Catching My Breath

Okay, so after stitching my brains out in the insane rush up to Christmas, I was kind of off the stitching for a while. I just needed a breather. Whew! I feel better now, and I'm itchin' to move onto my next project.

In the meantime, however, here are a few more items I stitched for the holidays....

These napkins were made for a dear friend at work, who loves leaves. Her favorite time of the year is Fall (hey, mine too!) and her crafty (in a manly way) husband even stamped a leaf pattern right into the mud on their walls. She also has the most beautiful red hair, which reminds me of the vibrant Fall colors, and these leaves made me think of her right away.

But you know what I love more than the Fall? Tea! There is nothing like a good cuppa tea in a pretty tea cup. And while we're at it, how about some cake?

The sprinkles on the cupcake were actually my husbands idea. He's far too manly to "craft", but he can still embellish pastries vicariously through me. Marriage...it's all about compromise.




I'm not super in love with how this cake turned out. I think I could have done better with the cherries. But it's not too bad for my first attempt at a design like this. I'm told that bundt cakes can be rather challenging to bake; seems that's also true for stitching them.






I matched this kitchen towel with a pretty blue spatula and a new wooden spoon...essentials for any kitchen...all tied together with a clean, white ribbon. Then I gave it to my mom.







I had a lot of fun hand making all these gifts for the holidays and I'm excitedly looking forward to doing the same this year, with one small adjustment: START MUCH EARLIER! Like, maybe tomorrow?

On a different note, I posted previously about how Tide-To-Go seriously saved my ass two days before Christmas. Well, someone from Tide got wind of my little adventure and left me comment. I just thought that was so fun. Made me smile anyway, to know that from time to time my little blog is getting noticed.

It's Over!

Another Christmas come and gone. With all the stitching projects I had planned out, it was a busy and hectic season indeed. I manged to get it all done, but just barely. I started my final gift at 11pm Christmas Eve and we were hastily wrapping presents just this morning. Whew!

Nevertheless, I completed the projects I set out to do this year. Well, all except for one. But they'll never know, so don't tell them okay?

And since my gifts have all been given, I can finally start sharing! First up, a dish towel I stitched for my mother-in-law who is just mad about Dachshunds.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have this pattern just for her. I'd been wracking my brains for weeks to think of a design and what to stitch it on. I finally settled on a dish towel because who can't use another dish towel and it's something that is easily displayed.
















I adored the girly Dachshund, with her precious little bow, and decided she needed a boyfriend.


"Arf arf, I love you!" Precious.


As a last touch, I paired this dish towel with a Fiestaware pie dish*. My mother-in-law also being mad about Fiestaware, it was perfect.


Merry Christmas, Deb! I hope these bring you years of dry dishes and pie. :)

*I should mention that it was my husband who picked out the pie dish. Good eye, honey!

Pretty Flower Napkins

I'm a big admirer of cloth napkins. Not only are they very earth-friendly, but I feel they add a bit of embellishment to a family table.

I embroidered these for a Christmas gift (I'm not telling for who! Could it be you? Who knows!).

I just used some basic cotton dinner napkins, which I found to be very easy to stitch on. They were substantial enough that I did not need to use any stabilizer and they were able to accommodate the full strand of embroidery thread (I really hate splitting embroidery thread).

I found this pattern, once again from the fabulous Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching, to be really fun to stitch. I'm delighted with how these turned out and I can't wait to give them this Christmas!