embroidery, quilting

christmas star table runner

{Be sure to enter my giveaway, too}

Glad I was able to get this little project out of my head, maybe now I can move on to making some Christmas presents!  Do you ever get like that?  One track mind – must get this project done type of thing?  Okay, maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I just get fixated on a certain project on my to-do list and everything else gets put aside.

So I actually had almost an entire day to myself this weekend, all by myself in my own house.  YES!!!! That never happens – ever. I’m usually lucky for an hour or so here and there.  Each year my husband’s family gets together to do a cookie bake and decorating sessions with all the cousins, so I shipped them off for the day.  It was really nice. Got to wrap presents, clear out about 6 bags full of goodies for goodwill, and even decided to do a little sewing.

I’m still using up my fabric from my other Christmas projects from this year and last.  So far I’ve made a tree skirt, 4 stockings, one advent calendar, and now this table runner.  Not too shabby, plus there’s a bit leftover that I might force myself into making into a pillow (okay, I probably won’t have to force myself into making a pillow, hahaha).
I had to throw in some hand quilting in there, not really because I planned it, but because once I had the top all sewn up it looked like it need some extra contrast to make the stars really punch.  And finished it off with some shot cotton for the binding. 
All in all I’m happy with the way it turned out, I even machine stitched on the binding again, extra speedy!
embroidery, quilting

hot chocolate anyone?

We love hot chocolate around here.  Especially with marshmallows. 

I had sketched out this silly little drawing the other day and intended to hand embroider it.  However, no where around here carries an iron on transfer pen or pencil. 
So I decided to try some free motion embroidery.  You’ve probably seen it floating around here and there in blogland.  Of course Aneela’s girl on a swing is so super cute and she gives a tutorial on how she made hers, so definitely go check it out.  And here’s a flickr pool that’s dedicated to this creative combination. 
Of course my first instinct would be to try and turn it into a pillow, but I resisted (barely) and decided it could be a mini wall hanging or mug rug. 
I included little twill tape loops on the back for hanging, but who knows where it’ll end up – maybe a giveaway is in order?
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