Christmas cards and tuck-in gift tags

Since all of my Christmas cards and tuck-ins have been received, I will show them here.

The cards were made with pressed flowers and pressed evergreens, The evergreens received a bit of glitter before being glued to the glittery red felt.

The tuck-in tags were made with small squares of fabric folded into triangles and strung onto narrow gold ribbon, then the knots glued to the cardstock. The Merry Christmas greeting was printed onto cardstock, cut out, and then adhered with thick double-backed tape to make them stand out a bit.

I hope the recipients enjoyed them. They were fun to do.

Christmas table decor

I didn't get these placemats finished before Christmas, but we were finally able to use them tonight. We are still in the 12 Days of Christmas, so I'm
allowed!  

I made these to go with my Christmas dishes, using a large tablecloth to cut into placemat sizes. It's a polyester blend, so is wrinkle and stain resistant.

The corners were machine embroidered with a poinsettia pattern using gold metallic thread. I used the same thread in the bobbin with water soluble stabilizer, so the placemats are essentially reversible. The napkins are made with the same fabric with a narrow hem.

 

The prototype placemat (1st one I made) I wasn't pleased with, as I had changed colors of thread to use. I ended up painstakingly frogging the wrong color thread and re-stitching it. Therefore, I ended up with 7 placemats and 8 napkins. 

Then I completed the octagon table topper with fabric from my stash. Merwin prefers the side with the blue in it, and I prefer the other side. I made the candle holder many years ago by decoupaging a napkin inside a small vase.

And finally, 8 napkin rings.

 

Machine embroidery hair clips and clip holder

Here are some hair clips for Julia. The fox clip holder and clips are Christmas gifts. I'll send her the snowflakes in January and the cupcakes for her birthday in February. I plan to send her different ones every month in 2018.

All the designs are from GG Designs.

 

Flannel caftan

One more caftan. I have the pattern on pattern paper now rather than newsprint. I just need to write up some instructions about the neckline. I put a pocket on one side in this one for the first time.

Flet food

More hand sewing involved in this felt food (pancakes, syrup and bananas). I made the eggs some time ago with a sewing machine. I plan to make more felt food to send to Sonja every month for her little kitchen that we gave her for her birthday. I've been particularly inspired by MrsTea at Our Home for the Holidays who has made some delicious looking felt food for her grandchildren. 

Hair bun ties

I hope these hair bun ties work for Iris.

Thread catcher and pin cushion/scrap bag

More gifts ... This collapsible thread catcher is for Emelie; and the pin cushion with scrap bag is for Leslie.

This is a link for the collapsible thread catcher that I made for Emelie:

http://fabrictherapy.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-tutorial-sweetest-little-thread.html

There's lots of hand sewing involved with this one.

This is a link to the video tutorial (Rob Appell of Man Sewing ... he's fun to watch) for the pin chushion with scrap bag I made for Leslie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRQav7xc8dk

Cross stitch Christmas ornaments

These are the Christmas ornaments I made for Iris (poinsettia with candle), Sonja (penguin) and Julia (owl).

Chenille reindeer

This is a chenille wall hanging. The panel is called Reindeer Prance. I used 4 panels and stitched diagonal channels 1/2" apart, then used an Olfa chenille cutter to cut the top three layers. Would it look too Christmassy if I left it up all winter? 

Knit hats

These hats were knit and donated to Project Linus in honor of my friends. I like to give them Christmas gifts, but have figured out that they, like me, are probably more interested in downsizing than collecting more "stuff". I had a stack of doll/premie sized knit afghans that I donated also. My prayer is that they will help to warm and comfort many little ones.

I used yarn from my overflowing stash and a simple pattern for the green and blue. The striped hat is made with Lion Brand Ice Cream yarn. I used a free pattern from Ravelry called Swirl Hat by Mandie Harrington. The pattern is quite easy, and I really like the result.

Flannel caftan

Years ago I had a short caftan that I really liked. I had purchased it at J C Penney and was able to get another one the next year, but the third year they no longer carried them. I asked a friend who is good at copying patterns if she could make a pattern for it off of the one I had. She did that as well as made me several different ones. I still have one of those that she made for me. She also gave me the pattern, and I proceeded to make them for myself. I decided to lengthen it to a long version and started making them with flannel. I like to have two long, flannel ones so that one can be in the wash. Here's one I just made today to replace one that has a hole in it from my cat's claws. I bought the flannel several years ago.

Pillow/cushion

Julia loves pillows, including this one that I made her with a remnant from the backing of her quilt (minky).

I used a row of decorative stitching to attach the fabric to some batting, then sewed the two pieces together, turned and stuffed.

 

December birthday card

This is a birthday card for my friend, Shirley, whose birthday is in December. The cross stitch chart is from Stoney Creek, Autumn 2017.

Hair bun tie

Iris recently passed a difficult level in her swim classes. I made her this hair bun tie (she wears them all the time) to congratulate her. I used a machine embroidery design on the ends, and decorative fishy stitch on my sewing machine.

Knit hats

 

Knitting hats can be addictive! I knit three "Top This" hats from DMC, a ladybug for Iris, an owl for Sonja, and a lion for Julia. Then I knit a bear for a friend (she wasn't inclined to deal with the cast on or knitting in the round). Somewhere in the mix, I knit a hat for Julia's Halloween costume with fringe all over to make it a lion hat.  I'm thinking I'll make more to donate to a local charity in honor of some of my friends that I might otherwise buy or make gifts for. I'm just thinking that more "stuff", even if it's hand made, is not what most of my friends want or need at this time of life. We're all thinking in terms of downsizing. 

 

Felt kit Christmas stocking

If you like hand work, these felt kits are fun to do. The tradition of Christmas felt kit decor started with my mother who made me a beautiful tree skirt. I made one for her, too. Then came the felt kit stockings for our family, and we've added new ones for new family members as they came along. This one is for Julia. I still have one to make for Sonja, but I made Julia's first because Emelie uses them in her home. Leslie uses other stockings and keeps the felt ones here, so Sonja doesn't need hers yet.

Fall table decor

One last reversible table topper with napkins. I actually made the napkins and pieced the table topper last year but reached a roadblock trying to figure out how to make a fat quarter cover the back. It just wasn't big enough, so finally this year I decided to use a different fabric and machine embroidery appliqued leaves on it. I then used a decorative stitch for the quilting. Now we will get to enjoy it for the rest of the season. The only purchase I needed to make to finish this was another spool of thread . Another UFO done! 

This should have had more of a woven look in the pattern,

but two of the fabrics were too similar to have the desired effect.



 

 



Christmas and winter reversible table decor and wicker chest topper

I had quite a bit of the poinsettia fabric, so I made a reversible table topper to go with both sides of the placemats. Merwin had a 45º plexiglass triangle made for me to cut the angles for the octagon.

 

 

I also found fabric I liked for napkins, but the quilt shop only had a couple of fat quarters, so I did my web searching and found it online. I made 8 napkins.

 

 

 



 

Here is another wicker chest topper I made with more of the poinsettia fabric (and the centerpiece I will use on the table), backed with another fabric that I purchased at about the same time to make it reversible.

 

Christmas-winter reversible placemats

These placemats are from the Take Four Placemats Pattern by Cary Flanagan. My friend Kathy and I went to an Open Sew at a local quilt store and made placemats. We worked with the same pattern but had different fabrics. These placemats use 4 coordinating fat quarters. They are cut into strips, shuffled, and sewn into four different pieces, then they are sub-cut the other direction, shuffled again, and sewn together. You get four placemats with the same pattern and the same fabrics, but the fabrics are in different places in each placemat. I used some fat quarters that I won in a door prize. Kathy had fabrics that she picked out to go with some beautiful dishes she has but doesn't use because she has no placemats to coordinate with them. 

I used some other fabric from my stash to back the placemats and made them reversible.  I outline quilted with silver metallic thread outlining the arches and added a serpentine stitch in the blank white stripes.

Now I would love to find fabric to make coordinating napkins.

Cross stitch birthday card

This cute octopus motif is one I got from Durene Jones. I have used many of her charts to make greeting cards. This card is for Sonja's second birthday.

I-Spy quilt

Here's the first I-Spy quilt. This one is for Sonja's second birthday in early November. It was inspired by the Daisy Chain quilt tutorial: 

https://bloomandblossom.blogspot.com/2014/04/daisy-chain-quilt-tutorial.html?m=1

and a collection of various fabrics. I have a hard time with scrappy quilts, and I think the sashings and borders help with the look. I have enough blocks to make three more quilts. One of them will be for Julia's second birthday in February.

Halloween table scarf

I found this cute Halloween fabric at Homespun Quilts and Yarn in Astoria, OR. It’s unusual to find Halloween fabric in blue, and I thought it would be great for my living room color scheme. I bought enough to make this square table scarf, which was a quick and easy project that I will enjoy using during October.

I guess I should find a cute little pumpkin to set on the table

Gift wrapping and cross stitch birthday card

Here is the gift I wrapped for Emelie's birthday (containing the reindeer pillow shams). Merwin made a shipping box that just fit the gift box, not leaving room to put anything protective over a bow so it wouldn't get smashed. So I printed several copies of these birthday balloons and cut pieces out to layer with double backed tape decoupage-style. You can't really see the layering in the picture, but I was pleased with the result.

And here's the little hedgehog card made from a Durene Jones set "Mr Hedgehog".