Christmas Has Come And Gone But I'm Not Done Making Decorations

I can't believe how many cute ideas I found to distract me this year.  I'm still working on several projects that are Christmas related.  I'm afraid that I will be Christmas crafting into the New Year.

I did manage to finish dear daughter's table runner, some small  tree ornaments, and her star garland, but I'm still working on the decoupaged cookie plates, my table runner, some fabric covered Christmas tree forms,  and a star garland for me.  My star garland may go up after I finish it and stay up all year.   Here is a picture of dear daughter's garland on her China cabinet.  She added fairy lights and it looks pretty.  I love the way this turned out and the stars are so easy to make. 

Other things I want to make are felt tree ornaments.   I found this picture on the internet and thought these felt ornaments were adorable.

I saw this picture a bunch of times for different ads.  The day I took this picture they were advertising Hobby Lobby craft store.  I have not been able to find this picture on Pinterest with a link to instructions or patterns, so dear daughter I made our own ornaments with green felt in the shape of a Christmas tree and we beaded them for her co-workers.

I also want to make some string art.  I found a string art star with instructions here.

As usual, I spent too much time watching YouTube videos showing items made from thrift store finds and I saw some interesting wood burning ornaments being made by using 4" wood rounds that you can get at Amazon.

One person was walking through a Antique store or 2nd hand shop and I also saw something I have to make.  It's a paper garland made from hymnal pages.  It's super simple, fan folding the pages and gluing a bunch together to make a long piece that you wind around a piece of twine.  I don't have a good picture of it but I took this screen shot from the video where I saw it.

I have looked on Pinterest and all over the Internet for a better picture or even instructions but could not find anything similar.  I fell in love with this garland, so much so that I bought a Baptist hymnal on Christmas day for this project.  I have the glue and twine.

I don't know when I'll finish Christmas decorations, I just hope I finish before next Christmas.

Craft Organization

     I spent the evening organizing.  My project list and project material box were out of control.  I was starting new projects before getting the older projects done and that is not good.  I'm a little obsessive about doing things in order and I really needed to revise my crazy long crafting project list.  I numbered every project in the order I want to do them, then I took all the materials to make most of these projects and organized them in separate numbered bags to correspond to the list.  All I have to do is pick up a bag and everything I need to get started will be there.  I didn't take a before picture of that messy box because it was just a jumble of material.  Now my project box looks like this:

My New Toy

  I celebrated my birthday yesterday and I had a really nice day.  Dear daughter took me out to dinner and gave me some birthday gifts.  One of her gifts to me was this:

     In November I talked to my daughter about the two of us going in together to buy the Brother PE 770 embroidery machine so we could expand our crafting horizons.  My daughter doesn't sew as much as I do but I knew that as soon as I bought this machine on my own she would want to use it.  I always let her use my sewing machines and whatever else she needs to make a project, but embroidery is a little more expensive so I thought it would be better if we shared the cost of this machine.  My plan was foiled by a sneaky child.       

    I can't wait to open the box up.  This morning I got busy doing some research on how to use it and figuring out what kind of supplies I have to have.  I also watched an hour long Youtube video on how to set the machine up and stitch out a design, then I found stabilizer, thread, pre-wound bobbins, and usb thumb drives on Amazon.  I'll place the Amazon order on Sunday so I should those supplies by early next week.  

    In the meantime, I'm going to set the machine up in the kitchen tonight (the cutting table and sewing table will be busy with the Pretty in Pink quilt, which I have to iron and pin baste tonight) and do some playing on it tomorrow, thank goodness for paid work holidays.  I have six spools of rayon embroidery thread that I can use to test the machine and I'll hoop two pieces of cotton on it for testing since I don't have any stabilizer.  The rayon thread was given to me by a friend who doesn't sew, but inherited her Mother's sewing supplies.  I wasn't sure I would ever be able to use those spools of thread, but now I'm glad I held onto them.

   I will share my stitching results with you tomorrow, in between cleaning my very dirty oven and quilting my Pretty in Pink quilt.

Artwork For My Room

      I found this cute, cute, cute Eifel Tower fabric on etsy.  I have this fabric in black and white, but the pink color is just a super lovely print.  I bought this fat quarter on etsy to cut a piece to frame for my pink and green bedroom makeover.  I love it.  I cut the piece to fit the frame and I starched the snot out of it (that's a quilter technique).  It fits this frame really well and the frame has those lovely flowers decorations on each corner.  This frame was made to place on a table with an easel installed on it but I removed the easel and nailed on a hanger to put it on the wall.  I don't really have enough table space to keep another picture with an easel.

The pink fabric on my plain beige walls is really pretty.  

My Project To Do List Updated

MY CRAFTING TO DO LIST – DECEMBER 5, 2014

Make my Irish Chain quilt in pink, green and white. You only need to order batting after top is complete. (I will start cutting fabric this weekend for this project).

Start the hand embroidery project “Never Underestimate The Power Of A Woman With A Sewing Machine.”   Get white fabric from stash, get a brown  Pigma pen and choose your embroidery floss colors before you start.

Make more pin cushions with small embroidery hoops (you have all the materials to finish these).

Make collapsible thread catcher with the 4” embroidery hoop you just ordered from Amazon.

Make a blue dog harness for Wolfgang.

Use hexagon punch you bought from Amazon to make papers for English Paper Piecing project.

Start crocheting a granny square afghan in pink, green and white for your bedroom.  You have lots of ideas posted on Pinterest board for inspiration.

Recover large ironing board with solid fabric that does not bleed.

Make new curtains for bedroom, living room, and dining room.  Use 108” backing fabric.

Learn how to cross stitch with small kits you bought.

Use pattern to make Gadget Girl sewing kit bag with vinyl pockets.  You have the pattern.

Print slipper pattern to make slippers.  You have the .pdf on your computer.

Make a new purse using bow tuck pattern you have or using the video tutorial by Debbie Shore.

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I love this list.  These are all projects just for me.