I made my Christmas cards for 2012.   Strange?   Absolutely.  Wonderful?  YES!  I know I could just upload a picture to a template, type in a quantity and be done but for some reason I’m not ready to do that yet.  I still want to make my cards, but the past couple of years have taught me that my fall and winter season is always overcrowded and my cards end up being a source of stress (not until I’m half done with them, that is, when it’s too late to back out and upload a picture).  If I carried one thing forward from the holiday season we just enjoyed, it was  a determination to make sure that this year is better.  So I spent some time in January doing just that.

I’ll have a bit of work to do in the fall when I get them back out but it’s only to add the finishing touch.  All supplies for this, including envelopes and an updated Christmas card list sit in the box.   I made a list of notes to myself about what still needs finishing (add a greeting and a photo) and now I’m done.

There was something really nice about investing now in my emotional well-being down the road.  Something nice about preparing a gift for myself to appreciate in another ten months.  Something about doing it makes me feel more like I’m worth it, and it feels good.

Hopeful Homemaker

I’m really excited about the class.  I’ve taken sewing and quilting classes before but this is the first online class I’ve been involved in.  I think I’ve sewn just one curved seam in my life, so this will be a good thing for me to learn.  Learning new skills is part of my goal for 2012, to feel more joy.  When I’m learning I am happy because I’m growing.  The moment that cinched the deal on paying for the class was when I saw this retro flowers quilt.  I want to make one and so I’m going to learn how to sew curves.

My biggest worry with this class is that I really don’t have time for it.  The lull on our calendar during early winter has disappeared and life is in full swing at our busy home.  I hope I’ll be able to find the time to master this skill and make some great things along the way while still keeping life running smoothly.  That’s why my sister and I signed up together, so we can make sure we get our projects done and keep life balanced as well.  I’m super excited to take the class with her.

For those here visiting from the class, I’m a stay-at-home mom  who would love to actually be able to spend more time at home!  I have eight children ranging from age 14 to 2 and yes, they’re all mine.  (Hence my nervousness about not finding time to master this like I hope to.)  Sewing has become one of my favorite hobbies, something permanent that I can do in a home where everything seems to be undone 2.5 seconds after I finish it.  I love color, texture, pattern and using beautiful fabric seems to fill a creative need in my life.  Honestly, my skills are probably somewhere in the novice circle, but I’m not bothered by it.  I know I’ll get better over time and make a lot of useful things along the way.  I try to spend a few minutes every day or two at my sewing machine, even if it’s just for ten minutes.

I’ve always loved to make things and hope I’ll learn to make some great new things this month.   So welcome, February!

What are you going to do this month?

Jennifer

Here’s what I need help with.  I made three stacks of flannel fabrics I could use for this project, but I’m not sure which one to use.  Like I said, I’ve never met them and have no idea what the mother’s style is.  So I’m asking for opinions.  Would you mind letting me know which stack you prefer?

#1

#2

#3

And also on the sewing table, these squares that I’ve finally started piecing together.  A houndstooth quilt is on my list of quilts to make this year, and it’s finally underway.  I’m going for red and white.

Please leave a comment telling me which bundle you would prefer if you were receiving a baby girl quilt.  Thanks so much, I really do appreciate it.

Jennifer

I’m working on being a better friend this year, and remembering birthdays is one of the way I intend to do it.  I also plan to make handmade birthday gifts this year for several reasons:  it allows me to be creative, it encourages to use my supplies and allows me to personalize gifts.  A box of handmade notecards was my first gift this year.

These notecards were made for an amazing friend, one who uses the art of the handwritten note liberally to bless the lives of others.  I wanted to make something she could use anytime she wanted to send a note in the mail.  I ended up going with ultra simple designs, letting them speak for themselves.

I was pleased with how the bicycle card turned out.  The stripes, the scallop edge and the image of a bike are all simple but happy.

I also made some little gift tags that can be used anytime, complete with baker’s twine and a little chevron bag to keep them in.

I bought a box for the notecards to fit in and personalized it on the front.

Then I tied the sets of cards with green and white twine and placed them in the box.  I like how it turned out and I hope that she likes them, too.  She is one of the best people I know.

A simple, but I hope a useful, birthday gift.  I finished the project with a birthday card and some ribbon.

What have you made lately?

Hopeful Homemaker

What a great idea, to punch holes in your cards and put them on rings, then add a cover.  If you view the original post you’ll find downloadable covers that are super cute.  Since one of my goals this year is to do something creative every day, making my own was a great idea.

I used leftover paper from my Christmas cards last year, which adds a reminder of the card I sent out in 2011.   I tried my hand at some paper rosettes, which were REALLY fun.  I’ll be making more of those.

I am thrilled to know what to do with Christmas cards every January from now on.  We can get these books out from year to year and see how people have grown.  I’m glad that I can take these little pieces of my friends’ lives and preserve them in a way that encourages us to look at them in the future.

So, even though today marks one month since Christmas, I hope you’ll find it helpful enough to file away in your mind for 11 more months.   {This was a project on my January to-do list.  I’ve had the cards on rings for weeks, but hadn’t sat down to just make the cover.  Hooray for a finished project!}

I was thinking that this would also be a fun way to corral all those valentines that come home from school and then float around the house for weeks.  You could use just one ring and let each of your kids have a little Valentine flip book of their own!  Wouldn’t that be cute?

I hope your day is great.

Hopeful Homemaker

Meet my first quilt of 2012!  I was so grateful to finish it in time for last weekend’s baby shower.  It’s now in the hands of an amazing mother-to-be.   Full of  color and pattern, I hope it is used often.

I did something I’ve never tried before for the back.  I used two different brown solids and made wide stripes.  I quilted it on my machine along both sides of the seams on the quilt top.

I bound the quilt in a bright red alphabet print.  I like the way it carries the cheery center of the quilt top out to the edges and ties it all together.  The red also looks great against that chocolate brown.

This quilt was a lot of fun to piece together.  I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Let’s hope I get this finished in time!

HH

I liked this first block.  It’s different.  I like the subtle chevron pattern that would emerge if you made several of them and lined them up next to each other.

This second one I’m not thrilled with, but at least it’s done, right!

The last one I really like.  It’s a beautiful block, and my favorite blocks in this quilt have been the blue and gray ones, so no surprises here.  I’m so in love with that blue and white polka dot and I used almost all of it for this quilt.  I hope someday to find more of it.

I don’t think I’ve ever heaved such a sigh of relief while sewing than I did when I finished this block.  It was TEDIOUS.  I counted when I finished, and there are 64 different pieces of fabric in that 12.5 inch block.   !!???!?!??  I started the year thinking I wanted to make more complicated quilts, or at least a quilt with some little tiny pieces in it, but after this block I’m not so sure.  I don’t know if I have the patience for it.

So, all 16 blocks are finished.  Now I need to trim them, add the sashing, and figure out how to quilt it.

Do you ever just wish you could go straight from not knowing how to do something to being good at it in the blink of an eye?  I know that’s a very adolescent thing to wish for, wanting to have the blessing of a skill without first paying the price, but in this one thing I still wish for it.  I wish I knew how to do free motion quilting without going through the pain of ruining fabric while learning BUT like everyone else I’ll have to just get started and mess things up until I learn.   I really want to learn it, so why do I dread it so much?  {This whole paragraph just screams “perfectionist”, doesn’t it?}

For now I’m just happy these blocks are completed.  Hooray!

This next one I loved, so I made a second one in softer colors.

And these two are among my favorites.  This block is beautiful.  It would make a lovely quilt all on its own.

Only three more to go and I’ll have these blocks done.  I don’t know why they’re bugging me so much.   I’m half excited and half dreading putting the quilt top together to see if I like it or not.  At least I’m learning some new techniques, right?

HH

Yay!  I’ve wanted to try this for SUCH a long time.  I know that the “real” way is to get a vintage press and so forth, but I don’t have money to sink into a hobby right now, so this seemed like a pretty simple way to still try and enjoy it.

I stayed up late the other night to experiment and here is my first Letterpress project:

This was a lot of fun to make.  More of a process than I anticipated (compared to rubber stamps, I suppose) but really cool.  Funny, I don’t even like purple, but this purple with the rich, dark navy blue looks so great to me!

Much as I’d like to play all day, for now it’s a late night project; I don’t want to see what would happen if my toddler had any clue there were tubes of paint somewhere in my office.

I’m excited to make more.  Really excited.  {And it’s nice to have things to be excited about, don’t you agree?}

Hopeful Homemaker