My Favorite Lotion for Crafters...

 

I have people ask me about lotions all the time. Crafters are always looking for a lotion that works and doesn't leave greasy hands behind.  And I think I have tried every lotion available over the years.  I am happy to say I have found my favorite lotion ever!!!  Especially for anyone who crafts, sews, crochets, knits, etc.  I rub the smallest amount on my hands and literally within a minute or two it is absorbed, there is no greasy residue, and miraculously, my hands are super soft!!! Plus I only have to use it every few days.  I love this aloe-based lotion and I have shared it with many people.  I love it so much I have even become a L'BRI Independent Consultant so that I can share the joy with others!!!  

If you are interested in purchasing some you can contact me, or find it here.

Another aspect I love is that it comes in several fragrances, OR you can get fragrance-free, which is my personal favorite!!!  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. 

I'm off to piece together a few quilt blocks.

Happy Stitching Friends!!!

Cindy

A Gaggle of Girls.......

For Christmas Emily surprised Elisabeth and me by making us each a doll. She liked them so well she made herself one too! I think they are adorable!!!! And certainly not bad for a 10 year old....with absolutely zero help from anyone else!!!

December Fun......

This has been a busy month....and so far, we have managed to do our favorite December things.

The gingerbread house is now complete and looking good. Emily orchestrated the decorating of our annual gingerbread house tonight. I built the house and then turned the icing bag over to her. She piped icing and Elisabeth and Ethan strategically placed the candies. Everyone had fun.

Elisabeth made the annual Nativity Scene for us using various baby dolls.

And Elisabeth also had a birthday!!! She is now a sweet seven year old. And somehow Ean turned 6 months old this month. I don't know how because it seems like he was just born yesterday!!!

The girls also had their ballet and tap Christmas Recital. They both did excellent!!!!

Our Smocking Guild had our annual Christmas Dinner....it was a great evening with wonderful friends.

And Emily has had several custom orders for her hats. She bought the yarn, made and delivered this one the same day it was requested. The photo isn't great....but it is chocolate brown with light pink. (I think this one is my favorite so far.) While she was making it a neighbor stopped by and ordered one just like it but with reversed colors. She has quite a following now.

I still have a few gifts to wrap....but I think we are on track for a fantastic Christmas. I hope yours is wonderful as well!!!!

Sewing Favors......

For our Smocking Guild (SAGA) class tomorrow I made some little sewing favors so that everyone would have a little treat to take home. I thought and thought for quite some time and then one night it just hit me. Little potted pincushions.

I made them "assembly line" style and in two colorways. Cute little rick-rack flowers with a covered button in the center. I think they are quite spring-y looking!! I hope the ladies at the class enjoy them too!!!

Little Bag of Gifts.......

I have been wanting to show you all a picture of a door prize I made for our last Smocking Guild (SAGA) meeting. However, our computer decided to blow out its mother board a week or so ago, so I've not had access to the pictures I took before the meeting.



We have never given out door prizes at our meetings before....but I thought it would be fun. So I whipped up this little bag late one night using the same fabric as the dress I was going to be demonstrating. Then I put a little bit of crochet along the top edges, added a drawstring, and the bag was finished. I went to my favorite heirloom shop to find a few inexpensive items to tuck inside. I had wanted to pick up some smocking needles and floss....however, the shop was out of smocking needles....so I settled for embroidery needles and my favorite colors of floss for Wee Care gowns. I think the door prize when over pretty well. I'm hoping I can come up with something each month that somehow correlates to the night's program.

Emily's Latest Needlepoint.....

Emily has finished another needlepoint. She started this spunky little puppy for Ethan awhile back. When I told her I was working on finishing up old projects...she decided she would do the same. She was far enough along that it only took her about two days to complete it. Now she needs to decide how to finish it....frame it, or turn it into a pillow, or what?

I have several projects I have finished this week as well...but they will have to wait to share until the camera batteries are re-charged. Back soon!!!

It's Been A Productive Week.....

I've had a relatively productive week. I really am trying to finish up some projects that have been lingering on my sewing table a little too long. This dress above I started for Elisabeth way back in September or October. It felt really good to wrap it up earlier this week. I will get Elisabeth to model it and take a few photos in a day or so.



I also finished the cross-stitch angel that is destined to be a pillow. I made a trip to the quilt store and picked out fabric for the backing and the ruffle. I will be happy to get this one done too. While at the quilt store I also picked up some batting to finish my most recent quilt.



I also am working on a jumper for myself....not quite done yet....but pretty close. So, to celebrate the completion of a few things (and the almost completion of another couple), Emily and I headed out to Hancock's today to browse around. I picked up the above fabric to make Elisabeth a spring dress.

And we purchased the above fabrics to make Emily a few more long skirts. She thought she was getting too old for homemade items until we went to the mall a few months back. There was nothing I would have allowed her to wear outside of her bedroom....and fortunately she agreed!!! So far so good!!!

What We've Been Doing Lately.....

The girls wanted to give their little ballet friends something for the holidays. We finally decided on "Snowman Soup." There are a lot of references to it on the Internet if you google it. I modified one of the poems to make it appropriate for our little friends and then we got busy assembling. Basically it is hot chocolate mix with some yummy add-ins like...a few chocolate chips, some mini marshmallows, and a candy cane for a stirring stick. We made home-made hot chocolate mix...which is our favorite. I always keep some on hand. You only have to add hot water....and yummy add-ins if you want.

And for the Christmas ballet recital that the girls participated in...we took some chocolate crinkle cookies. The girls had a lot of fun rolling the dough into balls and then rolling the balls into powdered sugar.

They sure were yummy!!! Kind of like a brownie in a cookie!!! Tonight we are making snickerdoodles for our neighbors....nothing like the smell of cinnamon baking!!! YUM!!!

More Sewing Pouch Info.....

I am really enjoying this sewing bag. To give you an idea of the size of the bag, in the above photo you can see I have a ball of size 10 crochet thread in it as well as some items in the interior pockets. And actually the bag would hold more items...but I took them out so you don't think I over pack things. Like I would ever do that!!

In this picture I took everything out of the main bag and on the sides you can see the pockets. They go around the entire interior of the bag.

And here is the pouch all cinched up and ready to go somewhere!! While I was in Pigeon Forge last week I picked up some more quilting cotton from The Cherry Pit to make a couple more. These cute little pouches are mildly addictive!!!

Have New Sewing Pouch......Must Travel....

I made myself a cute little sewing pouch to carry my supplies around in. It is actually pretty large when it is opened....but when it is cinched up, it is a nice compact size. The inside is full of pockets to hold all sorts of sewing supplies as well as several small projects. I used some of my quilting cotton...it is the Simplicity Collection by 3 Sisters for Moda. I used a coordinating fabric for the inside and the pockets. (I'll have to take a picture of the inside sometime). I also put an ecru crocheted trim around the top edge.....I really like the finished look of it.

Currently it is housing three Wee Care gowns I am smocking, four skeins of embroidery floss, my small binder full of various needles, scissors, and a small crochet project. I imagine using it to attend Smocking Guild meetings and the like....as well as family vacations.....



....which is why I have been so neglectful of this sweet little blog. We are in Pigeon Forge, TN.....and have been since Sunday. We came here for a few days and to celebrate Emily's birthday....she is nine now. Hard to believe!!! If you want to read more about our little vacation.....visit here.

Fabric Flower Tutorial......

Ok, let's make some flowers!!!! These sweet little blossoms are so versatile. A lovely lady in East Tennessee gave me a flower similar to this many years ago. It was from studying that flower and making a couple of changes that I learned to make these.

You can make them with any fabric that you have and then add any type of button to completely customize it to coordinate with an outfit, a bag, or whatever!!!

You can even attach the button to a covered rubber band to make it a pony tail holder. Oh, this is going to be fun.....let's get started!

Cut five (5) squares of fabric approximately 2 3/4" x 2 3/4". Thread a needle with a long piece of thread and knot both ends together.

Start with one square of fabric.

Fold one corner over to meet the opposite corner....making a triangle.

Take your threaded needle and start in the bottom corner.

Work a large running stitch from that bottom corner up to the next corner, turning the corner and working towards the other corner.

The long edge with the fold will be the only edge not stitched. Another way to look at it is that the raw edges will all be stitched together with the running stitch. If you lay it flat...it should look like the above photo. DO NOT Cut the thread. Instead, gather the fabric down closer to the knot by holding the fabric in one hand and the thread with needle in the other. Gently slide the fabric down towards the knot....you have now made one petal. Four more to go!!

Take your next square and fold it the same way and work a running stitch around both edges.

Gently slide the fabric towards the first petal. Now you have two petals.

Take your third square of fabric, fold it and work a running stitch. Three petals made so far!

Take your fourth square, fold it and work the running stitch. I am sure you are getting the hang of this now. And it's becoming fun. This is where the addictive part comes in. Now as you see the flower forming before your eyes...your mind starts working overtime thinking of all the places you could put one of these sweet flowers. But we're not quite done yet....keep up the momentum!

However, you could stop with four petals. It would be a sweet flower. But I generally prefer five petals.

Take your fifth and final square, fold it and work a running stitch.

Take a minute and gaze at this sweet bloom you just made!!!! Then turn it over and take a few tiny stitches to attach the last petal to the first petal near the center area. Tie and knot the thread.

Turn the flower back over and decide what you want to put in the center. This can be fun because different centers can make the flower look completely different.

For this one I put a mother of pearl button in the center. It has a shank on it so I used the same thread (still attached to the flower....I did not cut it) and sewed the button on.

This green little flower also has a mother of pearl button in it.

I made this flower to go with Elisabeth's smocked sundress that I made her a few weeks back. I put a covered button in the center.

But before I put the button in I attached a covered rubber band to the shank and then threaded it through the center of the fabric flower.

Instant pony tail holder!!!! And the centers can be interchangeable with different covered buttons. I'd love to see what you all come up with as far as these flowers go. The options are really endless. I'll post pictures of your creations if you send them to me!! If you have any questions feel free to ask!!! Let the flower stitching begin!!!

*Check out my post on my favorite lotion here.

Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours......

Hope your day is filled with joy, peace, and love.

Quick Christmas Crafts.......

I thought I would share some of our favorite and not to mention, quick Christmas crafts. I never realized how much we craft with beads until I pulled these together to photo.

I think these wreaths are so sweet. Just use a red pipe cleaner, the green tri-shaped beads and small round red beads. Then bend the remaining ends of the pipe cleaner into a bow. These make great tree ornaments or an embellishment for a package.

Another wreath using white beads. The red color of the pipe cleaner came through and made a neat effect. Elisabeth made this one.

And it doesn't matter how many of these candy canes we have....every year we MUST make more!!!! Once again they make great tree ornaments or package embellishments.

For this little stained glass luminary, we used a glass votive candle holder and watered-down glue to stick little squares of tissue paper to the OUTSIDE of the glass. Then put another layer of watered-down glue on top of the tissue paper. Let it dry and then place a candle inside. Gorgeous when it is lit. The picture here doesn't give it much justice.....but take my word for it!

And I saved my favorite for last. I love these cute little flowers. All you do is use a flower that is usually found in the bridal area of the craft store. They have little wire stems. You use the stem to thread the beads on and it makes an instant little vase. Different color roses create a completely different look. These red ones look great for Christmas. I think they would be cute to set next to plates during Christmas dinner!!!! I keep a pink one on my dresser year round. Seeing it just makes me smile. At a craft class that I helped organize, the little girls could NOT make these things fast enough!!! They are kind of addictive!