To Infinity and Beyond!

Just a quick post to say my sewing machine has been in the shop the past week and I’m itching to get it back tomorrow.  In the meantime, I’ve been using my daughter’s machine to whip up a few infinity scarves for Christmas gifts out of Anna Maria Horner velveteen.  These have been on my t0-do list since I saw them online last Christmas and I’m glad to finally tick them off my list.

This is the first one I made and am keeping for myself due to a few technical difficulties, which were resolved by the time I made the third one, thank goodness.  The velveteen is so soft and snuggly.  I could sleep with it on (um, I may have last night).

Bea was kind enough to take a few photos of me wearing it.  It was surprising how fast it was to make one, so if you are looking for a quick and functional gift to make, you could check out the tutorials I used for making mine at Lazy Saturdays and Pink Chalk Fabrics. 

Holiday Handmade Challenge

Jennifer at the blog Taken Patiently is having challenge to make at least 5 handmade gifts this holiday season.  Here are my entries:

For my sister-in-law: 3 jams, a quilt, and homemade dog biscuits for her dog, Elmo.  There is also a skein of yarn I bought for her at the local Maker’s Market called “crayon box” and another skein of yarn from Michael’s (neither made by me).

And here is the quilt on her bed in South Carolina:

For my sister:  a cute chicken pillowcase (I never got around to making a match, but I will) and a tablerunner made from Rise n Shine, Glenna Hailey’s chicken repro fabric, and 3 jams.  Bea picked out the chicken dishcloth at Kohl’s and said she had to buy it for Aunt Jody since my sister raises chickens.  Hence the chicken theme…

Here’s a close up of the tablerunner fabric:

And here it is on her table in Maine:

And here’s a close up of the pillowcase fabric (this was a remnant I picked up at Joanns—the fabric is kind of cheap and thin, but super cute, so cute won out!).

For my best friend:

She asked for a tablerunner with extremely specific dimensions for under her nativity scene.  I made it with really cute and fun Christmas fabrics since she has little kids. 

Here’s a close up of the star fmq.  I am pretty happy with it.

I had to have this mitten fabric!  I love the hearts on the mittens.

And the backing is this Santa Claus fabric:

And since she now is into canning and buying at the farmer’s market, I got her this Farmer’s Wife magazine inspired cookbook:

And the cutest ever apple dishcloth from Target (she is a teacher AND her favorite color is red).

A gift to my mom:

The Farmer’s Wife Pony Club book (my mom does not sew, but she did have her own cart and pony as a little girl, and we moved to a horse farm when I was 7), dog biscuits for her 3 dogs, and a set of flannel teacup pillowcases.

For my dad:

Various jams, two kind of pickles, and two jars of canned tomatoes (his favorite) and a set of pillowcases.  My dad is an outdoor writer and his nickname in college was Drako, so he goes by a nom de plume last name “Drake” so I thought he’d like the duck fabric.  I’m not really sure what kind of fish they are, but it’s from the same fabric line.

So, for my entry, in a nutshell:

• tons of canned jams, pickles, and tomatoes I made this summer
• homemade dog biscuits
• a sheep/knitting themed lap quilt
• chicken pillowcase
• chicken tablerunner
• Christmas tablerunner
• teacup pillowcases
• fish/duck pillowcases

Giveaway Winner!

Warning:  this post contains a gratuitously cute baby photo.

Congratulations to commenter #238,  Barbara, who won the Sew Mama Sew giveaway!  I have emailed you for your address and will get the jelly roll of Christmas fabric out to you this week.

I finished up another quilt this weekend, dubbed the “Knitting Sheep.”  It is for my sister-in-law who has knitted tons of hats and accessories for my kids, keeping them warm and in style!

I quilted it in fmq squiggles with light gray thread and machine bound it with a Moda Pampered Pooch black, red, and white plaid fabric.  The batting is Warm and White, which is my favorite to use.   The back is semi-pieced and has a custom fabric label.  I am pleased with how this quilt looks.  It is one of my better attempts at making a modern-looking quilt.

Lastly, my littlest girl Veronica turned one last week.  We had her party yesterday.  Here’s a photo of her taking her nap yesterday, still my little baby.