“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” – Burton Hillis (Better Homes and Gardens)
Merry Christmas! I hope you all are enjoying the gift and presence of family and friends, wrapped up in each other, as we are.   I thank all of you for reading and commenting on my ramblings and I look forward to future posts on this blog. There will be no new posts until Dec. 27.
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This stocking was made for Laurel’s first Christmas. For years before Laurel was on the way, her mother had fostered hundreds of orphaned squirrels. As a safety precaution, she had taken a short break from handling rodents during pregnancy and nursing. So she particularly enjoyed the squirrel theme.
The Woods Stocking cross stitch designs from ABC Embroidery, www.abc-machine-embroidery-designs.com are absolutely charming. The cross stitch looks exactly as if it were done by hand.   The collection includes the actual stockings pattern, sized for the designs to fit perfectly. Continue reading
Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.~Laura Ingalls Wilder
I love holiday pillowcases. Christmas, being the most special holiday of all, is reason enough for several sets of pillowcases—for my bed, for the guest room, for my grandchildren’s beds at my house and at their homes, for our cabin in North Carolina, for the guest rooms in my children’s homes, for special little friends……. I could go on and on. Continue reading
Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone. – Charles Schulz
There are so many people who touch our lives, though they are not major players. “Something extra,” can be a small remembrance, a gift to acknowledge but not to oblige.
For our family, fresh fruit from our citrus trees has often filled the bill for small presents. But this year I wanted to focus a little more on presentation.
I thought the addition of an embroidered dishtowel would be something extra. I could have just slipped it into the brown paper bag in which I normally pack the citrus. But then I thought of this specialty thread and decided that a washaway bag was just what I needed.
Posted in bags, Holiday Projects, home dec, machine embroidery, serger, techniques
Yet another gift has been completed for in-laws of my in-laws.  This relatively quick and easy project can serve its original purpose as a linen guest towel or as a Christmas banner.
The linen guest towels come in a variety of styles. Some have hemstitching at both ends while others have only a 1/2″ turned hem at the plain end. This one, with hemstitching forming the casing at the top and three rows of hemstitching, met my need for a decorative casing as well as hemstitching suitable for a few rows of ribbon.
The embroidery design, Peace on Earth with Dove Tree, is from one of my favorite design sites, Embroidery Library www.emblibrary.com Continue reading
Tick tock, tick tock……Christmas is coming. As I work to finish up some small gifts for extended family, including several in-laws of in-laws, I am so glad that I have an embroidery machine.
In my opinion, these fingertip towels and the other presents I am making are nice enough to show that some effort was extended on their behalf, yet small enough to prevent the recipients from feeling obliged. And if they don’t care for my gifts, they can still be used to dry hands or to dust.Actually,  they are all such nice people that I do hope they are pleased. Continue reading
Though they live hundreds of miles apart, the adorable, girly 5 year old cousins see one another often enough to be close friends and enjoy wearing the matching clothes that Judy makes for them. In the pictures, you can see their matching blue smocked bishop dresses peeking out at the top of their coats. Continue reading
Posted in girls, machine embroidery, smocking
Tagged muff, smock velveteen, smocked coat, smocked muff
Laurel’s Christmas dress was finished just in time for her brother Robert’s preschool Christmas program. In fact, her father had taken her for an afternoon outing and managed to get her to the program wearing jeans and a tee shirt only a few minutes ahead of me carrying her holiday clothes.
She was absolutely taken with the dress, mostly because of the fullness of the 90″ skirt.  This motivated her to twirl, perform some of her ballet moves and smile at everyone, entertaining the waiting parents, grandparents and friends. Laurel loves an audience, even if, technically, it’s her brother’s audience.
The bib, collar and sleeves are all trimmed with ecru tatted edging. The design on the embroidered button on bib is yet another from Bernina’s Current Critters Continued. Laurel’s mother has decided that the “critter” nestled in the big bow is a baby squirrel and she should know. As a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, she has hand fed hundreds of them. I always thought it was a mouse, but I defer to her expertise. Continue reading
Posted in brother-sister, clothing, girls, Holiday Projects, machine embroidery
Tagged Christmas Critters, christmas dress, machine embroidery, tatting, Viyella
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I have always loved crazy patch quilting but hadn’t used this technique for several years until I began this project.  Made for my dear friend, my daughter-in-law, it was a perfect diversion from my sewing marathon of baby/children’s items.Â
There are so many things I love about doing crazy patch. I like combining fabric with a variety of textures like silk dupioni, corduroy, velvet, satin. I can’t think of another kind of sewing that would allow that.Â
Adding little snippets of interesting lace, odd buttons, special ribbons and all the decorative stitches available on our sewing machines transforms crazy patch into a potpourri of sewing delights. Continue reading
Posted in Holiday Projects, home dec, machine embroidery
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Glenn button-on-bib
With only 9 days left until Christmas, I am down to the wire finishing my grandchildren’s holiday outfits. Baby Alastair has been wearing his since Thanksgiving (see Lemonade post), but 4 year-old Robert and 5 year-old Laurel are expecting delivery tomorrow. This button-on bib is the last piece of Robert’s suit which will be complete just in time for his preschool Christmas program.
The Children’s Corner Glenn suit is made of a beautiful piece of vintage brown plaid Viyella from my stash. Vintage! Did you know? I didn’t. I just thought it was old. (See below.) The button-on bib is made of a linen look-alike blend and embroidered with a design from Bernina’s Current Critters Continued. Continue reading
Posted in boys, Holiday Projects, machine embroidery
