Double Wedding Ring Christmas Wreath

Well, here it is.  The only Double Wedding Ring that I am ever likely to make.  :)  No, it wasn't really that bad, but it certainly is time intensive.  I threw around a few ideas for the DWR Challenge, but this is the one that stuck.  A ring in solid greens and and a red bow.

  I did a tiny stipple on the white and quilted leaves on the greens.  It was my first time doing leaves but it won't be my last.  I love how they look and they are pretty forgiving.  I am loving the flange binding too!  I want to do double bindings on everything these days.  :)

I made the back so it can work as a pillow or a wall hanging.   I am entering it in the DWR Challenge Small Category.  There are a bunch of great single rings over there, check them out!

Zipper Pouches

I taught a class this month at our church's Christmas Craft Night.  I am a firm believer that everyone should sew ;) so I suggested making zipper pouches as one of the activities.   I based them off of The Circle Zip Ear Bud Pouch - except that we used a 5x7 piece of fabric, no batting and zig zagged around the inside seam instead of  top stitching around the edges.

Here are two zipper pouches made by a mother and daughter team.  Love them!  They even went back and made a second set of pouches.   I love the bright contrasting zippers and pop of color on the inside.  Perfect for crayons, cars, IPods and all your special stuff.  The only bad part was that I missed out on taking the Learn How to Knit class. :(   But that is probably a good thing.   Goodness knows I don't need another hobby.  ;)

I have been trucking away at making Christmas pillows, quilt and tree skirt but things slowed down when I ran into trouble with my machine.  $%^#?^!  I was very frustrated with it, but we seem to be doing better.  Note to the wise:  when oiling your machine be careful not to get oil on the belts.  Not good.

Hope you are having a great weekend and can find some time to sew!  :)

Giveaway Winner, Branching Out and a Bit Nerdy

Lee Peters is the lucky winner of the beautiful rainbow fat quarter bundle!  I have emailed her to let her know.  Thank you soooo much for all the love and great recipe ideas.  I am going to come back to that post if ever I can't think of something to cook.  :)

I need to apologize.  The new Yahoo Mail format has thrown me for a loop.  It bundles all of the post comments in one email, which is nice so they don't take up the whole inbox, but it was hard for me to respond and keep track of who I had responded back to because my responses were put at the bottom of the list.  Then someone responded back and I didn't see her message for days and just now as I emailed Lee I saw a little link that said "25 more" and there were 25 more comments that I hadn't seen!!!  So if I didn't respond you might have been one of those 25.  Sorry.  I read all the comments as they appeared on the blog - it was easier  :) - and I truly appreciated every one.

This last week I branched out from quilting.  My friend Julie makes some awesome crocheted hats (check out her etsy site) and I have been bugging her for months to teach me how.  So with the cold weather coming, I finally went over.  I know how to do basic crochet, but can't really follow a pattern.  She sat by me and gave me step-by-step instructions as I made the purple owl hat.  I love it!  The girls all loved it too and each placed an order for their own owl hat.  I made the base of the blue/green hat (all by myself !) and just need to add the extras.  I also made a coordinating scarf.  I used a larger hook and double crocheted (DC for those in-the-know) a strand of blue and green at the same time.  It is super thick and warm.

So last Friday, my husband and I went out to dinner with another couple.  So fun!  I brought my yarn with me because I thought there might be a wait and figured I could work on the scarf at the restaurant.  As we waited for our meals to come, I reached into my bag to pull it out.  Then I stopped.  I looked around and thought, "This is going to be really weird if I pull this out.  No one else is crocheting...maybe I shouldn't."  Then I felt rather ashamed of myself for feeling embarrassed about my hobby.  Goodness, my husband and friends know I crochet and it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  For the record, I don't think one should pull out a knitting project on a first date ;) or if it will distract you from participating in a social situation, but that was not the case here.  So I pulled it out and got a few more rows on the scarf finished before our meal came.

Have you ever felt odd/embarrassed/nerdy because of quilting/sewing/crocheting/knitting?

Too Sweet For Words

This afternoon my girls' friend A___-across-the-street (yes, that's what we call her) came over with a present for my girls.  Three little rag quilts!  My girls were tickled pink to have their own special quilt made by their favorite A___-across-the-street and  I was beyond touched.  I think only a quilter really understands the effort goes into making a quilt.

So I decided to interview seven year-old A____-across-the-street about her quilts.  (Pictures and interview posted with permission from her mom.)  I love kid interviews.  :)

Me - Why did you decided to make these quilts?

A - My mom had the idea because she wanted to make quilts and she promised me we could make them.

Me - So you made them together?

A - We made them nights we had free when I wasn't doing stuff.

Me - How did you decide on the colors?

A - My mom bought some gingerbread men fabric because we are going to make some for Christmas presents and she thought it would be nice to make some for the neighbors too.

Me - What was the funnest part?

A - Clipping the edges.

Me - Did you get to use the sewing machine?

A - Yes.

Me - Is there anything else you want to tell me about the quilts?

A - No.

A quilter in the making!  (and a new quilting friend across the street?)  I can't wait to get the quilts in the wash and all frayed up and fuzzy.

Thank you!!