Christmas Handmade Part II

Ok - the story is that each week I take the girl's a few gifts. I did that today and I had two complete outfits and two tops each from Old Navy, a craft paint by number, a webkinz figurine, the vests and these things. The first is a scarf that I made each of them with one side the fur and the other fleece (I will give them the matching ones for the American Dolls on Christmas Day), then I had made each of them these marker rolls. I made them different than what I have seen as I made a pocket for a little note book and for the larger markers. They LOVED these!! They rearranged the markers so that they were in the order of their favorites to least, they would write in their little notebooks and then they would put it all away. Then out it would come again and I asked if they would like crayon rolls and Josie said yes but that I would need to make the slots a different size for the crayons. Could it be a future sewer/quilter? They don't know and I will wait until after Christmas but I have small sewing machines for them. Not children's but real machines. I bought them on a clearance aisle a few years ago and now we can use them. Needless to say - it's not the money but what interests the child that gets them. They love the vests but said they would only wear them for special as they were afraid they would get them dirty. It does warm a grandmothers heart.

I have a crazy idea that I'm thinking about but I want to think on it for a few days. I have a large living room (14.5' W x 26' L) and I use the dining room for my sewing room. I'm thinking about my living room as my sewing room and the dining room as my living room. I don't sit around anyway and the dining room has a fantastic view of the neighborhood when I do. I would have room in the living room for two 6' tables to be side by side and become a great work space. I don't have a lot of company as I'm not home much and if I have company it's people that I know. I just feel very energized about this idea and see that it could work well for me. I'd also be warmer as the dining room is freezing! I'll let you know how this goes and nothing will happen until after Christmas. Any opinions?????

Homemade Christmas Gifts

In the last two days I have spent at least 12 hours on what was going to start out as simple vests for my granddaughters into a creating frenzy. The blue vest is for Josie and I added her name, and pockets then I decided that a collage of the fabric would be cute on the back so then I went on and used some fabric paint with a brush. Then I remembered that I had purchased a button maker so I made a button (that was fund once I got the hang of it) and then last I had some scraps and made mittens. You can see by the thumbs that fabric was short but who cares. It's a designer mitten! LOL
For Kat's vest I did the exact thing with some differences and her button was the first one I made and it isn't as good as Josie's. But when I get some more of those thingys I can make more buttons.
I have been giving them gifts every week since Christmas Day is crazy. This was they will enjoy gifts before Santa comes. I heard from an elf that each are getting American Dolls. I did make the girls and their new dolls scarfs with fleece on one side and white curly fur on the other. It's always nice to match your doll. Oh! I need to take more photos as I made them crayon rolls but I made mine to fit markers and a small note book. I'll get that done and I'll take some photos of the scarfs. Gotta Go!! Have a great day or evening!!!!!

Does anyone know where I can find this fabric

I have been going through plastic bags where I have done swaps in the past. I came across this fabric and there were two pieces to make an fq. I LOVE this "Mermaid Kitty" and I would love to have more. Has anyone ever seen this or have some? I'm willing to pay a reasonable price as my granddaughter loves Mermaids!! I made her a pillow out of this but wouldn't it be great if I could make her something larger? I know she would love a dress out of this. Please e-mail me if you have any info even if you don't read this for a year. The baggie had a nice note about this being vintage fabric but not who mailed it to me. Thanks Judy

Mitten's I sent out

When I made the mittens I was sending I did a theme. The first one is a batik mitten with 4 batik fq's, a finger pin cushion, a scented sachet with lavender and one with mint, a spool of thread, I think a pair of earrings I made and I made the snowflake pin from a Christmas ornament, I think that is all of this one.

Of course there would have to be a black and white theme!! I sent b&w fabric, a mint or lavender sachet, a finger pin cushion, black thread and I think that was it. I sent these off about a month ago and I've worked on a lot of projects since then. Oh!! The b&w flower pin was made by me. I had a lot of fun making pins and jewelry this year. I'd never done that before.

I did go to the doctor this morning and I have a sinus infection. Antibiotics are in my system and working. Hope everyone is having a good day or evening. I'm going to bed tonight as tomorrow is usually a 12-13 hour day!!

Mittens in the Mail Today!!

Just taking a little time to share what I received today in the mail. These are mittens from the Stashbuilder (Yahoo) Group swap. The photos do not show the colors well. The swap rules were that we would make a mitten and then stuff it with 1/2 yard fabric and other surprises.

This didn't show up well in the photo of all the items and I wanted you to be able to see how cute this is. I'm going to uses this as a pattern and make some.

The second stocking! Just want to say thank you to Veronica C and Judy S!!!!!!

Not expecting anymore gifts in the mail so what a let down it will be tomorrow. The gas company will probably send me the monthly bill!! :( I like good stuff like today!!!

Installment II will be coming up soon plus I went back and bought more fabric!! Going to the doctor in the morning as I've been ill for over 10 days. I'm over it!!

Moment of Weakness Shopping

This is my addiction and today it's "BAD"!!!!!! I went to Joann's but I don't remember for what and this is part of the results. This fat quarter with the hats was on 99 cents and it called me! It was the only one of it's kind and it knew that I had some other hat fabric warm and cozy at my house.

These were on sale the orange and the blue

were 30% off and the dark polka dot was 60% off and like $2.32 yard! The cat fabric on the right was a remnant and just under a yard and I got it for the remnant price plus another 30% off. I was organizing some fabric tonight and I was amazed at how much cat fabric I have. Then when I buy it I don't want to cut it because it's cat fabric! I'm changing my ways!

I don't know why I need the boy fabrics but how could I pass them up at 60% off and being $2.32!

I'm saving the best for last! Are these fabrics beautiful or what!! Again, 60% off!! These will be purses I think as they are not quilting fabrics they are 100% cotton but heavier. The lady at Joann's told me what they were but I don't remember because I usually only buy quilting fabrics. Some of the fabric for the outside and some for the inside of the bags. I am wondering if I should buy more of these at $2.32 a yard. I purchased one yard each as I was trying to be responsible. What should I do????????

I want you to know that money is tight but I can't resist!! I'm ashamed of all the fabric that I already have. But I don't smoke, drink seldom (too expensive!), I don't have any bad habits except for fabric and thrift stores. Maybe I should take up the others and not worry about all this fabric that needs a home. Does anyone else feel like this?? I may be the only one ---but wait -------- I hear voices and others are calling that they too need help. Well - don't look to me as I'm the worst!! Any professionals out there that can be of assistance?

I did start organizing my fq's as I can never find what I'm looking for and I'm impressed with what I've done so far. I'll be showing you soon and I may over the Christmas break do a super organizing job on my sewing room. I have got to get it organized or it's going to take over my life. The sewing room has been moving somewhat into the living room and I need to whip it back as if it were a lion or tiger. Otherwise they are going to find my body under the moving fabric.

Tomorrow I'll do part II and show you some of the other things I bought!! Can you believe this? And I went out when I was ill for milk and cat food and this is what I came home with.

Okay - who else has done this and I know there has to be stories out there that are worse than this.

Have a good nite (I'm going to bed soon) or have a wonderful day if you're just waking up.

Blog Remodel

I have been messing with the top of my blog this morning and so far I have not found what I want. I love some of the things out there but when you put them on your blog you can't read the words. I see this on other blogs and it's an irritation as I want to be able to see every word they say without it being hidden. So excuse the mess, step around all the stuff on the floor and I'll get the remodeling completed soon!!

This was going to be at the top but once it was up there it didn't look good. When b&W fabric doesn't look good then you know there is a problem. Oh! did I tell you that B&W is one of my favorites? LOL