Punch Embroidery

Thanks to my cousin, Carrie, I have a new addiction (heaven knows I need one more). Punch embroidery. Ever heard of it? It is so fun and relaxing, and the end product is super cute. And it makes for a nice side project to take a break from the bigger projects that usually drive me crazy. It is so simple... just punching small loops into fabric to create different designs. When you are done, you have a three-dimensional work of art. I have had this finished for quite some time, but since it was destined to be a present for a special someone, I had to wait to show it off. I purchased a matching frame and removed the glass in the front. That way, the embroidery "pops" out. I don't feel too bad about adding this to my list of crafting hobbies, since it is relatively inexpensive, doesn't take too much time, and creates something that is super cute.

PS - My cousin is also very talented in the quilting and sewing area and even has an online Etsy shop. Go here to check it out.

Relay For Life Donations

Phew, I’m so fast! Look at me whipping out these quilts!

HA HA HA!! Just teasing! I didn’t make this quilt, although I wish I had. My mom made it! Isn’t it adorable?

She made it at our family quilt retreat. She wanted to donate it to my aunts Relay for Life drawing so she asked me to quilt it for her. This was the first time that I have quilted someone else’s project. Boy was that stressful! She just told me to quilt it how I wanted. I couldn’t decide, so I just went with the standard free motion stippling. I must say, I am still not a professional by any means, but my stitches are getting a lot better.

The backing she used was a purple polka dot flannel! FLANNEL! … For the backing! … What a great idea! I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this, especially with all the baby blankets I have made but I love this idea. It makes it so super soft and snuggly! And purple polka dots, how cute it that?

Each bug is an applique piece. (We learned how to do applique at the quilt retreat, so all of the quilts were applique.) And has embroidery for the faces. How adorable is this butterfly?

Well, this froggy might be slightly more adorable, but I can’t decide.

My mom is super talented and I love this quilt. Thanks Madre, for giving me the chance to quilt this for you!

I wanted to also thank Christina and Rebekah for their donations to the relay for life fundraiser. You girls are amazing!

Christina made these great bath puffs. She has such a talent for crochet and these are perfect. I’ve never thought to make these, but I think I might give them a try.

Rebekah made this adorable table runner with this cute Lizzy Dish fabric! I love this so much that I almost kept it for myself. No worries, I didn’t (I wanted to, but I didn’t). Isn’t it so cute?

Thanks girls! You are the best! Oh, and I had to steal these pictures from your blogs, hope you don’t mind. Silly me, I forgot to take pictures of them before I shipped them to my aunt. I was just a little excited to send them to her.

First Quilt for 2009 – Mother Goose

I have been dying to show off this quilt.  It is for my friend who is having a baby girl and we finally had a shower for her today, so I can finally show all of you.  It is seriously one of my favorites!  I love it so much.  I actually finished the top back in November of last year, but technically I finished quilting it and did the binding on January 2, so I’m counting it for this year. 

I used a machine that does embroidery (a machine that was donated to the quilting guild by my fabulous aunt) to do all of these nursery rhyme blocks.  I embroidered a different nursery rhyme on a 6x6 inch block and then blocked them with a three inch sashing.  All the fabric is from Joann’s.  It is the Heidi Grace line of A Bird’s Tale.

It was very difficult to photograph, so I took a shot of the top half and the bottom half.  The top has these blocks: Jack and Jill went up a hill, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old lady who lived in a shoe, kid who pulled out a plum on this thumb (I don’t remember this nursery rhyme at all), Mother Goose ( I know this isn’t a rhyme but she had to be on the quilt somewhere), and three blind mice.

And the bottom has these blocks:  three little kittens, the cow jumped over the moon, Mary had a little lamb, Humpty Dumpty, little Miss Muffett, and Jack be nimble.

This is one of my favorite blocks.  Isn’t that the happiest cow you have ever seen?

I really struggled with the quilting on this one because of the fabric.  I tried to use a green thread but it matched so perfectly that I couldn’t see where I was going or where I had already been.  So I switched to a white thread.  That was still difficult but I managed okay.  The best part is that since it blends in so well with the fabric you can’t see any of the mistakes.  I did a border around each block of straight lines and the did a stippling throughout the rest.  I did a pink fabric (from the same line) for the binding.  Dustin says that is his favorite part.   I kinda like it too.  The backing is the diagonal print. 

I even made a tag for this one.  I hand embroidered this!  I think I am getting better.  This is after I washed the quilt so it is full of crinkle goodness.

I had some left over fabric from the backing, so I made her a matching bib and burp cloth.  Both are backed with a pink flannel.

I JUST LOVE IT!!   It is so cute, right?

Just In Time For Christmas

  I didn’t think that I was going to be able to get the elf stitchette I  have been working on done in time for Christmas.  But I did!   I love, love, love  it!  I’m thinking of making one of these for every holiday season. 

I got the pattern for free here.  I love all of her designs. 

I used the MacKenzie Christmas fabric line by Anna Griffin to make this stitchette into a wall hanging.  I then quilted it in free motion (more practice) and I stitched the binding down by hand (more practice).  I think these wall hangings are perfect for practice.  I even had time to make a tag for the back. 

One more item to check off my list of projects to complete.

Work in Progress

Just for the record, this is a project that was on my unfinished project list.  It is not a new one.   I’ve just been working on it.  You know, trying to get it done in time for the holidays.  It is going to be a wall hanging like the Witch I made for Halloween.

Witchy Wall Hanging

I found this free pattern designed by Quixotic Pixels. I figured since my new favorite hobby is embroidery and I am really lacking in the Halloween decorations ... It was obvious what I needed to do. I made her into a wall hanging! I love the way she turned out! I'm just so excited! I am going to hang her with some ribbon but I need to go get some since I don't have any on hand that will work. I'm thinking brown, maybe a ric rack.

I used some orange and brown fabric by Heidi Grace that I got at Joann's. I know that it isn't technically "Halloween fabric" but I think that it works great. I did a free motion quilting on the orange fabric and a double row of stitching around the witch to help give her a frame. I also used my new skill of hand sewing to sew down the binding. I can't believe how easy it is. It definitely is not as fast as the regular sewing machine, but it looks 10 times better.

I will be smiling for the rest of the day!

Craft Night

Now that my sister lives super close to me, we have started our own craft night. Wednesday is now craft night! Last night she taught me how to embroider. I don't know why I never learned this skill before, but it is fantastic! I love it! I know that a new hobby is not what I need, but I'm addicted and just after one night.

Look at this cute cupcake I made. It was just a practice design to learn all the stitches that I could. I learned five stitches: the outline stitch, satin stitch, chain stitch, french knots, and the one stitch that looks like an outline but curls (I can't remember the name). I had to undo the yellow outline because I was taking huge stitches at first and it looked really bad. So I ripped it out and did it again, and now I am super pleased with it. On to the next project!