cross-stitch project: travel mug

For Christmas, my sister-in-law asked for a travel mug. Since I was on a crafting kick for holiday gift giving this year, I wanted to somehow personalize the mug and disguise the fact that it was store bought. I decided cross-stitch was the way to go.

Inspired by the petals pattern on the set of Avie Designs' stationery that I also included in her Christmas package (which I snapped up during the free stationery sale), I translated the pattern into cross-stitch, and cross-stitched it in shades of pink and peach. Because of the size of the surface, it took quite a bit of time to stitch, but I was happy with the results and definitely plan on using the design for other projects.

earrings by adaptive reuse

Back in December, while attending the Blue Genie Art Bazaar, I filled out a card for a chance to win a pair of earrings by Adaptive Reuse. A few weeks later, Christine, the owner of Adaptive Reuse, contacted me to let me know I was one of the lucky winners of a pair of retro saucer earrings.

The earrings feature tin discs in two shades of blue and are both light and playful. 

Everything in the company's jewelry line is made from colorful bits of found and upcycled tin. This pair of earrings and this pair are two of my favorites. For more lovely images, check out the Adaptive Reuse Etsy shop here.

crafting in the new year

Lovely embroidery supplies won on September House's blog.

With the new year, comes new crafting projects.  Here's what's currently on my workbench:

>> Little forest quilt by Lovely Design (posted on Purl Bee)

>>Ruffly headband by Heart of Light

And here are some of the other projects on my to-try list:

>>Pom poms by bleubird (I've already made one pom pom from red yarn, and I love it.)

>>Yo-yo wreath by TrueUp

>>Argyle ornament by September House

>>Fabric pom poms from Once Wed

christmas loot: cross-stitch earrings

From my husband:

Cross-stitch earrings by The Pin Pals.

blogger christmas swap: what i received

So in exchange for the cross-stitched mustaches I sent to my swap partner for the Blogger Christmas Swap in December, I received these goodies from my thoughtful swap partner, Tamera:

Floss and vintage notions

Vintage ribbon with a cross-stitch design

Colorful zipper pouch

Tamera is the lovely gal behind Crank Heart Pony, an Etsy shop filled with handmade bags and excellent vintage finds. I've already started using the pouch to carry all of my pens and pencils, and I'm excited to find a use for the cross-stitch ribbon. Any suggestions on what I should do with it?

love: b. poetic

I've completely fallen in love with the ruffly and romantic fabric flowers of B. Poetic. I would have loved to have worn a B. Poetic ribbon belt or pair of shoe clips at my August wedding--and would have, had I known about them sooner!

Silk Shoe Clips in Dark Mint Green

Shoe Clip Bouquet

Ruffle Belt

The B. Poetic Etsy shop, with lots of pretty products, can be found here.

quilting project: pieced border scrap quilt

Back during Scrap Buster Month on Sew Mama Sew!, I fell in love with this quilt by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts. Knowing that I wanted to make my parents a quilt for Christmas, I decided to use her easy-to-follow tutorial.

I chose to keep the colors for the lap quilt simple, and used shades of blue for each border. The blues were a combination of scraps from around the studio, and fat quarters that I found on sale. The white cotton and the blue flowered backing were both thrift store finds.

I made the binding myself, using my handy new bias tape maker. In order to ensure that the backing was wide enough, I added a patched strip of some of the blue fabrics that were used on the front. Everything was quilted on my machine.

And finally, using an extra square, I embroidered a message to my parents, and stitched it to the quilt's backing.

felt flower brooch

From one of my Christmas crafting sessions with my mom:

a green felt flower brooch.

austin monthly: jenny n. design

Baby Ruche Bag in Eggplant Leather

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jenny Nguyen, the talented bag designer behind the Austin-based Jenny N. Design. My article about Jenny appears in the January issue of Austin Monthly, which can be found on newsstands around town now.

embroidery project: a + m

As a Christmas gift for two little girls in our family, I decided to embroider their initials using some of the skills I've picked up from reading Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects.

 

Using a stencil, I traced each initial onto a piece of fabric and embroidered it using a simple split stitch.

I framed each one in an embroidery hoop, and finished the back following this tutorial. I'm really happy with the results, and am looking forward to taking on more advanced projects.

quilting project: table runner

As a Christmas gift for my parents-in-law, I made a quilted table runner, similar in design to the baby quilt I made in October.

All of the fabrics I used were ones I already had on my studio's shelves, and, thankfully, fit the color scheme of my relatives' home.

For the binding, I used the green ribbon left over from all of our Pottery Barn wedding gifts.

On the back, I included a strip of ribbon, which I embroidered with the recipients' names and a greeting.

sewing project: star ornaments

Happy New Year! I'm finally back from a week-long vacation filled with movie watching, fabric sorting, crafting, and quilting by a fire (temperatures were below zero in Vermont!). I was excited--and lucky--to receive lots of crafty gifts for Christmas (which I'll post soon), though the yards and yards of fabric given to me by my mom and aunt (including some amazing vintage quilting fabrics, from the 1930s and 1940s) were among my favorites.

These star ornaments were one of the gifts that I gave this year. Following this tutorial (which was part of Sew Mama Sew's Scrap Buster Contest back in October), I made each star from remnants of Japanese fabric, scraps of ribbon, and buttons.

More gift posts to follow!