Wrapping Up The Holidays

For the most part, I stuck with her color scheme, but tried out some variations here and there

One last post pertaining to the holidays. These are so absurdly adorable though, I hope you won't mind!

I love giving handmade gifts and try my best to make special and personal things that people will actually appreciate or use. This year, along with some homemade marshmallows, caramels, and spiced bourbon, I picked out one of Alicia Paulson's felt ornments to make and include for each family's gift. It was one of those projects way down on my list that I'd always wanted to try but never gotten to before. Then, just when I was looking for something handheld to work on as I studied for finals before the holidays, I remembered them!

The red coat is by far my favorite. Now I just need one in my size.

I've got to say, I invested a lot of time in these little ornaments as each one progresses in a number of steps, but in and of themselves, no one technique is too complicated. Because of that, I think a beginner or more advanced stitcher could make and enjoy them. I drool over just about everything Alicia Paulson puts out into the world and have to give her big gigantic props for writing such clear and full instructions for these! Job awesomely done.

The key is really in having some patience and working on them a little at a time. And if you're making a ton of them like I did, you may also need patience from the rest of your household for overlooking the little pile of supplies that appear and grow next to your spot on the couch...

A Little Christmas Spice

Now available in my etsy shop!

I am almost free for the semester and have been able to spend some blissful time working in my studio as of late. I have my list of christmas gifts that I need to work on and have organized all my supplies for those but I couldn't help but put in some time on something that is for us! As a result, I am almost done now with my "Whoville" quilt top. Well, that is what I decided to call the quilt because the colors and style of the fabrics remind me of the animated version of Dr. Suess's The Grinch. For some reason, when it comes to Christmas, I am ALL ABOUT the older, vintage, slightly gaudy retro decorations. You will find none of those "frilly angels sighing dark red velvet with gold trim" type decorations at my house, no sir.

As I was going, I decided to use some of the leftover fabric for some pillows in the shop that are inspired by our quilt. I resized them (insert brief but mind-numbing confusion over how to enlarge a LeMoyne Star from an 8 inch block to a 12 inch block without a pattern...) and used some bright white cotton as a counterpoint to the cheery colors of Michael Miller's Christmas Spice collection fabrics. I love that the LeMoyne Star in the red and lime is appropriate both as a Christmas star and as a poinsettia and I think I'll be making a couple to complement our quilt too so that I can change out our usual pillow covers for holiday ones soon!


P.S. Did you notice the fancy schmancy new favicon above and facebook/pinterest/etsy/flickr buttons on my sidebar? Check those shiny suckers out! My husband, who is in a web design program as he transitions from graphic design, made them from scratch for me and I am o-so-proud of him for figuring out how to do it for me. I should also perhaps mention how patient and calm he was as I tried to describe the exact watercolor look I wanted for the buttons. He is just a good man, what can I say?!