When Sonja was here over Christmas, we made this drawstring bag with a machine embroidery hummingbird (OESD Hummingbirds and Honeysuckle3). It was fun sewing with her, and she did a beautiful job. I think her intend was to give it to a friend.

Family Christmas cards

 I made some machine embroidery cards for the family.  Designs from DBJJ (Vinttage Sketch)

Machine embroidery cellphone holder

I made this machine embroidery eyeglass case into a cross-body cellphone holder for Kathy. The design is from Embroidery Garden "Monogram Pleated Eyeglass Case" to which I added the strap so she can have it nearby when she's expecting a call.

CCS Northern Lights Polar Bear

I ended up making two of these polar bear ornaments. Leslie's was stitched on 22ct. Zweigart Hardanger stitched 2 over 1 (I think), and I made my own with 14 ct. Aida stitched 3 over 1.

Leslie's

Mine

Christmas pillow cover

 

This pillow cover was made with Christmas fabric that I've had for quite some time. I finally decided what to do with it. I used this video tutorial:

(624) How to sew a Zipper into a Pillow Back // Great for Quilted Pillow Covers! - YouTube  I ended up sewing the front and back pieces with wrong sides together then adding binding around it. The binding makes it look a bit like cording (but it's not, and so much easier).

Christmas ornaments

 

These ornaments were made for Julia and Valentin for Christmas, 2024. I made them fairly flat hoping they would make it through the mail with one international stamp to 
Germany. They made it!

Rag wreath

This is a rag wreath made with scraps of Christmas fabric tied onto a metal wreath frame. This project was presented by one of the members of my Stitched Together group. She provided the wreath forms, and we each brought our pre-cut fabric scraps. It was a fun project.
 

”Snome” ornaments for Iris and Sonja

These CCS "Snomes" were designed by Carolyn Manning and published in Just CrossStitch magazine - Christmas Ornaments 2018. Made for Iris and Sonja's 2024 ornaments.

for Sonja

for Iris

Fall table runner (coordinating with Tree of Life wall hanging)

I made this sofa table runner to coordinate with the Tree of Life wall hanging I made last year.

Chenille potholder for Shirley

My friend, Shirley, is interested in the chenille technique, so I made this potholder for her December birthday. I used three layers of fabric which worked fine.

2024 Christmas Exchange Cards and tuck-in ornaments

These were my 2024 exchange cards and tuck-ins. The cards were silhouettes of fern leaves sprayed with gold and silver metallic paint. Then I ran them through the printer to say Merry Christmas. The ornament tuck-ins are machine embroidery freestanding lace stitched with metallic thread.

Greeting cards for friends

These are machine embroidery greeting cards I made for my friends, Linda, Marcia and Shirley. The designs are from DBJJ Vintage Sketch Blooms. 

BD card for Valentin

This is Valentin's 6th birthday card. Stitched from Unique Stitch Crafts "Construction Vehicles" motif.

All Aflutter wall hanging for Chelan

I made this small wall hanging with remnants from the All Aflutter wall hanging I made earlier in the year with butterflies on it. For this one I used machine embroidery hummingbirds from Embroidery Library "Hummingbird and Blooms" stitched with variegated teal thread.

Sonja’s BD card

This CCS dragon card was for Sonja's 9th birthday. The design is "Magical Dragon" which I ordered from CrossStitchIsMyLife on Etsy. 

Big Twist Afghan

This afghan was made with Big Twist Party yarn from Joanns. I used seven 3.5 oz. skeins and size 8 needles. I cast on about 190 stitches and used a one-row pattern (Sl1 PW, *K2, K1TBL, P1* repeat to last stitch, K1). This pattern is so easy I can knit it while visiting or at meetings. 

Machine embroidery vinyl keychain

 

Machine embroidery vinyl keychains. The first one I made with white vinyl as it showed in the design I purchased, but I decided it would be more realistic to do it in the color of a fox. I had to order a sample size of the color vinyl I wanted since I couldn't find it in the local craft stores or through any upholstery stores. They weren't really helpful, so Google to the rescue again! I made it for Emelie, but have an extra if someone else wants one.

Sympathy card

 

Sympathy card for my forum friend who lost her husband recently...I made it with a machine embroidery freestanding lace hummingbird. Her husband loved hummers.

Map play mat

 

I got this world map fabric panel as well as the US map fabric panel from Kathy and made a play mat/quilt for my grandchildren (or whichever one claims it). I just quilted along the longitude and latitude lines on the map It was a quick and easy project and seems appropriate for our international family.

Quilted watercolor heart wall hangings

 

I was inspired by Gina at our Stitched Together group to try my hand at a watercolor heart wall hanging. I ended up making three of them. Leslie and Emelie picked the ones they wanted, and I get the third one. I quilted them with my embroidery machine. I used border print fabric and the quilting was done with my embroidery machine.

First one finished in January, 2024

(claimed by Leslie & Sonja)

Second one finished in February, 2024

(claimed by Emelie & Julia)

Third one finished in June, 2024

This one is mine.

Hooded baby towel

 

Hooded baby towel for a shower gift using this tutorial:  HOW TO MAKE A HOODED TOWEL (youtube.com), but used a dinosaur applique pattern on the hood rather than machine embroidery as the video shows. The applique dinosaur is a Sindy Rodenmayer design from fatcatpatterns.com. The pattern is called Dino RAWR! I did reduce the size quite a bit. 

All Aflutter wall hanging

 

Another wall hanging inspired by a link Gina shared with the Stitched Together group. I think I'm the only one who fell in love with it enough to dive right in. The quilting is a bargello technique. I made freestanding lace butterflies rather than the applique ones called for on the pattern.

IFAQH hearts

 

So far this year I have made quite a few quilted hearts. Most of them are for the IFAQH project (IFAQH.com). A few of these are machine embroidery. The others are machine quilted.

Machine embroidery

Machine embroidery

Machine embroidery

Birthday, Mother's Day and Thank you cards

April birthday cards (cross stitch) for Iris, Leslie, Susan, Kathy; and 3 Mother’s Day cards plus a thank you card (Kathy stitched the cross stitch motif and I made the card) for Mel who gave us so much CCS stash.

Birthday card for Iris

Cross stitch by Durene Jones

Inside of Iris' BD card

Birthday cards for Leslie and Kathy

Mother's Day card for Shirley

Mother's Day card for Leslie

Mother's Day card for Emelie

Thank you card from me
 and Kathy for Mel