Happy New Year!

1. Stained Glass Windows, 2. String Leaf Potholder, 3. Mini QT Swap-May 2010, 4. Color Play with Scattered Dots, 5. Scalloped Spectrum Handprinted Covered Buttons, 6. Sundrop in Summer Mini Quilt, 7. Pincushion made for Pincushion Pass, 8. Potholders for Potholder Pass 4, 9. Rainbow Leap Frogs for Scrappy Mug Rug Swap, 10. Kissing Goldfish...Through Their Bags, 11. "Quilting Process" pincushion front for Scrappy Pincushion Swap, 12. Silk Screened Kokeshi Doll Ornaments, 13. Quilting Process Silk Screen in Light Grey and Golden Yellow
I wasn't going to post a mosaic but everyone is doing it! I can't be left out now can I? This is a sampling of some of my favorite creations from 2010.
Looking back on 2010, what amazes me the most however, are my children and their growth. Collectively, over the past year, 14 new teeth came in, 2 teeth were lost, 26 pounds were gained and 10 1/2" were sprouted. Penny took her first steps and spoke her first words. Lily started writing letters and showing amazing artistic skills. She has also matured emotionally and has become the world's best sharer. And Timothy is reading, telling time, counting out change, and proving to be a friend to all at school. Parenting is certainly challenging but it definitely brings me the greatest joy. The stuff in the mosaic is icing on the cake!
Happy New Year my friends.

Potholder Pass 6-Monotone

It's time for Potholder Pass 6! Sign ups are underway, ending January 7th. We will get partner assignments out within a week and you have until the end of February to sew your potholders. All the information is here and you must Flickr mail me to sign up, not comment here. In order to be accepted into the group, you must have an active Flickr photostream. Just read the rules...it's all there.
There is a theme this round too! It's monotone. You pick the color and your partner must piece a set of potholders in that color for you. It will be a great challenge to work with only one color but several shades of that color in order to produce an appealing design.

Pansy Needlebook

My Mom mentioned that she'd like a needlebook with a flower design printed on linen. I made this one for her December birthday. I used my pansy linoleum block print in the center. She particularly likes the little bees on the sides.

Here is the inside, ready for her to fill right up.

For the back, I used Anna Maria Horner's voile, Square Dance in Dusk. I just love this material and felt the need for some when it was first out. I just bought enough to get one row of squares. I used the first one here, fussy cut for the back of the book and then made the front dimensions to match. I knew Mom would appreciate the beautiful material so I didn't mind sharing!

"Breath of Avignon" Placemats

I made this placemat set for my mother. Her new kitchen favors blue and white with some yellow (or at least it will once she gets around to sewing her curtains!). She and her husband also like French things and found a beautiful table cloth in a French import shop in Quebec for their kitchen table.

When I saw Moda American Jane Breath of Avignon fabrics, I knew I had to use them for a gift for her. I bought a single charm pack. I knew that I wanted each placemat to be different but yet coordinating so I chose four traditional block designs for the left hand sides of the placemats and paired them with linen on the right, below the plate. The red and blue florals, as well as the off white on off white stripe are not part of the same fabric line but they coordinated well colorwise.

I gave my mom the rest of the charm pack in case she wanted to make something because I couldn't decide what she'd use most: a tea cozy, potholders, dishtowels, etc. She can also choose to give them back to me with a request to make one of those things!

Hand Turned Pens

If you found yourself wondering what we filled these bags with, I can tell you now! My husband made hand turned pens for many of the adults on our Christmas list. We chose various woods depending on what we thought people would like.

He had never turned wood before but purchased an old 1980s Craftsman lathe off of Craigslist last winter. For his birthday, I gave him the makings for a mechanical pencil and that was his first attempt at hand turning. He was hooked and decided to try these.

This one was finished after the official photo shoot because the first pen blank broke.

And this one was a surprise made for me. I found it in my stocking!

It was Merry!

Santa brought the kids musical instruments. Timothy got a harmonica, Lily a kazoo and a duck call, and Penny got a mini tambourine and egg shakers. They have been serenading us ever since!

Despite our best efforts, we could not get the three kids to stand together by the tree for a group shot. This little one won't stop moving (hence the "soft" focus!). She thrilled me this Christmas with the attention she gave her new baby and stroller from Santa. It's so sweet.

And later today, Lily and I are going to try out her new Easy Bake oven! I have such fond memories of mine.
Timothy has been busy building Legos and willingly made his bed for the first time thanks to his new Star Wars pillow cases I made for him!
I hope you all enjoyed your day and continue to enjoy the festivities!

Merry Christmas!

My daughter was looking over my shoulder as I was taking a peek at Flickr. She saw a house decoration and asked if I made it. I said no, but I had wanted to make some. Then I decided that there was no time like the present so I made this little one quickly as she chatted away endlessly (as usual!). Mine is smaller than most I have seen, measuring less than 2" wide. But I wanted to be able to hang it on the tree rather than a doorknob or something. I would like to make more for next year. I t was fun!

1. Bird Ornaments for Christmas, 2. "A Woodland Christmas" Scrappy Mug Rug, 3. Kokeshi Doll Ornaments, 4. Snowflake Linocut Coaster Set, 5. "Partridge in Pear Tree" Linocut Mini Quilt Detail, 6. Christmas String Spiderweb, 7. Owl Ornaments, 8. Hedgie Linocut Pillow Cover, 9. Peg Doll Ornaments, 10. Holiday Quilted Hoop, 11. "Cookies for Santa" Mug Rug, 12. Penguin Ornament, 13. Reusable Gift Bags with Linocut Snowflake, 14. Finnish Paper Star, 15. "Partridge in a Pear Tree" Linocut Mini Quilt Detail, 16. Holly Branch Linocut, 17. Snowflake Linocut Mug Rug on red linen, 18. Kokeshi Doll Ornament, 19. Pinecone Linocut, 20. Reusable Gift Bag
I am not sure that I will have time to post again till after Christmas so I will wish you all a Merry Christmas now! Thank you for visiting my blog throughout the year and for your kind comments and suggestions. And thank you to those of you who have made purchases to my little etsy shop. I am particularly grateful for all my blogging and Flickr friends. I feel so blessed to have "met" each of you.

Package from the Netherlands!

About a month ago, I won a giveaway on Nicolette's blog and won one of her hexagon needle books. This is the one that she chose to send to me! Her package arrived yesterday after a long three week trip!

She surprised me by including a tulip postcard, adorable Dutch wrapping paper that I carefully opened out so that I could save some, a little clip with a tiny shoe charm and an "I love Holland" charm (not pictured here), and a stack of Dutch fabric!

Here is a better shot of the fabric once I removed the pretty ribbon. Aren't they charming? I am just in love with them. I have to think of something perfect to make with them. They will definitely inspire a project in 2011!
Nicolette is special to me because she was one of the first to read my blog when I started it up nearly two years ago. She continues to drop in from time to time and comment. I love the package Nicolette. Thank you!

New Look 6769

Remember Lily's dress that I showed you a few days ago? I finished Penny's dress last night using the same material and a pattern that is similar in that it is also a jumper with box pleats. This pattern is New Look 6769. Her measurements fell right between a size 1 and 2 so I went with the 2. It is slightly long but I left it that way because I think I can get two years out of it! I have my mom to thank for the nice neat zipper. I have mentioned here before that sewing zippers into clothing is probably my biggest sewing frustration. I have become decently good at it when using cotton or flannel but I just knew that this velveteen would give me trouble. My mom said that it was tricky so I am so glad that she did it for me!

And no dress up outfit is complete without new hair bows! Lily will wear the two barrettes and Penny, the little clip.

Wrapping It Up!

I am really getting into this reusable wrapping trend. It's fun to make pretty reusable bags. I made a batch of these for some of our gifts this year. I used my linoleum block snowflake from my hedgie prints.

Don't think that I have made enough bags to wrap everything this way! But it's a start. I also made a bag for my daughter that will do double duty and serve as the wrapping for another one of her gifts. My son is getting pillow cases that will also wrap his gifts.

Apparently I have been reading too much of Michele's blog because I started admiring the form of a plastic container in our recycling the other day. My daughter loves to pull things from the recycling and stash her toys in them. I thought she'd appreciate this container because it has a nice pop top and is easy to open and close. I got out the Mod Podge and some red, turquoise and pink scraps and decorated it a bit. It's at least a step above pulling it directly from recycling. I am going to use it to wrap another present and my guess is that it will soon be full of plastic animals, marbles or a collection of little glass jewels.

Custom Kokeshi Doll Mug Rug

I received a custom order for a Kokeshi doll mug rug from someone who really wanted a mug rug but wasn't feeling confident that she would win my giveaway.

It was fun to make! The Kokeshi doll is a silk screen printed in magenta ink. I had the perfect remnant of a little floral print that coordinated so nicely! I used that for the right side of the mug rug, where I picture the mug sitting. Then I appliqued a flower that I cut from an Alexander Henry large scale floral print and a Nicey Jane leaf. I did a little hand quilting in a running stitch using DMC embroidery floss to pull in the color from the center of the flower. I used some straight line quilting on the linen but mostly free motion quilting. I stitched all around the doll and through the leaf and around the petals of the flowers. It gave the mug rug nice dimension.

Here's a picture of the mug rug playing the part. Oh, I nearly forgot, there is a tiny bead in the center of the Kokeshi doll's flower!

I'm Calling It...The Giveaway Winner

I'm calling it a few hours early. I figure, it's my giveaway and I can change the rules if I want to! This way, I can hopefully get in touch with the winner and get her package in the mail by tomorrow in hopes that it might arrive for Christmas. The random number generator was kind to me and I only needed to count to number 21. The winner is:
#21 SewLindaAnn who said "I love your goldfish! How fun to pick out a gift bag. A fun and useful giveaway, thanks."
Well Linda, get to picking out that gift bag!
Thank you all for entering my giveaway.

Oliver + S Birthday Party Dress

Are you visiting for the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway? If so, scroll on down or click here to get right down to business.

I made my first Oliver + S dress. I had to see what the hype was all about. My mom bought 3 yards of this beautiful aqua/turquoise velveteen as a gift for the girls' Christmas dresses. I wanted dresses that were fancy enough for Christmas but that they could wear all winter. I only had the larger sizes of this pattern so Penny's dress will be made from a different, though similar pattern.

I first found this button in my grandmother's button bag and I loved it. Once I moved the dress into a different lighting situation though, I could tell that the color was all wrong.

Fortunately, Grammie's button bag pulled through and I found this perfect match, along with five coordinating buttons that go down the back of the dress.

And last but not least, Lily modelled for me. She can't seem to keep her hands to her side though to show the dress nicely! For Christmas, she will wear a long sleeve white shirt and white tights and black shoes. This was just a quick, let's try this on and hope it fits session. Happily, it fits. But sadly, it barely fits. I should have made a size 7. I swear this girl grows inches each night!

Williamsburg Style Door Topper

Are you here for the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway? The post is below. You can scroll down or click here. Good luck!

If you are new to my blog, you may not have seen my tutorial for creating a Williamsburg Style door topper from last year.

I made one for our front door this weekend.

I think I may have done a better job last year but this year I was working during the naptime crunch. Last year, I made it on a warmer day with the baby happy in the swing outside!
Here is a picture from last year showing how it looks above a door.

Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day 2010

It's Giveaway Day! I am offering this mug rug featuring my hand printed linocut goldfish bag with a freezer paper stencilled little fish swimming around in it. The mug rug is pieced with a selection of orange and turquoise fabrics with a touch of natural linen thrown in for good measure. The tea and cookies are not included but here is the recipe if you want to give it a try!

You are aware of the mug rug craze right? A mug rug is a mini quilt that can be used as you would a coaster but there is room for a snack in addition to your mug! This one measures abou 7" x 9."

Your mug rug will be packaged in a reusable gift bag. You can pick the bag you would like from my shop. This is just one example.
My giveaway is open to everyone (international included) and will close on midnight December 17th. To enter, please just leave a nice comment. I will draw a random number and email the winner. Please make sure you leave your contact information. As soon as you get back to me with your address and choice in gift bag, your package will be in the mail!
Since only one person can win the giveaway, I am offering everyone who visits this blog page a 10% discount from my etsy shop through the December 17th. Just use the code "SEWMAMASEW10" when you checkout. I will ship same day if you order before noon, or the next morning otherwise.
Good luck!

Holiday Hoop

I really wanted to join the Scrappy {Hoops} Swap on Flickr but decided not to for fear of over committing near the holidays. But I have since had the idea of making a hoop stuck in my head! I just finished up the one above. I wanted to make one similar to the mug rug that I sent away.

This was the mug rug I made for my partner in the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap.

I hung my new quilted hoop next to my mini quilt from Krista since they both have Christmas bunting. Cute! I'm ready for the next hoop swap now!

Scrappy Mug Rug 2 Swap Received

I received this wonderful package last night from chickenjulie. The mug rug is so pretty. It combines so many of my likes: selvages, the red, white and linen combo for Christmas, embroidery, hexagons and a nice neat binding! The goodies are spectacular too! I just love scraps and these are terrific scraps at that!

Go Green!

A friend suggested that, as a person who sews, I really should be making reusable gift bags. I thought it was a good suggestion though I would have taken it better a month ago when I had more time! I am planning on wrapping some of our gifts this year in reusable gift bags and have put a few in my shop as well.

They make rather elegant wrapping, I think. I used Kona unbleached premium muslin and printed my pinecone and snowflake linoleum block designs because they are not exclusive to Christmas but can be used throughout the winter season. The bags are tied with satin ribbon that is secured in the seam and therefore can't become separated from the bag. I can definitely see making some birthday versions of these in the future.

Sidetracked

I got sidetracked. My Christmas to do list was set aside to do a few quick items for the kids' wardrobes! When Penny turned one, my mother in law made her the knit dress seen above. Penny was only crawling at the time but now is walking pretty steadily and can wear dresses! Before, they would get caught under her knees while crawling. My mother in law doesn't like to knit button holes so she will often give us items needing fasteners of some sort, knowing that I sew. This time, the dress didn't fasten at the shoulders. I thought about knotting it but didn't want to stretch the knit out of shape. I ended up making covered buttons and stitching them through both layers of knit, securing them with a clear button in the back so they don't pull through. Because nearly everything Penny owns is pink and lavender, I needed to make her something to wear with the dress.

I made another pair of Big Butt Baby Pants (pattern by Made by Rae). This time I did the optional top stitching around the back panel and love it.

Then, of course, I couldn't neglect big sister who seems to grow an inch a day.

We bought this horse corduroy on sale at JoAnns awhile back. She big into horses so she loves them.
Now I need to get back to that list!

Baby Gift

Today I got a baby gift checked off my list. How about you? I made a pair of bibs inspired by a huge quantity of yellow terry cloth I found in the attic. I hardly used any of it but it was a start at least! I backed the bibs in the terry, pieced the fronts with quilting cotton and included a layer of cotton batting in between. I used a favorite bib to create my pattern. Now I am feeling badly that I never made any of my own children bibs. These feel so much nicer than theirs!

And I made a quick fleece hat too from leftover material from a mitten and hat set made for my son a few years ago!
The kids are in bed now so I had better go consult my list and get back to work!