More Embroidered Blankets

 Shannon Call won a blanket in my 50th anniversary celebration over on Horsiemama and asked me to make two more of them.

I charged her $10 for each.

I think that they turned out nice.

More Christmas Ornaments

 After doing the felt ornaments, I moved on to free standing lace. 

Lisa's class read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol together and then had a Victorian Era Christmas party (her principal played the reformed Ebenezer Scrooge.) I made each of her students and "Mr. Scrooge"  lace Christmas tree ornaments.

For Kathy Nimmer and Sarah Larose, my blind friends, I always try to give them tactile gifts. I made several of this snowflake for them.

This bell is pretty in colors.

Or all in white. I haven't put a ribbon on it yet - I think I will use a sparkly silver or gold ribbon. It's for Heather James (Isaac's mom) who is battling brain cancer and she got some really good news this week. Since historically bells have been used to share good news, I made her a bell.

I don't visualize how colors will look together very well so it helps me to experiment.

All in all, I have made over 150 ornaments. I think I am done, but then I thought that a couple of days ago and ended up making two more since then! 

Melissa's Christmas Pillowcase

 I forgot to embroider Melissa's Thanksgiving pillowcase, so I made sure to embroider her Christmas one!

It was REALLY hard to choose a color for the embroidery thread. 

Still, she will be able to see it, so I won't worry too much about it.

Embroidering Christmas Ornaments

 I have been sewing since November 12, frantically trying to get the grandkids' Christmas ornaments made and to them before Thanksgiving. I missed that deadline, but they will go out tomorrow so they will still be able to enjoy them much of the holiday season.

I made a sort of "spread sheet" on the table as I made them - that helped me keep track of who I still had to sew for.

Sarah's family.

Jessica's family.

Kyle's family.

Lisa's ornament. She made the sign that quotes Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, "He uses his keys, his Santa Claus keys!"

Curt's family.

Cole's family. (The flamingo's legs are supposed to be ridiculously long.)

Some individual look at the ornaments ( mostly so I will have reference photos in the future):

The first practice one - I like it so much I'm going to hang it on my own tree!

I wasn't happy with the neon green when I made Addie's so I made a second one.

Kyle said he liked the darker one and I agreed with him.

So, Addie is getting that one.

I experimented with background color a lot on Baby Yoda.

The pattern called for the pink outline and the pink by the eyes but I did not like those and left them off.

Trying a charcoal felt for Baby Yoda's pram.

Since the blaze on the gingerbread pony looked a lot to me like a unicorn's horn, I made unicorns!

Experimenting with colors.

I am going to make this flamingo for Anne Field and Jennifer Buxton, my Flamingo Pond buddies.

I absolutely love this gingerbread owl.  It is from Memories in Stitches, a UK virtual store. 

Not an accurate photo of Julie's cat - lighting is WAY off.

See what I mean?

Some of these are for family while others are for the sisters I minister to as well as my ministering partner and the woman who ministers to me.

The kids' ornaments, all wrapped and ready to go.

Talk about a marathon stitching project!

Recent Projects

 Here are some recent sewing projects.

A tablecloth for Anne Field to take to live model horse shows.

Melissa's Thanksgiving pillowcase. (Thanksgiving fabric is so tough to find!)

An embroidered haversack for a blog reader.

Some embroidered blankets for the winners of a drawing on Horsemama.

I made a few practice ones for my own models.

 Which my Lady Phases are wearing!

Masks for Tyler Smith's Girls

 Lisa has been dating Tyler Smith for five months. This weekend he is introducing his two daughters to her, and she asked me if I would make them masks embroidered with their names. I hadn't done that before, but was willing to try and I am very happy with how they turned out.

Ashley's Nativity Tablecloth

I've had four yards of this Nativity fabric for years. 

Since my fabric storage is becoming cramped, I decided to pull it out and make a tablecloth for Ashley.

Kyle was happy to secretly measure the table while Ashley was in the shower. The table was not a standard size - it measured 46 x 100. This was going to be a tricky project.

I did some sketches, trying to plan out the best way to cut the fabric. Hoping that Craig would see a different way that that could be done, I had him take a look at my drawings.

He sketched out some diagrams himself but didn't realize that three seams on a tablecloth would not look good. Neither would having the tablecloth hang over the sides by only an inch. (Post-hemming would make that about a half inch.)

I went ahead and cut it as my second diagram showed and stitched it together. It won't completely cover their table, but I still think it will look nice.

The first (sewn) gift of Christmas 2020!