Christmas Stockings

I decided to make stockings this year for the first time since both the girls have been born. I really like the classic red and white stocking so I decided that's what I would make. Although I don't use it now, I still have the stocking that I used every Christmas I can remember as a kid. I hope these stockings will be that for my kids. The red is a plush that is similar to velvet and the white is poly shantug which has a beautiful silk like texture to it. I hand embroidered the names with a red satin embroidery floss. I'm beyond happy with how they turned out!

Christmas Wish Block 5 & 6

Block 5 (Peace) and Block 6 (Believe) from the Christmas Wish BOM by Gail Pan Designs.

I know, I know. I haven't posted in over two weeks. It's not that I haven't been working on anything so much as I have been working on a part of a very large something. My BFF, Stephanie, has been sewing like crazy for her daughter's room. I, of course, volunteered to help. My contribution was mainly embroidery (and a little bit of pinning and brainstorming here and there.) Here's what I've been working on.

A little bit of this...


...and this...


...and 3 decorative pillows.






It's all turned out very pretty, peach, yellow and girly. Which is exactly what she wanted! So job well done! Go HERE to Steph's blog to check it all out!

For Laurel

My sister, Laurel, had a birthday back in June and being the great sister that I am (yes that was sarcasm) I just now got her a birthday gift. After the success of the camera strap cover for Randi, I thought it would be great to make one for Laurel too!



Yay! Pretty and purple just like she likes. These are beyond easy to make! Stephanie helped me make this one but I think both her and I can agree that neither on of us would ever "need" help making these! Her name is, of course, embroidered by me! Inspired by the fabric postcard I received I decided to make up a cute fabric card to go with it.



I whipped this up really quickly and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Next time I'll spend more time on the layout of the card.

I hope it brings you much comfort of the neck! Much love and a Happy (very belated) Birthday, Laurel!

Peach & Yellow Flowers

Here's what I've been spending the majority of my free time doing:



Pretty right! I'm embroidering a ton of this adorable border for Stephanie's daughter, Aiyana's, bedroom. After I get all the borders done then I'm embroidering some details on her sheets and making some decorative pillows. Well I've got a lot to do so I better get back to work!

Christmas Wish Block 4

Block 4 (Hope) from the Christmas Wish BOM by Gail Pan Designs. Only 3 more to go to be caught up to current!

Shabby Roses Block 6

Just in the nick of time I finished the July block for the Shabby Roses BOM!

Block 6 - Rest

Camera Strap for Randi

The wonderful and talented Randi took some pictures for me of my beautiful baby girl, Isabella, in her 1 year birthday dress.  I wanted to make her something to say thank you so I decided to use some scraps I had and sew her up a camera strap cover.



I used the camera strap tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew and added some little pockets that I embroidered on.



I think it turned out super cute! I hope you like it Randi!

Christmas Wish Block 3

I've finally finished block 3 (Joy) from the Christmas Wish BOM by Gail Pan Designs.



I think I need to pick up the pace on these otherwise I'll never be done by Christmas!

Moon & Stars Baby Blanket

My friend, Stephanie, is making a baby blanket for a couple she knows that are having their first baby this month. She asked if I would embroider a little something on the corner of the blanket for her. I was happy to do it and here's what I came up with.



She wanted a moon and stars but pretty much left it up to me as to what to embroider. I think it turned out really cute but the picture doesn't really capture it very well. I used a white metallic thread mixed with the blue and so it's a lot more sparkly in real life. The large stars turned out a bit wonky. I blame this on the fact that I was embroidering on a knit fabric without a stabilizer. The moon applique and word "Baby" turned out beautiful though!

Shabby Roses Block 4 and 5

I just finished the June blocks for the Shabby Roses BOM. Lets hear it for staying caught up, even if it's just barely!

Block 4 - Give



Block 5 - Shabby

Baby Sleeping

My friend, Stephanie, was complaining on the phone that she needed a door sign to let her other kids know when her baby was sleeping. I thought it would be a fun little project so I whipped one up for her really quick.



It turned out super cute! Although, yes, I did make a spelling error. Ooops! The sad thing is it took her 7 year old daughter for someone to catch the mistake. LOL I offered to fix it for her but she was already working on finishing it up and was okay with leaving it the way it was. Check out the finished project at our joint sewing blog, Sew What?

Christmas Wish Block 1 and 2

Here's Block 1 (Love) and Block 2 (Merry) for the Christmas Wish BOM by Gail Pan Designs.





I've actually had these done for a while and figured I should probably get them posted. LOL

A Christmas Wish BOM

Today I though I would share another Block of Month I'm starting. It's called A Christmas Wish by Gail Pan Designs.





I love holidays and Christmas is no exception! I'm using white for the background and then I'm using satin embroidery floss for the red and greens, metalic gold instead of yellow and the metalic white so the white thread as some contrast from the background fabric. I going to wait until the blocks are done to pick out the surrounding fabrics. I think this is going to turn out really pretty and it will fit right in with my Christmas decorating style.

Shabby Roses Block 3

I finished block 3 from the Shabby Roses BOM. I'm officially caught up (as long as I finish the 2 new blocks by the end of month.)

Block 3 - Dream

Shabby Roses Block 1 and 2

I've managed to finish block 1 & 2 from the Shabby Roses BOM. I'm working on block 3 now. The two new blocks were released yesterday so I should be caught up with it pretty soon!

Block 1 - Love



Block 2 - Beauty

Shabby Roses BOM

While I was looking through sites during May Giveaway Day, I found these fantastic sew alongs called Block of Month.  I hadn't heard of these before and I'm glad I found them because they sound like so much fun.  I found a bunch of them that I am starting but I thought I would start by posting this one.   It's called Shabby Roses and it's by Jenny of Elefantz





I really like the way she combined the applique and the embroidery.  I'm a little behind so I'll have to play catch up but I think I can do it.  I'm using a fabric from Cherry Baby by Lakehouse Goods.  I love the color combo of aqua and pink in this fabric and I'm very excited to see how it turns out in the end!

Mother's Day

I hope all you moms out there had a fantastic Mother's Day. I know mine was pretty darn good. Now that these gifts have been handed out I can post pictures of them. Yay!

I made two lined zippered pouches: one for my mom and one for my sister. I've made these before but I needed a refresher course so I used this online tutorial.

For my mom I used a turquoise blue linen and embroidered a cute little bird. This bird gave me some trouble and I actually tried it two other ways before this one. I'm very happy with how it ended up except you can see the (permanent) transfer pen I used to put the design on.





For my sister I used purple linen and embroidered a cute sleeping kitty. This is actually an applique out of felt which I then embroidered on top of. I thought the kitty would be better white than purple. Also I used a separate piece of felt for the tail so I could overlap the body piece and give it more dimension. Once again very cute but I wish I had taken more time on the ears and made them look a little better.





I wish I had thought to take a picture of the insides of these since I lined them with pretty colorful fabrics. All and all I thought they turned out pretty darn good for my first embroidery project. And the recipients like them and isn't that the most important part!