's light enough to have a soft effect.

Then, I made a pillow for one of my other friends.


I really wanted to use the cherry print fabric. She LOVES cherries. And Jenny Hart's fan girl reminds of her for some reason.
She was very happy to receive it. :)

Still Around!

I'm still here!
I've been sooooo freaking busy over the past two months that I haven't gotten time to post any of the stuff I have been working on. Plus, a lot of it are christmas gifts that I can't post yet.
But I can post in progress pics of some of the random things that I have been working on.


First off, I have been working with my sister to make curtains for my parents camper. And boy does it have A LOT of windows.
10!


My sister purchased the fabric online. We (I should say she) did the math and drafted up the measurements. We had to bring my dad in on it, he measured the windows for us.


It was A LOT of sewing too! lol
I finished the curtains, and my sister finished up the gift with sewing up some tie backs and curtain rods. I can't wait to see my mom's reaction! I know she'll love them!


Next is my french toast recipe card holder. I made a lot of fun stitching this cute little guy.
He's complete with a beret (with a french knot!), and pencil thin 'stach! He has a magnet on his back so I can keep him om the fridge.


Speaking of recipe card holders! I made a small army of my chocolate chip guys!
I bake every year for the holidays for my family and I make about 5 different trays for all the people my hubby and go and see. I made chocolate chip cookies this year, so I just had to make some of these cuties for the trays.



I had a strange feeling that I was being watched.


All of the piece cut up and ready to be sewn.

Last christmas gift done!

This one is for my husband's stepmother. She really enjoys coffee to the point that she roasts her own beans. And on occasion we get the wonderful joyful bliss of home roasted beans too. Yum!


The cup, sugar bowl and coffee pot are stitched using browns and the 22 ct. aida is a soft pink.
It was a bitch to get the buggers nice and straight, so I ended up taping the fabric to the frame.


The windows are 3 inches by 3 inches. The frame itself is a matte black metal.
Now that I look at these photos again my fridge is a good reference for how tall the frame is. :)

Now I can go back to my regularly scheduled projects... yeah right, wishful thinking, HA!

Christmas Gifts Finished Part 1

The Ewe are Special to Me doorknob hangy thingy!

And the back of it. A nice farm theme.

Flip flop doorknob hangy thingy!

And the back are some more sheep.

The Chocolate Makes My Day pillow! And the back is just some fabric that matches. I didn't realize how crappy this picture was until after I wrapped up the gifts. :(

I have one more gift that I'm working on I should have it done in a few days. It's turning out pretty cute so far.

Sheepies!

I'm happy with this one! It's my first time using waste canvas. I was a little confused on how to remove it when I was done but I did it!!

The stitching turned out aright (a little too large for my tastes, but oh well, it's not for me) on it, then I pressed it which was a bad idea. But hey, I'm not crying over it.

I had some pink plaid fabric laying about and thought that it would be cute with the sheep on it. It is also a christmas gift for one of my sisters-in-law.


Now I have just one gift left to finish. Not sure if I want to make another pillow or frame it or make a table runner thingy. Not sure...

Another chistmas gift!

This is another free design from the Jaylann website.

I changed a color on it because well, I didn't have the right color at the time. :( but it turned out ok.


Stitches 14ct aida. Took about 6 hours to complete. It was fun.

Chocolate!

This is one of the christmas gifts that I am making this year. It is for one of my sisters-in-law.
I going to make it into a pillow.
I will post finished photos of all of the gifts together.


It is done on 14ct aida. I want to call the color of the fabric oatmeal or multi-grain, 'cause that's what it looks like to me. :) I hope she likes it.

I got this pattern off of the Janlynn website. Yay for freebies!

Finally an update!

I started working on christmas gifts for my family.
I finished my mother-in-law's first. It's just a little something that she can put anywhere.


I have untreated wooden frames laying about so I diluted some brown paint and made a paint wash to give the wood a darker and "older" look to it. I think it looks pretty good with it.
the cross stitch project took about a little over 4 hours to complete.

Now I'm working my oldest sister-in-law's gift.
I just hope that they like them.

Felt gifts

I said that I would post photos of the ornaments that I was making for my nieces and nephews.

They are felt and all hand stitched.

I was flipping through a Crate and Barrel catalog and saw these cute little felt ornaments and choked when I saw how much they costed. $40! For a set of four. WTF?!?
I thought to myself that I could easily make those myself.

They cost me under $2 bucks to make. Felt is cheap people!



One the last one I tried a herringbone stitch on it and it was very hard to stay straight, as you can see. But I MASTERED THE FRENCH KNOT BABY!!!!!!!! I feel so dumb that all this time I couldn't do one to save my life.



I just hope that they will like them.