Sew Nice!**

Remember those curtains and rods I helped my dad hang a few weeks ago? Some of them were some new drapes my mom got for the family room. They look really great in the room, but now the throw pillows on the couch don't match! I hate to see the current pillows go to waste, so I decided to make new covers for them.

I decided that I wanted to make two pairs of pillows—one pair in the same fabric as the drapes and another pair in an accent color. First I had to find another drape. Since these were on super-duper-clearance, it was especially difficult to get my hands on one. As it happens, one was finally located about 200 miles from my house and I made arrangements to have it shipped to me.

I found the red fabric in a remnant bin at the fabric store. It's a nice micro-suede.

See the beige cross pattern between the circles? I repeated that pattern in my red pillows. I cut the red square into fourths, stitched it back together, and added a few more rows of stitches. 

To top them all off, I finished one of the edges of each pillow with a zipper so that inserts could be easily popped in or taken out as needed. I think they turned out pretty good! I'm looking forward to giving them to my mom for Christmas. Think she'll like them?

**UPDATE! Mom liked her pillows! Here's a shot of them with the couch!

'Tis the Season

I'm still around! Just haven't been able to post much lately because so much of what I have been up to is Christmas gift related (check back here after Christmas for details)! However, I did finish up a project today that I can share with you.

Our family has some Christmas tree ornaments that we consider to be very special. I wanted to make some special pouches for them for during the off-season when they're in storage. First I found some red fleece (on sale, of course!)—it's that super cozy stuff that they make scarves and coats out of.

I cut from the left salvage edge to the right at a height of four inches. Then I cut my strips down into eight inch pieces. I finished the short edges with a zigzag stitch.

Here I have stitched the short edges on my eight inch pieces.

Once that was done, I folded the piece into thirds with a slight overlap of the two short edges and stitched the raw edges together.

The ornament will easily slide between both flaps with just the ribbon hanging out.

And... VOILA! Soft ornament pouches to keep our special ornaments from scratching each other!

Other projects I have been busy with:

• Helped my kid's Girl Scout Daisy troop make ornaments for a Christmas tree at the airport and Christmas cards for their teachers
• Assembled a firewood rack for a load of firewood we had delivered (we are REALLY enjoying our fireplace!)
• Resized the frame for the print above the fireplace mantle
• Sewed some Christmas presents

Another project I'm in the midst of is helping the kids in my daughter's class with some Christmas ornaments to give as gifts to their parents. The project involves painting the kid's hand and have them grasp a ball ornament. Once the paint is dry, the kids then decorate each painted finger as a snowman.

This is the inspiration image I found on the internet for the ornaments our kids are working on for their parents.

On Friday we got everybody's handprint painted on a ball. This week the kids will finish painting the faces and scarves and take the ornaments home to their folks. I'm super excited about this project—I hope the kids will be too when they see the end result! I'm especially excited that I get one!

So are you ready for Christmas at your house? We're getting there! I can't believe it's only a week away! Best wishes to you and yours...

Sew Into You*

My little one tested for her yellow stripe for her Kung Fu sash the other day. She had to demonstrate to the Sifu that she could do the material that she and her fellow students have been working on these past few weeks.

Here they are in the midst of their test.

She earned her stripe!

Project for today? Get that stripe sewn on!

*I was listening to Atlanta Rhythm Section's "So Into You" song when I did this sewing project, hence the post title! : P