I asked my good friend to make these wooden dolls for my daughter this christmas. After seeing the amazing ones she made for her son, I commissioned (!) her to make some that looked like my family. I thought it would be a nice surprise on christmas morning not only for my daughter, but for everyone to see themselves in little wooden doll form. And they were the best present under the tree. From left to right: my husband, me, my daughter, my son, an uncle, grandma, pop pop, and an aunt. Another uncle was left at grandma's house, but I couldn't wait for him to get here to show these little works of art. I was going to spend the rest of this post badgering my friend into open her own esty shop, but this morning she told me she is planning on it. You too might have the chance to have some of your very own! So instead I'll show you the other fantastic present she made for my daughter.

A little felt book that my daughter calls her special book (or my special for short). I had a similar idea after we played with the felt board at the library and had to have a discussion about how we couldn't take it home. My idea wasn't as elaborate as this though. There are pockets for all the accessories and the toilet lid even flips open! It's given me lots of ideas and I'm lucky to have such a generous and talented friend who not only makes beautiful things, but will let me steal her idea and run with it. But best of all is that it kept my daughter busy (and quiet) for most of the christmas traveling.

This was the very last gift I made and just barely done in time. It was for my brother in law and it's the name of his band. And a large band it is. So I drew all the instruments in the band and embroidered them, then did the name in cross stitch free hand.  I got a little nervous that I wouldn't finish in time toward the end of "flatpickers" and I think  it shows.  I've learned that cross stitch requires actual planning (this was my first attempt) so maybe next time I won't just wing it.  On the whole I like how homemade it looks.  Folksy and modern--just like the band it's for.  I wanted the hoop to be the frame, but a quick look around the internets didn't turn up much, so I put another piece of fabric behind the embroidered bit and just cut them both to fit.  It's pretty slippy, does anyone know how to do this properly? The gift is still within my grasp and I could fix it if need be.

Hope everyone had a very merry christmas and got at least something you wanted.

These little babies are for the embroidered button swap that Ms. Greetingarts is hosting. This was my first idea and I'm very happy with how they turned out. I'm fairly new to the whole embroidery thing and I wanted to try something that was a little more detailed--something closer to drawing. I used the backstitch for the hands and the split stitch for the chopsticks. It sure as hell wasn't easy. I pulled out a lot of stitches, but by the time I got to the fourth button I was on a roll. For the smaller buttons, which are a little under an inch across, I traced the design and for the bigger ones, which are just over an inch, I simply looked at the picture and embroidered freehand. This second method really worked well for me, though by the time I got to the last button (in last row on the left) I got cocky and thought I didn't even have to look at the picture--bad idea. It's pretty wonky, but oh well; I was hoping the little egg I embroidered would make up for it, but then it didn't really turn out looking like an egg--more like a strange yellow piece of food, so I just put my needle down at that point. There are a couple of more picture of the buttons on my flickr account, if you'd like to see. This will be my first swap and I am ridiculously excited. We were only supposed to make 5, but that would mean making an incomplete set. Then you wouldn't know how to use your chopsticks and we can't have that.

I'm still posting about past projects, while I try to make this blog better. That will probably have to wait until the tech support I'm married to has time, which is always in short supply. There are new projects in the works, but progress is slow with two babies in my charge. This little banner was made for one of those babies. When I was pregnant with my second child, my friends threw me a lovely baby shower. Along with many unexpected and beautiful gifts, they all brought a little swatch of fabric to be made into a banner. My good friends, who planned it all, didn't have sewing machines, so I offered to put it together. They gave me the templates--three different size triangles--and I cut and arranged the fabrics and sewed them to this big ol' blue rickrack they picked out.  Nothing fancy, but the various sizes make it a little different and big rickrack is always awesome.  I really like that the fabric came from all different closets and bookshelves and boxes (why is it everyone has a little stash of fabric, even if they don't sew?), that it's a mix of new and old, and that it came together so well.  It makes me incredibly happy every time I look at it. We moved to this town when my daughter was very small and I didn't know anyone. Now I am surrounded by a group of very generous and very talented women. I am too lucky.

One thing this brief stint of blogging has taught me: I cannot take a flippin picture. Obviously I took this little beauty at night, but there is a reason. I was cramming for the final. The lovely ladies over at Crafty Daisies taught an embroidery class for beginners (embroidery 101, if you will) in a series of posts on their blog. I tried embroidery once before and loved it, so I was thrilled about the class. And I read every post, but somehow never got around to the actual stitching part. So in true procrastinator fashion, I did it all the night before. All I can say is thank god for the stem stitch. I thought because I was doing all the homework at once I would actually combine all the homework into one big project. Turns out this was a better idea in my head. I took all the elements of the homework designs and made a strange birthday party in the garden where the little snail spoils everything. Or at least that's what it became.

I learned quite a bit. Like, embroidery is drawing with texture. Which is really a bizarre thing to do and something I'm excited to experiment with. And separating embroidery thread is a pain in the ass. Is there a trick? Am I missing something? And the biggest lesson, embroidery takes a lot longer than you think it will, so start early.