allsorts

Sorry to Elf and Run

Well, as they say... the best laid plans, etc. etc. I am as unprepared for Christmas as I am to create this post, but it is now or never. I see some amazing bloggers have it all under control, and are now enjoying the holiday activities with what appears to be a relaxed and contented mood. Oh my, that's not the case here. I'm totally scattered... happy... but scattered!

Anyways, I created a pattern for a little pair of elf-sized clogs but I haven't had time to sew one up. I based it on these darling little things, which appeared in a photo in last years' Marie Claire Idees:

Aren't they cute? I zeroed in on them immediately, but unfortunately there was no pattern, so I noodled around until I came up with a reasonable facsimile. It works in paper but I haven't tried it out in felt. But I knew somebody out there could use a last-minute Christmas project, and next week would be too little, too late. So here is the pattern, and you get to use your imagination in coming up with the embellishment!

As usual, click on the image to open the larger version, then right-click to save to your computer and print out at whatever scale you wish. Have fun with it, and please share pics of your creations! I wish I had time to make some, every year I plan to be better organized but it always gets away from me. As soon as Katy hit town, all I wanted to do was hang out with her, so my level of productivity dropped. Oh well, we're having a blast!

I'll see you on the other side of Monday, hope you all have the merriest of Christmases, and the happiest of holidays! Love to you all! Smoochies! ...that's for you, Ro... ;o)

Cheers,

Jenny

Criss-Cross Coasters revisited

The coaster factory has been humming along this week, I swear making these is downright addictive. These sets are a mere fraction of the output thus far. And there are more to come, I can't seem to stop myself... "just one more set, those fabrics would look perfect in _____'s sun room"... that sort of conversation keeps burbling inside my head.

Anyhoo... now that I've made more than a few of these... some revisions to the tutorial are definitely needed. I'll be making changes to the original post to reflect this new information: 

First, 5 inch squares of fabrics are just too darn big. 4.5 inch squares work much better, it makes for a more coaster-y finished size, and you can use fat quarters with much less fabric waste since they are 18" wide. Then the fusible web size should go down to 4 inch square, and you could even make it a bit less. By the way, this is not necessarily the kind of fusible that has the paper backing, just plain old Pella works great and is less hassle.

Also, if you lay the folded fabrics on in a counter-clockwise order, the sewing goes easier since you're not feeding the lead edge of a fold under the presser foot.

And one more bonus tip - if you choose a nice coordinating fabric for the back piece, you can cut a strip of it at the same time you're cutting the squares and it makes a nice little tie for the set!

So... on to the next adventure. Katy arrives tomorrow! Woohoo!!! I can't believe Christmas is almost here! Ack!

Cheers,

Jenny

The stockings were hung on the clothesline with care...

Despite the long list of things still left to do, I was powerless to resist my longtime muse. The dollhouse stared at me until I broke down and spiffed it up for the holidays! It all started with the little white trees, bought at Joanne's, which light up! That led to the idea of a snowy scene, which of course meant white fleece cut in long icycles for the roof and window boxes. The clothesline was employed to hold a couple of teensy stockings, and one of my bottle brush wreaths was perfect on the front door. The garland you will recognize is my little dangles, these made with letters to spell out a holiday greeting.

The dollhouse as it looks in the daytime...

And at night...

I've been setting it on a table by the window at night and it looks so cute from outside! One more close-up, of the little tree in the upstairs window...

Now that I've get that out of my system, I can finally move on to other activities! Just a few things left to do... like everything!

Cheers,

Jenny

This is what!

Thank you for so many great ideas! I realized it was already December 4th and I better do something quick or it wouldn't happen. So I strung the pouches on a length of my favorite red homespun and draped the whole thing on my bedroom mantle.  It is probably a bit too long since it hangs in really swoopy loops which look kind of foo foo-ey. I was going for Swedish simplicity. Oh well, it's still pretty cute. Special thanks to Michelle at GreetingArts for the idea of threading the fabric under the flaps, I honestly hadn't thought of that! Too easy.

Inside each pouch fits a yummy square of Ghirardelli peppermint bark chocolate and one little Christmas dangle. A special thank you goes to Ro for pointing out that the dangle would be perfect hanging from the little button! So now we can see the progress as each pouch gets opened. Oh, and you can find the pattern and tutorial -->here<--!

Here is the only pic of the whole garland that turned out. Its actually of my entire bedroom, so you can see how the garland looks on the mantle way over there.

I really like this new arrangement.  I moved the bed from the opposite wall recently and it opened the room up a lot. Oh, and you can see my latest splurge, a 48" white goose feather tree (ordered from Stonewall Kitchen), which I haven't quite figured out how to decorate. I also got this assortment of bottle brush decorations last Friday when Vicky and I stopped by Lisa Luby Ryan after the Lake Highlands Home Tour. The little house is pretty cute, too, but I can tell I'm going to have mica flakes all over my house!

And here is an early Christmas present for you... you can print your own Christmas dangles! I created this printable using wingdings and dingbats. Just click -->here<-- to download and enjoy!

They remind me of Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs or quilt blocks. Hmmm... they look pretty cute on that feather tree, too. Oh, or maybe as gift tags!

I am pretty much finished with my huge project. Big whew! So hopefully I will be posting more regularly now. I've been saving up lots of ideas!

Cheers,

Jenny