Twas the Night Blog Hop

Oh my! Would you look at all this yummy goodness.  I must say Jeanie from Gracie Oliver Arts sure spoiled me.  Everything was wrapped so beautifully.

Here is everything fresh out of the packaging. Jeanie has such wonderful craftsmanship and I am happy to be the recipient of all this wonderful goodness.

  She handcrafted me four wonderful items:

1. A Christmas themed Matryoshka Bin, filled with some wonderful sewing themed fat quarters.

2. A coffee Koozie, which will come in handy for that cup of hot Chocolate and Christmas Wassail.

3. Four festive fabric coasters.  I love these little beauties and my hubby has already claimed one for his computer desk.

4. A 10 minute Table Topper. She picked out the perfect fabrics!

Jeanie also added some extra goodies, I oohed and awwed for each package: A lovely little snowman ornament, wonderful scented hand soap, gingerbread buttons, a 2015 Calendar, and a wonderful Gooseberry tote to carry everything in. (It has a lovely snowman print and is folded up in the picture behind the soap).

  And to top everything off, she sent me printed instructions on  how to make each gift! That is a gift in itself.  Thank you so much Jeanie!  I am one lucky gal!

For my quick gifts I started with something for my knitting friends.

It is a Triangular knitting needle case and the pattern came from the book Sew Gifts! by Martingale.

This case is pretty long so it will hold your longest knitting needles.

Knitted dishcloths also make quick gifts.

Two of my favorite patterns are the Ball Band dishcloth and the Knitted Basketweave pattern.

For my young friends I made a Card and Key Wallet. Perfect for giving gift cards or cash. This pattern is also from the book Sew Gifts!  I don't usually buy books unless I like at least half of the patterns and this book didn't disappoint. There are several other small gifts on my "to do" list from this book.

For my adult friends who like to bargain shop I made some Loyalty Card Wallets. This was a free tutorial from Nancy's Couture.  I altered the pattern several ways by adding interfacing in the pocket sections, extending the width of the pieces by half an inch, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, and adding a button/ponytail holder closure.  

I even made one of these for myself.  It holds all my loyalty cards and fits nicely in my purse.

No more rummaging through my stack of cards.  The fabric bowl can also be make pretty quick.  I made this one a long time ago from start to finish in a four hour class.

Next up is a gift for anyone who wants a unique way to charge and store their little devices.

I used the free tutorial at Positively Splendid.  She had a clever idea to use a command strip hook to hang the pocket on the wall next to the outlet.  I am going to do that too, that way I can use the charger holder for my android devices. Those chargers are too wide to fit through the grommet.

Last up is a small Christmas themed Cross Stitch. Right now I am deciding what I want to do with it. I have narrowed it down to either an ornament, the front of a Christmas pouch, or the focal point of a notepad holder.  I suppose I could make two more  trees and then I won't have to pick which project to use it with  ;)

  What was really helpful in stitching this tree was my new toy, the Beam and Read.  You can read all about it here.  I like how it gave me that little extra light to see my stitches better. It even came with a red or orange cover to give you a little different glow.  In the picture above I have it clicked on three light bulbs, but for my stitching I liked using all six.

Another thing the Beam and Read is good for is extra lighting for photo shoots.  Particularly when you play on the weekends and keep forgetting to take photos of your projects when the sun is shining so you have to take photos after you get off work in the evening when it is dark outside.
 

I turned on all the lights in the room and added an extra lamp, but I was still getting some shadows I didn't like. With the Beam and Read I was able to move the lighting where ever I needed it. Thus it saved my photos from being too dark and grainy.  I think I may take this light camping with me too. It's lightweight and super bright.

Make sure you head on over to Jane's Quilting to see what I sent her and check out the other hoppers as well to get inspired.

Thursday, Nov. 20

Quilted Delights - Me  :)

Jane's Quilting

Allthingz sewn

More Stars In Comanche

Pickles Quilting

Cate’s Linens

Thanks to Mdm Samm and Marlene for hosting a fun and inspiring hop!

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Cross Stitch Update - Feline Love

Progress is still being made on my little cross stitch project.  

Not as much as in the beginning, but things are still moving along quite nicely.  

Current Stitches

Stitches since last update.

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Feline Love Update

I had a few 30 min trips to town this week and two trips to the beach. Since I wasn't driving I worked on my Feline Love cross stitch.  I also had two dentist appointments for the kids this week and that gave me even more time to work on it.  With all that waiting, I got quite a bit done.

This Weeks Progress

Last Week

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Feline Love Cross Stitch

I spent a few minutes this afternoon working on my "Feline Love" cross stitch kit that my good friend gave me.  I got two window panes outlined and part of the orange kitty done.  It doesn't look like too much right now, but pretty soon items will take shape.  I think it will be fun to watch the progress I make on this project through photos.

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My Cross-Stitched Cat

It is finally finished. It had been almost finished for weeks. All I had left to stitch was the whiskers. I kept saying to myself, "That will only take a few minutes, I can do that later tonight...." Well later tonight never came, so I made myself sit down this morning and put on the whiskers.

As I was putting on these whiskers this morning, I realized most of my unfinished projects are classified as almost finished.  So if I sit down and take a couple hours on each one, then I will have lots of finishes this year.  Sounds like a good plan, we shall see if I can put it in action.  :)

Side Tracked

This past Saturday I went to the Hobby Lobby.  It is one of my favorite stores and I can browse there for hours on end. But the main reason for my trip this time was so my daughter could get some more beads for her jewelry making hobby.   I hadn't planned on buying anything for myself and I almost made it out of the store empty handed, but that quickly changed when I got to the fabric section.  Now, I didn't get any fabric, and I wasn't even tempted, except for that pink paisley which I just patted and walked away from. Instead, I found something I felt I couldn't live without when I went to the discounted notions wall.  Hanging near the bottom I found a cross stitch kit on sale.  Why it was in the fabric section instead of the cross stitch section I don't know and normally I am not tempted with a cross stitch kit, but this one had pretty beads in it and it was a picture of a quilted cat named Scarlett done by Jim Shore.  It was discounted from $15 to $5.  So I snatched it and her friend Petunia up and headed to the cash register.  I halted progress on the three current projects I am working on and have only been cross stitching for the past couple days.  I am so excited to finish this cat that I do believe it will be one of my few projects that gets started and finished without me doing any other projects in between.  Now if I could just do that with all my projects and not get side tracked with new ones, I might not have so many UFO's.

The Castle

I finally finished this cross stitch project last night.  It felt so good to have it finished.  I still like it just as much as when I bought the leaflet 16 or so years ago.   At first I thought it had only been 15 years, but I know I started this when I was in high school and graduation day for me was 16 years ago. Over the past 16 years I have started and completed many other cross stitch projects, as well as many afghans, quilts, and clothing projects, but they have mostly been for other people.  The projects I make just for me, like this dragon, usually get put aside or stored away.  I know I hadn't worked on this particular project in over 6 years, because I don't remember working on it in the house we live in now and we have lived here for 6 years.  But now this one is finnally finished.  YAHOO!!!

      What made me get it back out again was my daughter.  We were walking around the Hobby Hobby, and she wanted to buy some DMC floss to make a friendship bracelet.  Above the floss were little kits for begginner cross stitchers.  She asked me if I would buy her one because she wanted to learn how to do it.  I told her no, because I didn't think she would finish it, but she begged and pleaded and promised that she would.  So I decided to go ahead and get it, after all it was only $2.00, and who was I to critizise her about not finishing it when I myself had three at home not finished. 

    When we got home, she said I should get out something to cross stitch while I helped her, so we went looking through my nightstand where I keep my projects and saw The Castle.  I noticed it was almost finished. All it needed was outlining on the dragon's wings and lower body.  So I decided I would work on it till it was done.  It only took me a couple hours.  I don't know why I didn't finish it early.  But it is finished now and I am so thrilled.  I just need to get it framed so I can put it on display and enjoy it.  :)

Cross Stitch Snowman

This card is for Angela. We signed up for the Cross Stitch swap together and since it was only the two of us I was able to pick a larger design to cross stitch.

I haven't cross stitched in such a loooong time. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. I will have to pull out some of my old projects and finish them up. I know I have at least two big ones that I was working on. I do believe they are in my nightstand by my bed. I shall have to go hunt them down. :)