Sweet Dreams Butterfly

"Sweet Dreams Butterfly" has always been a part of our bedtime ritual.

I hope she'll cherish this pillow forever... I will.

The embroidery pattern is by Vol.25 stitched with variegated thread.

Special Gifts and Giveaways - Oh My!

This week has been very gifty.  On Wednesday, Sew Mama Sew hosted a giveaway day where lots and lots of crafty blogs held giveaways.... and I won one!!!  Oh, and you are gonna be jealous.  I won a box of beautiful fabric from Oh, Fransson one of my favorite blogs.  She is a super crafter and always has the most beautiful and fun projects going!  You must check her out.  But, the really exciting thing for you guys is that I want to keep the giving going so I'm tomorrow I'm going to host my own giveaway!!!  I don't know exactly what the gift will be yet, but I promise it will be worth checking out!

Yesterday, I mailed out my AREtsy secret santa gift.  I really love doing swaps.  I feel like I can really be creative, more so than when I'm creating for my shop.  I just hope she likes them!  I feel pretty safe posting a picture here because she should have it today and the chances of ruining the surprise are pretty slim I think.  So....

My person is getting this crafty little set of goodies.  The tissue holder is made with one of my favorite Japanese import fabrics, the house ornament is embroidered with that cute pattern from vol.25, and the little embroidered button pattern is from pimp stitch.  

Finally, the most special gift this week came from the big man himself - Santa.  I took Taylor to see Santa at the mall yesterday after school and she brought with her a teeny bell to give to Santa to give to Rudolf.  She sat on his lap and gave him the little bell and in return he gave her his bell.  How cool is that?!  The look on her face was absolutely priceless.  

Cute Houses

I have a thing for cute, colorful houses.. in real life and in art.  Last night I got to test out a new embroidery pattern by Jessica Rose of Vol 25.  She emailed me the set of patterns yesterday, and I just fell in love!  They are so cute and fun.  I immediately thought "row houses" and "pillow".I used bright colors and kept the stitching really simple and artfully imperfect to keep it feeling whimsical.  The border around the pillow is by Amy Butler (Wall Flowers in Mustard). The back and background fabric is chocolate brown linen.

Jessica has a couple of free patterns in her flickr group as well as pictures from other testers.  I can't wait to see what else she turns into embroidery patterns.  You should check out her other work.. fantastic it is!  She has a very lovely etsy shop.

So excited to unveil....

My very first Special Edition wallet!  Some of you may remember that I was working on getting set up with Sublime Stitching's licensing program a while back.  Well, I got approved and I just listed my very first hand-embroidered super organized wallet!  

I will be listing these periodically, so you'll have to check in every now and then. I'll give a special head's up to my blog reader's so you guys will be the first to know when a new one is being listed. Each one will be different (different fabrics, patterns, colors.....).  These are really an outlet for me.  I love sewing the items for my store, but sometimes it becomes more about getting products out there than about the creative process.  These take care of that for me and we all win!

Another project for little bit

I'm just popping in to share my latest project.... another little something for my little bit to take to school.   We're just a few days away from the big first day!  We went shopping today for a few last things (bag, lunchbox, and thermos). But, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a backpack from the store.... just couldn't do it.  So, off to Hancocks we went.  Taylor said she really wanted a messenger bag, so that's just what she got.  She picked out this super cute corduroy all by herself and decided that it must have her name stitched on it somewhere.  The name patch is fused on and then I just kinda went willy-nilly with the border stitching.  Kinda fun, I think.  I even went for an adjustable strap.  I'm not sure why I've always shied away from doing those; it was way easy.  There's nothing fancy inside, no pockets, and the flap closes with a magnetic snap.  

Oh, and we did buy a lunch box (pink camo) ... I thought about making it, though :)

The New Blankie

As promised, here are the pictures of the new nap-time blankie.  I decided that it really didn't need tying  since the flannel sticks pretty well to the cotton.  It's just a simple, sew it right sides facing, leave a hole, turn it, then top stitch around the edge (note: I should have changed to a top-stitching needle to make the stitches look a little nicer, but I'm out and too lazy to go to the store).  Easy peasy.  I did add a little special something to the backside, though.

Cheers to Summer

The first official day of summer may not have happened yet, but it's definitely here.  The sticky humidity and blazing heat are here.  I'll take it, though, because along with it comes staying up late to chase fireflies in the front yard and waiting for the ice cream truck, frequent popsicle breaks, lotsa reading, trips to the fountain park, wading pools, and sprinklers.  It also means a little less crafting, but that's OK, too.  I may have to take a page from Anne's book and start doing a bit of needle work.... something I can do while sittin' in a patio chair.  I ordered the book Sublime Stitching a while back all fired up about doing some embroidery and bringing in that element to my other projects, but my excitement sorta fizzled.  Wouldn't it be awesome to have a hand embroidered wallet, though?  I think it would!  So.  Now I've said it out loud... you all heard me (those of you who are sweet enough to peek in on me now and then)!  Before summer's end, there will be at least one good (that's key, right?) embroidered project.  

Now then, it's time to get back to my book.  :)  Oh, and I wanna know all about your summer crafting.  What's your favorite thing to craft in the summertime?...ya know in case the stitching doesn't go as well as planned...