My FNSI was all about why I love Christmas!

I love the hustle, the bustle, the cooking, the decorating, the presents and the reason for the season!  I love that all the preparation is to celebrate something so wonderful.  I don't go around and declare my faith to everyone, I've always been pretty private about it.  I do love what Christmas is all about and why we have that holiday.  To me it is the most special holiday because it represents so much - salvation, love, and sacrifice, and pure joy.

So I get a lot of flack for doing my countdown to Christmas posts on Facebook, but I really am excited for it get here every year.

With the Friday Night Sew In, I started on some more Christmas gifts.  My friend Karen had showed me a pattern for a wine tote on ebay a while back (secretly, I think she wanted it and I snagged it out from under her - I'm a bad friend) that I ended up purchasing.



So I dug through my stash to find some Christmas fabrics, to see how I could make these cute totes up. In the essence of time, I decided against doing the patwork and the stitching.  I'm sure Karen is slapping her forehead.  I also had to consult my friend Regena about the size of the quilted body, so I could bypass the piecing - I'm still learning!



But one day I'll make the full blown tote - but I may want to keep that one for myself.  Then I found that last year, I had ordered some extra Sweetwater labels that would go great for where the stitching is on the flap.


I plan to do some embellishing to the flaps too to juice up the labels some.



Last night, I did all the cutting out and applied the labels and quilted the bodies of 3 totes for the Friday Night Sew In.


I got through 2 of the tote body quilting steps and 8/9ths of the 3rd before the dreaded bobbin emptied on me.



Last year I did a post about "Listen to the Bobbin".  Where I outlined how it never fails, you're up late sewing, you're tired, but you don't want to stop so you re-load the bobbin and next thing you know you have the seam ripper in your hand because you've screwed something up because you're too tired to still be up sewing at 2 am.  When the bobbin emptied on me last night, I closed up shop and crawled my tired butt into bed.

Friday Night Sew In

Heidi from Handmade by Heidi is having another FNSI.  I've signed up this week and love the whole idea of this.  It's a great way to unwind from a hectic week and spend some time being creative.

Since the count down to Christmas is getting close, I will work on some items for gifts.

Stay tuned to see what I work on and join in over at Heidi's blog.

Sorry I've been off sewing and working

Here are some things I've been working on. A tea towel for my bathroom Table runner number 1 - made from a tutorial on Sew4Home But I can't finish it because I messed up the backing fabric and I have a pact with Karen to not buy any fabric for the ENTIRE month of September. So far so good. Here is Table Runner 2. This is the top without the batting/backing/binding. And here it is after i attempted to free motion quilt it. Now this is the Lil' Rascals Quilt top. I am making this as a Christmas gift but can't finish it due to the no new fabric in September rule. I need the backing and the batting. So what have you been working on?

yooo whooo I'm back

Originally uploaded by amysgreatadventure

Been a crazy couple of weeks. Had a night trip to Chicago and then home a night to leave again for a week working in Switzerland. Came home to a week of Thanksgiving goodness. I've been busy so to speak.

I made the full turkey dinner from scratch (minus some rolls outta a box) with all the trimmings.

Then I went into full craft mode. Just before I left, I made this armrest pin cushion. It has become my most favorite sewing tool. I do a lot of hand finishing and stitching at night while watching TV and many of morning woke up to an armrest peppered with pens. Now they are in the pin cushion! It handy little pockets to stow my snips in or a pattern.

I've also made 4 Christmas stockings, 4 ornaments, 20 gift tags for a swap I'm doing with Karen and Regena! ( plus Carolyn and Mark). Plus a few kitchen towels and 2 sets of pot holders.

Now I need to sew up 6 aprons before Christmas and my sewing is all done!

Christmas in July Challenge - October

I finished my October project for Amanda's Christmas in July Challenge. It was an any item made from fabric so I could make whatever I wanted as long as it was Christmas themed and fabric based.

I made a Christmas lap quilt. I love the fabric I found in a charm pack. Then I had these tree patterns left over from the wine bottle covers I made so I used them as my quilting pattern on the quilt.



It was the first time I used flannel to back a quilt (I'm new into quilting) so I had a little bit of puckering but nothing a good ironing hasn't solved.



Overall I'm very happy with it except that my binding on one corner just didn't want to miter down as well as I would have liked.



Now on to November anything in any medium but Christmas themed! I have got to come up with an idea!