All is calm, all is bright...

 Well, it is hardly calm and bright here, but it makes for a lovely post heading, don't you think?

I am up early today for a big day of cookie distribution, housecleaning, and cooking to get ready for tomorrow, but I did want to just wish you all well this Christmas. All the presents are wrapped and under the tree-- unlike other years, my embroidered gifts are all finished! Very unusual for me, as I usually think nothing of giving gifts that are 95% done-- here is a glimpse at an often repeated scene at my house on Christmas morning:

Recipient (opening gift): OOOOOooooooooh!

Me: Be careful! There's pins in it!

Last year, the girls got stockings, so this year, it is the boy's turn, and this is what I came up with--

This one is for my son-- he has his own auto repair shop-- Rebel Motorworks. You probably know that back in the day, I was a graphic designer, so I was able to gin up a cool logo for him... and it's wonderful to be able to embroider things with it.

I am always so pleased when something comes out-- well, it looks so PROFESSIONAL, doesn't it! LOL.

There were still pins in it at the timing of that photo, but now it is completely finished, wrapped, and under the tree.

Now here is one for my daughter's new beau. Do you have a "thing"? You know, like horses, or penguins? His "thing" is...

I had so hoped to find a "yellow" Christmas print for it-- I am sure such a thing exists, but not in my stash. So to make it more Christmassy, I appliqued the Santa hat-- and doesn't that look like just the exact Santa hat a snake would wear? I blurred out the name in Photoshop so if this person happens upon this blog, they won't realize it's for them. heehee.

Next year, I am going to write up stocking tutorials for you all-- it is so easy to just put any design on cloth and make a fabulous custom stocking-- what is embroidery for, if not to make the absolutely perfect gift?

None of the men in my family ever set foot in my sewing room or even know I have a blog-- so these are all top secret and they will be surprised. 

So now I am going to bore you for a few minutes... trust me, only people who love sewing will want to continue. 

Have a Merry Christmas, ALL!

In the last post, I was trying to stitch up this odd looking block for my Corey Yoder BOM-- don't take it as criticism-- after all-- it has checkers in it, and you know how that's a "thing" I love!

It just looks like it is trying to be Santa hats-- am I missing something? Then, as I was making it, I saw that it is the Christmas tulips, opening their gifts.

Unfortunately, the OCD in me also saw that this checkered fabric looked off kilter in the pattern. This BOM is run by Fat Quarter Shop, who is famous for supplying twice the fabric you actually need, so I decided to see if I could get the checkers to line up a bit  more neatly. I was finally happy with this one!

Unfortunately, again, it took me about a whole fat quarter to make this, and I need three more! I also made it into a huge chore-- -do you ever find yourself saying in your head, "This was supposed to be fun." At this point, it has ended up back in a box-- unfinished.

And then, despite nationwide shipping delays, the next month came right on time-- BOO! I had hoped to be done by now-- so I am officially behind on yet another BOM. 

On the plus side, Month 5 is more up my alley-- I love a star block!

 

So that's another project added to my "catch-up" list in January, already longer than I'd like it to be!!

Psst...

Are you still there?

It's now back to fabulous embroidered gifts! I'm sure the BOM chat caused the ladies in my family to lose interest in reading-- because here are the presents I just can't wait to show you!

Every year, I make a fabulous embroidered Notebook Cover"-- I have to admit, it's mostly for testing purposes, because I've never written a word in any of them. (In my defense, I did sketch a few pages in one.) So this year (someone) asked for a journal for a gift-- that was like asking a eskimo for snow! I went right to work-- here is a notebook I picked up in the office supply section at Walmart...

I had a ton of fabric left over from the Sew in Love quilt-- another Fat Quartershop subscription.

I'm not a fan of pink, but this person is, and I did find a few pink ribbons in my ribbon stash to embellish it. 

Everything looks so much better with just that little added extra!

Well, it turned into a real eye popper! So much so, I think I am going to make another one for myself!

In thinking about 2020, it would have been the perfect year to document all that happened-- all the details that are now starting to dull in my mind.

So let's try again in 2021 to write a few bits of hard earned wisdom for future generations to benefit from.

And finally, this is the present I am MOST EXCITED to give-- 

if you follow my blog, you know that I finished a 23-year old cross stitch stocking I had started in 1997... well, it isn't really "finished' until it is made into a stocking is it?

So there it is, and forgive me for the picture on top of laundry, but I had to sneak around to finish and wrap it, because my daughter is living with us right now. She knows I finished it late this summer, but I haven't mentioned it since then, so I think it will be a big surprise. No one knows better than she does how I have trouble finishing things!

<3

It's worth noting that cutting it out took every
fiber of courage I possess!

So now we have arrived at the end of our sewing year, 2020,
and I've used up more words than I intended on this post...

it's okay, because there really are no words to express my thanks to all of you for enriching this little machine embroidered corner of the world with your friendship and love.

A calm and bright MERRY CHRISTMAS, to you ALL!

xox

Carol