Christmas Tree Skirt

 I used the accuquilt die my mom gifted me for Christmas to make the tops of two 45"Christmas tree skirts months ago, and finally had some backing fabric (the other half of the watercolor dragon) to quilt one of them on the longarm. The other one is already quilted but needs binding (yuck) so I decided to finish this one today and learn from it so the nicer one will hopefully turn out better. The lesson I learned was that these are harder to make than quilts. And more time consuming! But somehow take just as much fabric. I don't understand! But, it did turn out nice! I don't remember the fabric line I used, but hopefully it'll come to me soon. 

Bookshelf Quilt

 This project was a labor of love! I started making my little sister a quilt featuring her favorite books back in November as a Christmas gift. After getting a list of books from her, I screenshotted and photoshopped each book to look like it was sitting on a bookshelf. Then, I used my Brother Printmoda Fabric Printer to print the pieces out. I found a couple images of frames online and photoshopped her pictures into them as well. 

Then, I started and stopped about 15 times, removing hundreds of stitches because it just wasn't going the way I wanted. I decided to get her something else and would finish the quilt when I had time and the magic I needed to get it done.

Fast forward to December 23. I got a notification from FedEx that her present was delayed in the mail and wouldn't arrive before we left for my mom's house. I couldn't show up with no gift for my favorite little sister! So I buckled down, after finishing my mom's Christmas quilt at 11:30 pm, and pulled out the dozens of pieces I prepped and got down to business. I have no idea what time I finished the quilt top, but knew I needed a very simple digital pantograph because 1. It's the middle of the night and it needs to get done and 2. the pieces are so detailed the Internet suggested horizontal or wavy lines that are separated enough to blend in and not ruin the look of the books. My main goal was that there were two quarter-size faces of her I didn't want to stitch over (spoiler alert: it did). I learned a ton while making this and will definitely know how to improve should I make another one in the future. 

Anyway, I also didn't get a picture before gifting, but here it is. I managed to finish at 4:40 am, just in time for my husband to suggest we go ahead and make the drive to my mom's because he was awake for the day and I could sleep in the truck. I still haven't reclaimed my sleep schedule, but she absolutely loved it!

And here is a picture of my 13 year old puppy, Elsie, hating dressing up but loving all the family snuggles! 

Swoon Christmas Quilt

 I made my mom a Christmas quilt for her bed and didn't get a photo before I gifted it, but I saved the pattern so I could make another. This was a pre-cut quilt kit from My Fabric Addiction which I have loved getting pieces from because it takes away the worst part- cutting fabric. A lot of times they have sales, and I got this one half-price! I purchased the backing they had (108"- my favorite!) so this quilt was super easy to put together. I love the old fashioned fabric vibes (Riley Blake) and used a loose berries-on-a-vine pattern from prostitcher. 

A Winter Snowstorm

 We got another load of snow, which is lovely. I'm really enjoying my time off work and diving into some things I haven't had time for in ages. 

I put together this cute puzzle after Christmas. The pieces were a bit bigger than normal, which I liked, and there were still 1000 so it was pretty big. 

I also bought some Christmas fabric at Joann's when we visited my mom over the holidays. I used it to make some pillowcases and a quilt-top for the bed. 

Here is a 16" pillowcase cover. 

Here is another pillowcase cover. 

And another, though I think this is for a 12" pillow. 

And then I made a king-size quilt for the bed. I didn't have enough fabric for the backing, however, so I'll have to wait until the next time we visit (or I find another Joann's with seasonal fabric all year) to get some more. I love how each quilt block looks like a little present! I also used my Cricut to make vinyl name tags on the shams I sewed as well that look like Christmas gifts. They are so cute! Hopefully I'll get the quilt finished by next Christmas and can put it on the bed! 

Wood burning for Christmas

Here are a couple of wood-burned Christmas decorations I made over break. Work has been KILLING ME this year so I haven't crafted much lately! 

Christmas Craft Show

My older sister has been bugging me for awhile to do another couple of craft shows with her for Christmas. Here are some pictures from the one at the local high school. 

These birdhouse ornaments are handmade by my sister- covered with diamond dust. Beautiful!

Here are some wood-burned tree limbs... inspiration from my Christmas trip to Germany last year.

This is my favorite! It didn't get sold so it's going on my door.

German Craft Show

My sister coerced me into participating in a craft show at Oktoberfest at SML. Our booth, "Tied Up With String," was absolutely adorable! Nearly everything we created had a German theme or German originations. 

Charmed Necklaces

Several of you know that I was out of service for a couple months after having surgery on my foot (I've got a slight scar now with cute little stitch-dots around it) and couldn't go upstairs to my craft room. I'm glad to say that I'm off crutches now and working my way to getting back to normal. My dog, Elsie, has puppies back at the beginning of October, and they're finding their forever homes this week! There are four cute white snuggly creatures and one salt-and-pepper (which looks alarmingly a lot like her grandmother, my dear Sophie, that we lost last Christmas!) 

The last couple of posts have mentioned a few things I've been into lately, and this one is special because I'm making these cute little necklaces for my co-workers for Christmas! Other than the fact that my fingertips have been sticky for a couple days now, it's SO much fun! I've been going around the house trying to find things that will fit inside the pendant shapes I bought from Sun and Moon Crafts. They have a few sampler kits I've tried before (my sisters and I have a tradition of making crafty things on Christmas Eve while waiting for the rest of the family to get their act together to open presents) but check out the prices on the individual pieces! There was a girl down on the market in Roanoke selling these for $15-$20! That's CRAZY since each piece is less than 50 cents. I bought some long necklaces (36") and shorter ones (24" and 20") and lots of different size pendants. I bought the glass toppers for some of them, and the glaze to use with some glass tiles. Such fun!

I love this balloon!

This butterfly is glittery!

Three snowmen

My dining room work-table (Why didn't I use my craft room, you ask? Because it's still messy from the Wand Making I did last week.) 

And just for fun, here are a couple pictures of my Christmassy house!

Christmas Wreath

I saw the CUTEST homemade ornament wreaths on pinterest (no idea where or I'd give the link!) so I ran to Walmart during the Black Friday weekend and bought some non-shattering plastic ornaments.

First, take an old metal clothes-hanger (disclaimer... the cheap, easy to bend kind works better than the high-quality ones!) and untwist to make a general circle shape. Then slide on about 50 ornaments, adding a smaller one for every 2-4 big ones. The more unique the ornaments, then cooler effect you'll get! When you've filled up the hanger (I had two ornaments leftover from my set) just twist the two ends together. If you used the high-quality clothes-hangers you might need pliers to get the pieces just right.

Add a bow and POOF you're done! (I totally did not even realize my wreath was crooked when I hung it up to take a picture! I do realize that the hanger is glaringly red... I need to fix that!! :-/)

In no particular order...

First up- a quick "Thanks" note to go to each of the wonderful ladies who ordered something from my Pampered Chef party a couple of weeks ago. I was able to get a lot of AMAZING things, and perhaps spark my interest in cooking again... (yeah, right!) 

Item number 2 on the agenda: my mom's birthday card this year. Pretty simple with the paper (my last Little Red Scrapbook Kit)- I love love love this bird from Reminisce Accents. The stamp is from Papertrey Ink, saying "Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art." I thought it to be quite appropriate for my dear mother.

 Pictures three and four are from Thanksgiving Day. I cooked some chicken to go in the dish I was taking to my aunt's house (and burned it terrible, I might add) so I had to open up another pack. Since I had some leftover, I went ahead and cooked it... and created the most delicious meal I have EVER prepared. This was seriously the best chicken I've ever tasted (using Smoked Applewood Rub-or something similar- from Pampered Chef). Picture Four is my Chicken Nacho thing... not sure what it's called but its gorgeous and tasty. It is prettier draped with sour cream, but I don't like it, so it's a no-go on this one!

Here is a surprise package I got in the mail from Kymberlee. My school kids LOVE the packing material (these quickly became "reading buddies" in one of my workstations) and the crayons will come in handy next semester when I tell my kids to get out their new supplies and they ALL say "But I already used mine!" lol... happens every year! Anyway, the big item is that shelf/box thing laying flat beside Nemo. Just wait to see what I made...

Ta-Da! I didn't make you wait long. Here is the cutest little Advent Calendar I've ever created. My dear husband spray painted the edges of each box for me so that I wouldn't have to hand paint them all. I did paint the shelf dark red (then mod podged for safety!) and added all of the freakin' cute embellishments. The paper is last year (or the year before's?) Recollections Christmas. I love it. My husband loves it, too. He will enjoy it even more next year when there is a treat each day of December.

And next time I shall have a birthday card for a dear friend whose birthday is in December... that time of year when the only paper sitting on my table is red, green and/or involves glitter. How can I possibly NOT use such things on her card!?!? Lucky for her... only the dark green made it on.

Oh Oh Oh! Anddddd I got my Christmas present from Channing in the mail a couple days ago... my very first set of Copic Markers. I've been practicing and watching you-tube videos like CRAZY to learn. All for now!