Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale!

Hello! Gobble gobble! A happy and healthy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans! But not that healthy...have another slice of pie and throw on some mashed potatoes. Besides all the food, I have so much to be thankful to my Creator for. It restores my soul to set aside a time to spend with our families and express our love and gratitude to each other and to the Lord. So many blessings! Not the least of which are my loyal readers and customers. Thank you! But I don't especially count football among my blessings. I should try to summon up some team loyalty for the Iron Bowl party I'm attending. Roll Tide. *limply waving pom pom*

It's also time for my annual pattern sale! If you've been waiting to get a good deal on several patterns this is it. 20% off of your pattern purchase in my Etsy shop only now through Monday, November 30th. Be sure to use the coupon code:

MMMPIE

If you don't use the code, you won't get the discount! So don't forget the code! Have a wonderful, crafty, cozy weekend.

Goose a-Laying pattern is now available!

Hopefully in time for your Christmas hand makery, here is the new Goose a-Laying ornament pattern. This is the 6th pattern! I'm halfway through the series now and I'm still loving each one.

Lots of color possibilities. Here are some of my favorites:

And like all the others in this ornament series, they feature the number on the backs.

And this set, like all the ornaments in the 12 Days series, uses a Sulky printable stabilizer to streamline the process. Oh my lands, it really makes the whole thing so quick and easy! No hand-tracing or transferring embroidery patterns! Just print and sew right on the printed lines, as shown in this Gold Ring photo:

YES. Then the stabilizer dissolves away in water.

To download the PDF sewing pattern for Goose a-Laying or any of the other Twelve Days series, visit my Etsy shop or my Craftsy shop. 

Next year will start with Swan a-Swimming and go from there!

Gold Ring pattern is in the shop!

Ornament No. 5, rollin' off the assembly line. I'm not sure why this Gold Ring pattern took so long to get out. Well, yes I am. Trips, vomit viruses, busyness, family in the hospital, freelance jobs, other projects and also a few days of general summer apathy sprinkled throughout. But it's done! I can see fall coming around the corner and I'm getting excited! Tights! Wool skirts! Soups! Cozy Christmas handmaking!

*singing in operatic falsetto* Fiiiiiive gooooold riiiiings...
Or blue rings. Or pink rings. No reason you can't sew outside the box. I'm a big fan of unexpected colors.

There's room on the back to add a name or date if you like.

This ornament, just like the previous four in this Twelve Days series, uses a Sulky printable stabilizer to streamline the process. It really makes the whole thing so quick and easy. No hand-tracing or transferring embroidery patterns! Just print and sew right on the printed lines. YES. Then the stabilizer dissolves away in water.

To download the PDF sewing pattern for Gold Ring or any of the other Twelve Days series, visit my Etsy shop or my Craftsy shop. I plan to release Goose a Laying this fall!

the Twelve Days bundle and a vague but hopeful timeline

As promised, the discounted bundle of the first three patterns is now in the Etsy shop. And also the Craftsy shop! I'll continue to create bundles as I release the patterns. There will be a future bundle of patterns 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. I think I'll probably offer bundles of six patterns (1-6 and 7-12) and of course at last a bundle of all twelve patterns once the series is complete. That will be a very happy day! :-)

Timeline: Many folks have asked me when they can expect the series to be completed. I'm shooting for late 2016, if I possibly can. I have nine more patterns to go, so that may not happen if I take an honest look at my turnaround time for each pattern and trying to fit it in around life, the universe and everything. Colly Bird, number 4 in the series, is the next one to be released and I hope hope hope to have it released in February. My goal for 2015 is to release numbers 4, 5, 6 and possibly 7. Crossing fingers!

The design process for each ornament sometimes happens quickly and everything just falls into place like magic and tiny, animated forest animals come and help me clean up the studio as I admire the first perfect sample made from my sketch. More often *coughgoosealayingcough* I make it and hate it, make it and hate it, make it and hate it. That's just how it goes, can I get an amen. I'm really looking forward to tackling the maids and lords and pipers. It will make a nice change from birds. However, I anticipate one of those tricky Hate It Make It Again cycles as I transition to humanoids. I want it all to look like a cohesive set so that will take some finessing and some really strong coffee.

Thanks so much for your interest and encouragement in this series. I love it so much and I'm glad that you do too! I want each one to be special and just right. The completed set will make for lots of cozy, handmade Christmas crafting in front of the fire.

(Click through if you missed the sneak peek of numbers five and six after Christmas. Number four, colly bird, has had a redesign since I made the first one, so the new one looks a bit (maybe a lot) different but alas, you have to wait to see it until I get some samples made.) (Late note: and here they are.)

curated felt color collection/felt & floss color guides for French Hen

Felt bundle photos courtesy of Benzie Design

This ten-color collection of felt and floss especially made for my French Hen pattern has been available in Benzie Design's shop for a few weeks but now I have some gorgeous photos to show you of the bundle itself. Isn't it pretty?

Benzie felt colors: 
Chartreuse
Julep
Blue Spruce
Aqua
Coral
Swan
Orange
Mustard
Bronze (This color is now discontinued. Castle is being subbed in.)
Copper

Now I can share the felt and floss colors I used for the contrast embroidery, just in case you'd like to make two ornaments that look like mine shown above! See below.

You can purchase this Benzie felt bundle with or without the matching flosses. You'll need matching floss anyway to sew your ornaments together, so having the pre-matched flosses comes in handy! NOTE: You will still need to purchase floss for the contrast decorative embroidery. See colors below.

Copper/gold/blue French Hen felt colors:
Comb, beard and flower center: Orange
Head and legs: Copper
Beak and flower: Swan
Body: Mustard
Wing and tail: Bronze (or substitute color Castle)

Copper/gold/blue French Hen contrast embroidery colors:
DMC 3852 (V Dk Straw)
DMC 3844 (Dk Bright Turquoise)
DMC 3846 (Lt Bright Turquoise)
DMC 608 (Bright Orange)
DMC 902 (V Dark Garnet
DMC 919 (Red Copper)
DMC Black

Aqua/green/blue French Hen felt colors:
Comb, beard and flower center: Blue Spruce
Head and legs: Julep
Beak and flower: Orange
Body: Chartreuse
Wing and tail: Aqua

Aqua/green/blue French Hen contrast embroidery colors:
DMC White
DMC 580 (Dk Moss Green)
DMC 3812 (V Dk Seagreen)
DMC 3847 (Dk Teal Green)
DMC 907 (Lt Parrot Green)
DMC 891 (Dk Carnation)
DMC Black

Within the same Benzie Etsy listing are pull down menu options to purchase the previous 12 Days collections also. See my posts about those colors here:
Partridge & Pear
Turtle Dove

Black Friday sale!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow US citizens! So much to be thankful for, and it's great to take some time to reflect on that and be thankful to God and share a meal with family and friends. And to eat more than your fair share of the coconut sweet potato casserole. It's OK, I'll go work out in the morning. For which I'm also thankful.

Time for my annual Black Friday sale in the shop! Well, Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sale I guess: use coupon code MMMTHANKS in my Etsy shop to receive 20% off your purchase through Monday. If you've been waiting for a sale to purchase your Christmas DIY patterns, this is it! Have a wonderful, handcrafty weekend.

curated felt color collection/felt & floss color guides for Turtle Dove

Once again, Benzie Design has come through with a bundle of felts and floss that you can purchase if you want to make Turtle Dove ornaments that look like my samples in the picture above!

This Benzie felt collection includes:
1) Peacock
2) Aqua
3) Swan
4) Magenta
5) Burgundy
6) Orange
7) Mustard
8) Ochre
9) Silver
10) Graphite

It's an easy and quick way to get the matching wool blend felts and flosses for my pattern. I highly recommend Renae's shop. I've always received the best customer service and lovely wool-blend felts!

The photo above shows the pretty felts alongside the matching floss bundle. You will need the matching flosses in order to sew your pattern pieces together, so purchasing the floss add-on is handy. PLEASE NOTE: You will also need to purchase contrasting colors of floss for the decorative embroidery from your local craft store.

Blue/orange Turtle Dove felt colors:
Body: Swan
Wing: Orange
Wing inset and beak: Burgundy
Eye detail: Magenta

Blue/orange Turtle Dove decorative embroidery colors:
DMC Blanc (white) or B5200 (snow white)
DMC 310 (black)
DMC 3844 (dk bright turquoise)
DMC 3804 (dk cyclamen pink)
DMC 947* (burnt orange)

Grey/mustard Turtle Dove felt colors:
Body: Silver
Wing and eye detail: Mustard
Wing inset and beak: Graphite

Grey/mustard Turtle Dove decorative embroidery colors:
DMC Blanc (white) or B5200 (snow white)
DMC 310 (black)
DMC 3799 (v dk pewter gray)
DMC 3852* (v dk straw)
DMC 947* (burnt orange)
DMC 666 (bright red)

*These colors are included already in the floss bundle

You can purchase the curated wool-blend felts only OR you can purchase the felts bundled with the matching floss. The pull down menu includes options to purchase the Partridge & Pear felt/floss collection as well, and that list will grow as I release new patterns in the series. Pretty awesome!

Turtle Dove pattern in the shop!

I'm done, I'm done! Here's the second ornament in the Twelve Days ornament series, Turtle Dove. (Here's the post for the first set, Partridge & Pear.) I'm really happy with the way this turned out and I'm still loving the Sulky stabilizer which makes this handmade ornament series so so easy to make. If you can handle basic embroidery stitches you can totally do this project, and do it well.

The key is the Sulky Printable Stick 'n Stitch (formerly known as Sulky Printable Sticky Fabri-Solvy), a wonderful felt crafting stabilizer. You simply print my ornament pattern on the water soluble stabilizer, adhere it to felt and then embroider right through it. No tracing or transferring complicated embroidery patterns by hand. Outstanding! Read through this earlier post to learn more about how the process works. I've listed some sources where you can purchase the stabilizer in the pattern.

You can purchase this instant download Turtle Dove pattern PDF in either my Etsy or my Craftsy shops. Go to the listing to get more details on the pattern itself. I hope you enjoy it!

curated felt color collection/felt & floss guides for Partridge & Pear

Photo courtesy of Benzie Design

I am delighted to show you this ten-color felt collection I put together recently at Benzie Design. I chose the colors to match my favorite yellow and pink sample ornaments for Partridge & Pear.

Benzie felt colors in this collection:
1) Swan
2) Moss
3) Fern
4) Mustard
5) Ochre
6) Orange
7) Cotton Candy
8) Magenta
9) Burgundy
10) Peacock

If you want to match my samples above you can save some hassle/worry by purchasing this ready-chosen felt set from Benzie. (Note: as new patterns in the series are released, the listing will have new options for different color collections. Choose the one you want from the handy pulldown menu!)

Photo courtesy of Benzie Design

And looky, you can also purchase the handy add-on set of matching embroidery floss! You'll need matching floss for sewing the parts of the ornaments together so that set is a really nice feature and will save you some time squinting at the craft store. PLEASE NOTE: You will also need to purchase contrasting colors of floss for the decorative embroidery from your local craft store.

Yellow Partridge & Pear felt colors:
THE FRONT SIDE:
Ochre: Bird body and pear background
Mustard: Bird wing
Swan: Bird belly and plume
Moss: Bird beak, pear stem and pear inset
Fern: Bird beard and pear leaf
ON THE BACK SIDE:
On both ornaments I used Mustard for the backs (but sewed them together with floss that matches Ochre)

Yellow Partridge & Pear decorative embroidery colors:
DMC Blanc (white) or B5200 (snow white)
DMC 310 (black)
DMC 3844 (dk bright turquoise)
DMC 935 (dk avocado green)
DMC 891 (dk carnation)
DMC 3846 (lt bright turquoise)

Pink Partridge & Pear felt colors:
ON THE FRONT SIDE:
Cotton Candy: Bird body and pear background
Magenta: Bird wing and pear stem
Swan: Bird belly, plume and pear leaf
Orange: Bird beard
Burgundy: Bird beak and pear inset
ON THE BACK SIDE:
On both ornaments I used Orange for the backs, but used floss that matched the fronts when I sewed the front and back together.

Pink Partridge & Pear decorative embroidery colors:
DMC 310 (black)
DMC 3846 (lt bright turquoise)
DMC 947* (burnt orange)
DMC 917 (md plum)
DMC 741 (md tangerine)
DMC 154 (v dk grape)
DMC 818 (baby pink)

*This color is already included in the floss bundle

Photo courtesy of Benzie Design

 
I love working with Benzie's wool-blend felt and I highly recommend her shop from my (many) felt purchases. You'll just have to visit to see the wide range of colors and sizes available and check out her blog too for lots of feltcentric tips and tutorials. Renae always offers friendly, accurate service and prompt shipping. I love getting her prettily packaged felt in the mail. It always feels like Christmas!

Renae, thanks for the opportunity to curate another collection! (See here and here for my previous collections!)

Partridge & Pear pattern is now available!

The blog's been quiet lately because I've been feverishly working to finish this pattern. It's a bit later than I anticipated but still in plenty of time for lots of handmade pre-Christmas makery! This is the first of the Twelve Days ornament projects that I'll be releasing as they get done. I've worked out all the production kinks on this one so hopefully the other patterns will come faster as I go along. I'm really excited about this!

Make partridges and pears galore in whatever color scheme you like! I love being able to match any Christmas decor. They make such a unique handmade gift that will look beautiful on a Christmas tree for many years.

There is a No. 1 on the backs since this is the first of a series of twelve. You can also easily add the year or a name if you like, of course.

And let me tell you that you are going to LOVE how quick and easy these are to make. No pattern tracing or tedious embroidery transferring is required! If you know basic hand stitches, you can totally nail this project because of this lovely and magical stuff:

Sulky Printable Stick 'n Stitch (formerly known as Sulky Printable Sticky Fabri-Solvy) is quite possibly one of the best products to ever happen to felt crafters (thanks again, Wendi). It's a sticky backed stabilizer that you can print directly on. It washes magically off with water, leaving no trace of itself. And it is readily available and affordable! (There's a handy list of sources in the Resources section of the pattern.)

So, basically you print my pattern pieces directly on the stabilizer, peel off the backing, apply it to wool felt and stitch the embroidery designs directly through the stabilizer. Once the stabilizer is soaked away you are left with a perfectly executed embroidery design on felt. No pin dot tracing. No guessing. No fading ink marks. No re-appearing ink marks. FANTASTIC.

I know you are thinking, 'Wait a minute, you can't wash wool felt in water!' Oh, yes you can. The key to this process is to pre-shrink your wool felts the day before you start the project by simply soaking them in cold water and letting them air dry. It won't change the texture or thickness of the wool felt if you do it that way, and the pre-shrunk wool won't shrink when you soak off the stabilizer. I've tested this with wool-blend (wool + rayon) and also 100% wool felt and it works equally well for both. Are you excited yet?

(If for some reason you can't use the Sulky stabilizer, you can still make this project with the help of freezer paper. I've included instructions for that in the Resources section of the pattern.)

You can purchase this instant download Partridge & Pear pattern PDF in either my Etsy or my Craftsy shops. Go to my listing to get more details on the pattern itself. I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. You can get a preview of a few of the upcoming patterns because they will be based on the original ones I've made as gifts for my BFF:
Turtle Dove
French Hen and Collie Bird
I'm currently working on a couple of her ornaments and will be sure to show you when they are done too!

Happy Cyber Monday and I Possibly Killed My Mac

Hey, cyber shoppers, today all the patterns in my Etsy Shop are 20% off with the code CYBERMON!

Also I have photos of what I'm making to show you, but unfortunately I might have committed unintentional Mac-icide (more accurately, macslaughter) so that will have to wait for now. Text heavy posts here for awhile until I can make it to the Apple Store and see what I've done to my baby. That also might be the nail in the coffin for the Partridge & Pear pattern, since precious pattern editing time will be lost. We'll see how long it takes to fix it. Fingers crossed. 

sale in the shop! now with combos.

May I suggest a handmade gift or stocking stuffer this Christmas? My sewing patterns are on sale in the Etsy shop for 20% off through Sunday, Nov 30th, with coupon code MMMTURKEY. 

Be sure to type in the coupon code for your discount! I have created some new combo deals too:

One for all three toy-in-a-tin patterns, which includes Wee Mouse Tin House, Wee Princess Pea and TravelWees,

...one for girl gifting that includes the Felt Gadget Cozy and Flora Needle Book,

and one for my felt Christmas patterns which includes the Mistleholly Stocking and the newly released Snow Bird pattern.

Happy hand making to you! I have my own pie-in-the-sky holiday handmaking mountain to climb. I'm going to need another cup of coffee! And for those of you who have asked, I'm trying my best to release the Partridge & Pear patterns in a timely manner, but it will probably be a December hail mary type of debut.

Snow Bird ornament pattern available!

Time to sit down with a Christmas movie and get your hand sewing on! The Snow Bird ornament is now available in both shops for instant download:
Etsy
Craftsy

I've made so many of these birds over the years, and I never get tired of it. They make special additions to your tree or lovely handmade gifts. The wool felt means they will last for years and years, if stored properly. I love to get out my felt ornaments each year. They are my favorites!

You know I like playing around with different color combos. I think it is so awesome to be able to make one to match whatever your favorite Christmas colors are, no matter how uncommon:

 I just made this retro pink one. I think pink looks so great on white Christmas trees. Some fine day I'm going to have one.

  I love gold tones too. This would be great on a woodsy foresty tree.

 Can't beat traditional red!

I always love turquoise and red together. A lot of my decorations are in this combo.

Happy hand sewing! 'Tis the season. I might be able to squeeze in a Partridge & Pear ornament pattern this holiday season too. It's my goal. I sort of lost my original patterns somewhere in the studio. I've ransacked the place and they are nowhere to be found. It's making me crazy.