I am happy to report that my work has allowed me to begin working from home since the beginning of December so I have freed up some precious time and plan to use it wisely!
Now that the holidays are over, it's time to catch up!
My sister, Jean, is really the only person I make homemade gifts for anymore. She truly appreciates the efforts, being a fellow crafty person herself. I made her a couple of things this year.
First was an idea I saw in a magazine (sorry, I can't remember which one and am too lazy to go dig it out, but if anyone wants to know, email me and I'll look for it!) I believe in the magazine they called them towel drapes. I like the name Towel Ties better because the are intended to dress up regular plain towels. The tree pattern is one I got from the magazine, but the snowman and the ornament I designed.
The other gift I made her was a small wallhanging. It's wonky and the border is crooked, but it is my first time doing free motion quilting all by myself. I've practiced and I've had Jean help me before, but I really wanted to take the leap and do it myself. The results were what you expect for the first try, but I knew Jean would understand what it meant! I am no longer afraid to do it!
Jean made me some very cute things, including my very own sock monkey girl. I will post pictures of her on my next post, but if you want to see her earlier, hop on over to Jean's blog at Quilted Cupcake, she posted a pic a few days ago. She also made me some cute things for my home office and knitted me my very own pair of socks. I will post pics of those next time as well. They are AWESOME!
I really wanted to go crazy decorating this year. I planned on it. I meant to...but since I got the word on a Tuesday early in December that I could start working from home and then started just two days later, I have been concentrating on making that adjustment a success and never got around to actually doing much in the way of decorating.
J however knows how much I enjoy Christmas and did all of the decorating himself. The house looked awesome, even if I didn't get to pull out all of the stuff I wanted. He was most proud of decorating the ceiling fan in my home office. Don't ask me why....he's a guy. But I promised him I would share a pic of that. It did turn out kind of cool. I wouldn't dare tell him that the decorations dimmed the light in the room so much that I had to bring in a desk light...
Festive, eh? Next year, I'll make the time. I'm just saying...
Anyway, I planned to spend the New Year's weekend crafting all day everyday. Then I decided that December 30th would be the perfect day to have a root canal. Not the best idea, I can assure you. I spent some wonderful hours with Dr. House's favorite pain medication before I could function without pain again. Happily, by yesterday I was able to put the pain meds away and go shopping.
Jean and I hadn't been to the thrift stores in awhile, so we hit a couple of our favorites along with a trip to Hancock Fabrics to add to our fabric and notion stashes. Since they had Christmas fabric 75% off, I am now in the mood to sew for Christmas....two weeks late.
We got a couple of good vintage sheets at the thrift stores and I came home and immediately threw them in the wash so I could begin a new project with them today. I totally didn't do any sewing today. But I did pull some fabric to coordinate with the sheets so I'm ready when I do sit down to sew. I am the first to admit that I am HORRIBLE with color. Jean can close her eyes and match colors...it takes me an hour and I still think I missed the mark. But this is what I came up with (the sheets I'm trying to match are on the bottom of each pile):
That's it for now, but I do want to mention that I will be a guest reviewer on Jean's latest podcast (due to be released today or tomorrow) so if you want to give a listen, the link is on her blog. It's a really good podcast and she mentions me a lot...so I love it!Happy New Year Blogland. I'll be back soon, promise!
always,
K
Love your color matching for the sheets. Awesome! That ceiling fan is to die for - really, I mean won't you die if you turn it on, and the stuff catches on fire? tee hee - guess if you don't turn the fan part on, right? So sweet that your man did the decorating - he's a keeper!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly, I came to your blog from Jean's. I wanted to tell you that I just got a new quilting book yesterday that had those towel covers in it. The book is "Holly Jolly Christmas Quilts" and they had the towel covers in there- there's a pattern for a tree, jingle bells, gift, mittens, and star. Whatever the name, yours are cute! I'm with you too, I'm just now ready to quilt for Christmas! Looking forward to more posts!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Tiffany
I also came here from your sister's blog. Love to listen to her podcast! It's great to have a sister to craft with! I also have a sister to craft with, it used to be regular scrapbooking, but we haven't done that for a while. Now we're both so far behind, we want to start making creative things with fav photos, like on canvas board or altered mixed media stuff. Yes, I'm also ready to finish & start christmas gifts! My creative process is really sporadic & usually comes at the last minute or 2 late!
ReplyDeleteLove the sheets, I'm slowly starting to like the retro fabrics, at 47 I always say its hard to do styles second time around. I feel like everyone will think I pulled the old stuff out of my drawers! Happy New Year of Crafting!
You have been doing some beautiful work darling! and the happiest of New Year's to you!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to see even more of your projects here as you adjust to working at home.
You did great for your first free motion quilt, keep practicing and you'll be a pro in no time. Thank you for sharing your lovely blog; keep up the great work, we look forward to seeing more from you in the future.
ReplyDeletewww.aqsquiltnews.blogspot.com