handmade gifts 2015: a very nice mouse for Thing 1

And here's the other ornament I made using the Very Nice Mice tutorial from Ann Wood. This one is for Thing 1, my oldest.

I gave this one a pom snowball, pipe cleaner stripey scarf and felt mittens. I used cotton pipe cleaners for the arms and feet.

I also shaved off a tiny bit of the seam allowance this time because I was having trouble maintaining the 1/8" allowance she calls for. I'm so used to sewing the smaller allowance for my own felt ornaments it was just more comfortable for me. Required less thinking. Plus it made it easier to close the opening after stuffing.

This one was finished in the wee hours of Christmas morning (surprise, surprise) so I forgot to add the pom pom bow on the head. Thing 1 assures me this is fine because her mouse is a boy and his name is Ralphie.

Here's the finished pair:

They fit very nicely on the tree. 

Thank you to Ann Wood for such a cute and timely pattern!

handmade gifts 2015: a very nice mouse for Thing 2

Have you seen Ann Wood's Very Nice Mice pattern and tutorial? It is just for hand sewing and makes the perfect little ornament-sized mouse. I followed it to make this ornament for my sweet Thing 2.

I added a few of my own touches, of course. Her felt bunny slippers are my favorite part. (Although I can't look at them without hearing a voice say, "He looks like a deranged Easter bunny.")

I also gave her a tiny felt stocking to hold and, of course, a paper cheese wedge. And a little pom pom bow on her head.

I substituted pipe cleaners for the arms and feet instead of using the felt pieces from the pattern. The finished mouse is about 3 inches tall.

I love Ann's original version in its little sailboat! I'd like to try a sailboat ornament next year.

have yourself a merry little Christmas

I love painted wood ornaments. This is one of my very favorites, marked 1982 on the bottom. It's my husband's from when he was a little kid. His whole childhood collection of ornaments was passed along to us by his sweet mom and I treasure them.

This one's charmingly bizarre if you really look at it. The hanging loop that's stuck on one side to the chimney. The window on the roof. The crazy clock on the chimney that has 8 o'clock where the 12 should be and all the numbers face the wrong way. The fact that it isn't a house that Santa is visiting, it seems to be a store. With green windows. And most intriguing, the oversized child on the roof, looking nonplussed as Santa smiles down. Is that what he asked from Santa? To be supersized? Like I said, I love it. It makes me happy when it comes out of the box each year.

It's been pretty dismal holiday weather in Atlanta. All of December it's been unseasonably warm which just feels wrong, and now for Christmas we are getting dark skies, thunderstorms and flash flood warnings (part of our family had to miss our gathering on Christmas Eve because their road washed away!). Bright side: it sure makes for a cozy atmosphere inside with the Christmas lights on.

I wish to you the merriest, most peaceful time this Christmas to be with family and friends and to eat more than you strictly need. See you soon with some photos of handmade gifts!

finished ornaments and a new Twelve Days resource page on the blog

This was a bit of selfish ornament sewing. I am trying to make a full set of this aqua/mint/olive colorway for the Twelve Days ornaments just 'cause I like the colors so much. I thought I'd blog it because I can't blog anything else I'm making this month or it will spoil the fun. I know you guys are busy making gifts too! I can just hear the scraps flying.

The whole aqua/mint/olive gang I have so far. Next I need to sew a Turtle Dove. I figure I need at least three full sets of ornaments when all is said and done (besides the one I'm making for Robyn, of course). One set for me and one for each of my two daughters. I'm assuming that they will both want a handmade ornament set lovingly made by their mother's own two hands. One day when they have their own *voice breaking* houses to decorate for Christmas. *weeping*

*mopping face* Also I wanted to show you the new dedicated Twelve Days page. See the new link in the nav bar? It's the information HQ for all the sample color bundles and floss numbers, plus a handy link to every single Twelve Days posts on the blog. I hope it saves you some time searching around for that sample you saw a few months ago.

(The search field widget I had added in the sidebar quit working for some reason and the Blogger search field at the very top left never seems to return what I expect or want. I'll try again to find a good search widget.)

thank you and whoa nellie, it's December!

Thanks so much to all of you for making this Black Friday/Cyber Monday pattern sale the best one yet! Great Scott. You guys have a lot of sewing to do! Better get crackin'.

Me too. I've decided I like this mint/aqua/green color scheme for the Twelve Days ornaments so much I'm making it retroactive. (thus the new blog and shop banner also) Plus all the other stuff I'd like to make for gifts, yada yada yada. Big ideas and little time. Same story every year!

I can't believe it's December already! I guess I should go take the pumpkins off the front porch now.

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!

my goose laid an egg

I'm working feverishly to finish writing the Goose a Laying pattern and get samples made so I can release the 6th Twelve Days pattern in plenty of time. It will include this egg! Because what good is a Goose a Laying without an egg?

Vader, you are my daughter

Making a Darth Vader costume for my teen daughter. Like you do.

Trying to avoid paying a ludicrous sum for a badly made male costume that is worn twice at the most. Also avoiding purchasing a badly made female Vader costume that is designed to look like a space hooker. So we bought a cheap mask, cape and light saber and I told her I'd make the T-shirt. Thank goodness for my prodigious ribbon collection. I found that gluing ribbons on to make the details is a lot neater and faster than the freezer paper stencil I had envisioned. I think I'll glue on some felt to make the gray part of the yoke at the top and call it a day. Black jeans, boots and belt and she's good to go. I mean evil. Evil to go.

Are you guys as geeked out about the upcoming Episode 7 as we are? Deep down I think I know it will be a disappointment...it's hard to imagine anything better than Episode 5. But I'm willing to find out.

My other kid wants to be a fox and somehow the entire world has been depleted of orange faux fur. I had some ordered online for a few weeks that's been backordered twice. So I gave up and canceled. I found some small pieces of neon orange at my local Joann (think Troll doll) so I'm going to see what I can do.

What are you making? You'd better get crackin'.