So Long...Farewell...

2013 that is!  It's hard to believe that another year has already come to an end.  It seems like just yesterday I was vowing 2013 would be better than 2012 and I was going to get so much done this year.  Well in many ways this was a much better year but there is always room for improvement and I'm looking forward to 2014 being better still.

I didn't finish up nearly as many projects in 2013 as I would have liked but here are a few snapshots of some of my favorites.

Best wishes to you and yours in 2014 and happy stitching.

WIP Wednesday (Still working on Homemade Holidays)

The progress in these parts has been a little slow this week.  A killer migraine due to the weather here had me down and out most of this past weekend.  I guess that's what happens when it goes from 80 degrees to 40 degrees in the span of a day.  We didn't get any of that beautiful snow some of you saw just a bunch of rain.  When I have been sewing it's been slow going.

I did manage to finish up these pincushions.  One is for my SIL and the other is for my mom.  She asked for a pincushion and since she already saw this on Instagram it isn't a surprise anymore.  The yellow one was for practice but I made it in yellow just in case it turned out alright so she could add it to her collection but my SIL is the one who like owls.  I followed this tutorial pretty loosely.

I also started working on quilting the table topper for my SIL.  I'm having a little bit of difficulties deciding what to do next.  I didn't want to use the darker red thread on the light parts on the top but since the back is all the solid red I don't want to use a light color thread on the back.  Anyone have any ideas?  Like I said before one of my biggest regrets with my mom's table topper was that I didn't think it was quilted enough.

Last but not least-this has nothing to do with quilting but I also made some apple pie infused bourbon for Christmas gifts this year.  It was super easy and I'm hoping it will be a hit with the husbands family.  I wanted them to have some ideas for drinks they could make with this so I found a few cocktail recipe-of course they needed to be prettied up.  I used picmonkey to make these little cards.  A friend let me test drive her pro account and I have to say I think the $33 dollar annual fee might be well worth it.  I've added it to my holiday wish list for sure.

So that's it for me.  Is everyone else as knee deep in holiday projects as I am?  Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to.

WIP Wednesday (Homemade Holidays Part 2)

I can't believe it is already Wednesday.  At the start of this week I kept telling myself only 15 more working days and then I can relax and enjoy my whole week off.  But now it's already Wednesday and I'm starting to feel the crunch of just how little time is left between now and Christmas.

I've been plugging away at my list of homemade gifts and trying to move as many as I can from the to do list to the done list.  Monday night I was able to finish up the binding on this little ditty that I'm calling Authentic Piece of Cake.  Named of course for the fabric line and pattern.  This pattern is pretty easy and it was a part of the Craftsy class I took with Camille.

I'm keeping this one under wraps for the most part until after the Holidays since it's a gift but I'm excited to have it finished up.  What are you working on?  Lots of homemade holidays going on?  Be sure to head on over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to.

Homemade Holidays Part 1

I might have over done it with the number of homemade items on my Christmas gift giving list.  I've made a lot of progress already but I have myself wondering if I might be a little crazy to have taken on so much.  So many of the things I can't show you just yet because of who they are for but I've been busy making quilts, pincushions, and other fun things.  You might remember the toy car roll up I shared previously was on the list as well.  I had been struggling with what I was going to give my sister in law for Christmas other than a pincushion that I had made up for her.  On Thanksgiving she commented on a table topper I had made for my mom a few years ago and how much she liked it.  Well I happened to have everything I needed to make another one and in burgundy and creams it even matches her home nicely.

The pattern is from Camille's first book and the fabric is French General Rouenneries.  Apart from the fact that these are stitch and flip blocks which I hate making the pattern is very user friendly and easy to follow.  It only took me a couple of hours to make the blocks and get the top put together between laundry and dishes yesterday.

Now comes the hardest part for me.  I need to quilt this little ditty.  One thing I always wish I had done differently on my mom's table topper was more quilting.  I was chicken back then so I just did some flowers in the solid and some straight lines in the boarder on hers.  It is pretty loosely quilted to put it mildly.  But now I have this one that needs to be quilted and I'm still chicken to do it.  Any suggestions?