O Christmas Tree

My husband and I have a tradition of adding a personalized ornament to our tree every year. We take turns each year selecting our ornament and try to do something unique. Last year my husband added a lovely hand painted ornament featuring our cats Sophie & Max. This year it's my turn and I was inspired by this lovely print from Spanish artist Blanca Gomez to make our ornament.

I cut the basic shapes from inexpensive craft felt and attached them to a sheet of white felt using wonder under. I added detail using embroidery floss and then to add heft I fused it together with a piece of heavyweight interfacing and backed it with a second sheet of white felt. I cut around the figures and finished the edge with a blanket stitch.

I think this technique would also make great gift tags, sadly there are just not enough hours in the day. Maybe next year...

Christmas Wrap-Up

I was spoiled with quite a few wonderful gifts this year: books on sewing and knitting, fabric, yarn, a stylish McAuley almnae t-shirt and a vintage Vera tablecloth just to name a few. I love all my gifts but I wanted to share a few special handmade gifts from the crafty women in my life:

A ribbon yarn necklace from Mom



Earrings from Aunt Sue



A Girls' Week '09 memory book from Krista & Lydia



A wreath from my cousin Lisa

Yummy homemade relish and strawberry jam from my colleague Mary

I have to admit I dropped the ball a bit on making gifts this year but with all this inspiration to draw from I'm thinking one of my new year's resolutions will be to start working on my Christmas gifts in July.

Sock it to me

Finally, the set is complete. The socks reached their destination and I've been told they are hanging on the mantle with the rest of the set.

Since I didn't put names on the stockings I personalized them in other ways. Mom's stocking features gingerbread and her famous Italian cookies. Dad's stocking has a nod to his favorite baseball team -- the Red Sox, of course.

Now all that's left is to wait for Santa. I certainly hope everyone made the nice list this year.

Sneak Preview

You might remember these stockings I made for my favorite kids last year. There were supposed to be stockings for Mom & Dad too but they never quite got finished. I'm happy to report the set is finally complete and they are on the way to join the kids' stockings on the mantle just in time for Santa. I don't want to spoil the surprise but I can't resist sharing a sneak peak of my favorite details:

Lydia's Knitting Bag

My favorite 10 year old is very precise with her Christmas list. While she does enjoy HSM as much as any other girl her age, her list is always unique. One year she asked for a pink guitar, last year she wanted a decorative pillow for her bed and this year it was knitting bag. Specifically, a knitting bag that was big, creative, had pockets for her needles and her knitting book and was filled with bamboo needles, a crochet hook and pretty yarn.






I'm happy to report the bag was a hit. Now I just need to find time to take those knitting lessons she's promised me.

The Stockings Were Hung....

Last year my Christmas present to my best friend was a promise to design and make stockings for her entire family. I'm still working on Mom & Dad but I finished the kids' stockings in time for the holidays.

Hanging on the mantle

Griffin's snowball fight stocking

Lydia's snowboard stocking

Stella's snowman stocking

These were fun to make and the older kids gave input on the designs. The stockings are made of felt. I used fusible web for the appliques and did a blanket stitch around each piece. All the details are hand embroidered.

Lydia approved :)

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Red coats, good friends and hot chocolate from Burdick's

Holiday movies, especially this one

And my all time favorite

Max in his santa coat

Especially when he's sleeping

Decking the Halls

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We had our first snow of the season today. It was just a dusting but it's starting to feel like the holidays. I met my friend Jenn at the annual Bazaar Bizarre to do some Christmas shopping and then walked back to the T thru the Copley Place and Prudential Center to check out all the holiday decorations. It definitely put me in the holiday spirit.

Sadly, still no tree as I have a few projects to finish up before I can pack away the sewing machine that is currently set up in the middle of the living room. But I did want to share our newest Christmas ornament:



It makes me smile everytime I look at it. I had it custom made by an Etsy shop called Lynn's Little Creations. She does beautiful work and I was impressed with how quickly she was able to put it together. If you are looking for something special I would highly recommend her shop.

The Countdown Begins

I can hardly believe Christmas is right around the corner! No tree yet as that would require packing away the sewing machine and I still have a few gifts to finish up but I was inspired to create a new Advent calendar. Mine is based on this pattern from the adorable Allsorts blog.

Wishing....

Just in case Santa is reading, I thought I would mention that I am in LOVE with this collage from doe-c-doe's beautiful Etsy shop.