Something forgotten

My daughter Maili had a birthday last month and I filled her little tool box with all sorts of sewing notions. I bought a set of scissors for her and I made her a scissor fob.

I was going to stitch it in red but then I asked her younger sister what Maili's favourite colour was. She said she didn't know but not red or pink. So, I made it in my favourite colour, blue.

Apologies to the designer, I have forgotten where the pattern came from but her initials happened to be SM. Maili's are MS so it was an easy switch to make. I like easy.

Why is it that we make for others but don't make for ourselves? I don't have a scissor fob nor do I have a biscornu. I must put them on the list for future projects. I also want to make a pincushion for Maili. Small projects but they do take time...

Yesterday and today too

Just some creativity happening. On the kitchen table, no less.

A New Bag

Not for me.

One side.

The other side.

The button trim on the strap.

The zipper pull. The bag had to have a zipper.

The inside lining.

One side of the lining.

The other side of the lining.

Raw edges of lining encased. 

An extremely well-made bag.

A gift.

Not from me.

Addendum: The pattern is McCall's 6045.

Surprises

First off, this is what came in the mail.

I had won these holiday cards when I followed along on Syko's blog tour (sorry, I forgot which blog it was since I went to all of them. I even forgot that I won them.) Unfortunately, I didn't win a copy of Kajsa's new book Scandinavian Stitches but I have put it on my wish list. BTW, Kajsa is a Finnish/Swedish designer and as you can see she has a distinctive style. Finland has two official languages - like Canada.

This too came from Finland. It's from my Finnish blogging friend Ulla as a thank you. A Finnish magazine with many "do it yourself" projects, some gorgeous Marimekko fabric with houses on it (I do love architecture and I love Marimekko designs), a card (typical Finnish Christmas cards are more like postcards, just like the ones in the first photo), and a wrapped present which will not be opened until perhaps Christmas Eve. Finns celebrate Christmas Eve and presents are opened then. When the children were growing up, I allowed them to open one gift Christmas Eve in honour of their heritage and I have kept up that little tradition.

And here's my twig tree with my gifts under it.

More surprises - but for someone else. This is what I'm working on at the present moment. They are gifts and so I cannot show you much more than these little sneak peaks.

Now, back to sewing....

Gifts

For ME from dear friends.

I forgot to show you what my quilting buddy Judy got me. We exchange birthday and Christmas gifts. Her birthday is in September and mine is in October. Judy lives an hour and a half away and there have been times when we haven't been able to get together so we exchange both Christmas and birthday gifts at the same time.

This is a wall hanging kit. It's so cute. We both have cats. At one time Judy had five but now she just has one - along with a gecko/gekko (it's spelled both ways.) I can't remember what all I got for Judy but one of the things was a paper-pieced kit that made two mini leaf quilts.

Thursday night was the last meeting of the Champagne quilters since Ann will be leaving for Florida to spend Christmas with her son, daughter-in-law and only grandchild this coming week. So, we had our little Christmas party and exchanged gifts.

 This is what I got. The chocolates and BodyWorks trio came from Marg (as did the napkin that they want me to use as inspiration.) The four fat quarters and box of shortbread came from Ann. Ann always makes shortbread at Christmas and we always get some. I usually have to hide them or else there aren't any left when Christmas comes - and it isn't me who eats them. Aren't those fat quarters cute? Marg got a set of green ones since it is her favourite colour. She said she has to think of something to make now.

And here's a close-up of the fabrics. Kiddy prints - so I can make something for the little one that's due in April... I gotta find a great pattern to showcase these. Got any suggestions?

Inchies

Seriously, starting in 2011, you can participate in making an inchie a week. How hard can it be? A one inch by one inch work of art prompted by a word. Check it out. You can even get a head start since a lot of the words are posted already. Eclectic is the first one - due Jan. 3rd.

http://everyinchiemonday.blogspot.com/

These have been shown previously but for those of you who haven't seen them, they are paper-based.

I have also made fabric inchies.

 

So, go ahead and sign up. Should be a lot of fun. How hard can it be to make an inchie a week?

Craft night again, mail and that white stuff...

With Christmas fast approaching we got out our supplies of nuts, walnut shells, felt, embroidery floss, batting, fabric and markers to make these little mice.

This is the only one that ended up with a teeny tiny pom pom nose.

Here we are, diligently working away.

Maili made twins - with reverse felt ears.

Just two of the many that got made that night.

And in keeping with the Christmas theme, we have snow - finally.

It is just a light dusting but it should keep up till at least tomorrow.

 Santa Claus popped in via the mailman all the way from New Brunswick. Isn't he just adorable and Linda also sent me the gorgeous green fat quarter that is acting as his backdrop. I love the dresden plate note card.

Here's a close-up. Santa is cross-stitched and beaded on perforated paper. I was the second winner of Linda's giveaway and I am so happy that I can add him to my Christmas tree this year. Many thanks, Linda.

Go visit Linda and take a look at all the wonderful things she is creating.

Giving and Receiving

When I gave a donation to the Hawaii chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, I not only received a tax receipt but this...

a fabric postcard and it just came in the mail today. It is made by Kristin La Flamme who sent out fabric postcards to those people who supported her cause. She exceeded her goal and that was so good to hear. Kristin is a member of the Twelve by Twelve group.

This is the very first fabric postcard I have ever received in the mail and it is gorgeous. I will consider it my little Christmas present. Thank you, Kristin.

Napkin Challenge Reveal

It was really hard to decide on which napkin to use for inspiration and then to translate it into something else.

 At first I was going to use the blue one since I am partial to blue but nothing inspiring came of it. So, I changed my mind. There were so many really nice ones to choose from but I did have an idea.

Can you figure out which napkin I used?

The colours in this napkin were all in my stash and I decided to update the Christmas red and green in the ornaments.

Here's a better picture without the napkin. I had those snowflakes and thought they would make a nice addition.

I enhanced three of the ornaments with embroidery.

Click on any of the photos to view them better if you wish. All in all, a fun little project.

NOTE: to view the other projects in this little challenge, click on Mrs. Moen's Napkin Challenge button in the sidebar. I have changed it so that it will take you directly to the list of participants.