I'm ready...

Anyone else ready to decorate for Christmas yet?! I'm ready to get going with twinkly lights and shiny red and green everywhere. The hubs makes me wait until Thanksgiving but after that...it's on!

To keep me at bay until then I do decorate a bit for Halloween, so that helps. And I will be decorating my Sunday school classroom with a smallish Christmas tree this weekend to promote the Operation Christmas Child toy drive that our church is doing. Boxes are due November 4 so I want there to be a reminder the week before.

This is all the crafting I've done in the past week...

knit feather

David and I went to Houston this past weekend to see my best friend Emily and her hubby.  While there we had to go to Southpaw Guitars (all left-handed guitars for my backwards hubs) and I knit a feather prototype while he played. I have a few changes I plan to make and then incorporate it into some cool stuff.

my Emily!

Saturday - paddle boating in Houston

some pretty new fabrics

Sunday - Pentatonix concert!  So good.

Monday - IKEA trip to get David a cool table.

Expect Chuy pictures soon, he's getting a major haircut as I type this. :)

New items in the shop!!

I'm really bad about updating my etsy or keeping it stocked.  Right now I have 12 items listed which is a big deal, guys! Go check them out and buy everything :)

The latest additions are these great felt feather and button hair clips.  I just love them.  The newest one below has some fabric incorporated in the large feather.  There is so much versatility in such a small object and I've been having fun with that.  If you want one but don't see a color combo you like just let me know, I'm all about custom orders.

purple & silver & polka dots

all five together like a happy little feathery family

 Here's what I've been up to this past week.  I finally got over being horribly sick for two weeks so I was enjoying not being in bed or stuck in front of a computer.

I worked on a new hair clip idea and love the first few examples.  I've made five so far and now I need to go shopping for some more jumbo buttons! Let me know what you think, they'll be going in the shop this week as soon as I get some better pictures.

coral, aqua and grey feather clip

plum, goldenrod and grey feather clip

here's what it looks like on for size reference

sported some serious sparkles

Chuy in his new Halloween bandana being lazy

helped redecorate our Sunday school room | chalkboard paint is awesome!

beautiful downtown from my drive to work this morning

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas! My favorite time of year, I just love it. The meaning behind it, the sparkling lights, family gatherings, generosity and all the love that abounds. Naturally this means Christmas crafting is super fun for me. Too early you say? Nay nay. To make homemade gifts plus make enough for those that place orders I have to start early. Here's some of what I've been working on lately.

Supplies for future festivities

Christmas critters!

I've been thinking about this Rudolph for over a year and I love how he's turning out so far.

Some Halloween goodness for those of that think its too early for Christmas :)

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Love it or Leave it: faux feathers

This week: faux feathers

Not fake feathers that are supposed to look like actual feathers, but feathers made from other materials like fabric, paper, yarn, vinyl or felt. These can be made as simple and abstract or as detailed as you'd like, and in any color imaginable.

Here are some examples I've pinned as inspiration with links to my pinterest boards.



I love these so much!  Feathers, bold geometric patterns and native american themed color schemes are very in right now and while I don't like all of it, I'm totally into some of it.

Love it!

Sick days

As I posted before, I've been dealing with strep throat. On top of that I had some serious sinus issues (infection maybe?) and now a severe asthmatic cough. Pretty typical progression of illnesses for me actually, but still very annoying. David even got sick over the weekend and we had to postpone our second Concert of Prayer to this coming Saturday. Other than sleep, cough and blow my nose, I haven't been up to too much the past few days. A few littles have been knit but no pictures yet.

Santa supplies!

How the Walls do sick days

Asthmatic coughs lead to breathing treatments

 

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Blegh

Found out today I have strep throat. Yuk. I feel pretty blegh right now so there might not be much crafting around here the next few days.

 

Hope to be back soon!

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Love it or Leave it: embroidery hoop crafts

Today's love it or leave it: embroidery hoops

Specifically, wooden embroidery hoops. The plastic and metal ones are nice and can be convenient for actual embroidery, but the wooden ones look nicer and can be more versatile in my opinion. I mean as a craft supply and not just a frame to hold your material taught for embroidering purposes. I do like the look of leaving fabric in embroidery hoops instead of regular frames too though.


Here are some ideas I've pinned and think are pretty nifty:

I have yet to make any of these but I like all of them and would gladly have them hanging in my home or use them.  I have used a large 14" embroidery hoop to make two baby mobiles. The inner hoop was used for the sailboat mobile and the outer ring was used for the owls.  The metal bits were cut off the outer hoop.  Both were painted and have felt wrapped around the outside to give a softer look and bring the whole look together.



So, when it comes to embroidery hoop crafting...

LOVE it!

Engagement shoot!

I'm pleased to announce that my little gnome has found a Mrs! Be prepared to see more of these little guys. I just love them!

the Mr

the Mrs

classic engagement shots

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knit gnome

tiny little knit gnome

A friend and co-worker of mine will be moving to South East Asia for the next two years to be a Journeyman.  I'm super excited for her but will miss her around here.  We had a staff dinner last week and some of us said nice things to her, gave cards and so on.  I got it in my head that day at work that I could knit her something small after work and before dinner.  I found this gnome pattern and knew it would be pretty simple and the perfect little travel companion for her while she tours the world.  

There was a construction delay when trying to leave work.

Then I didn't have skin colored yarn so I had to go to hobby lobby.

Then there was traffic.

Then once home Chuy wanted to snuggle and lay on my knitting.

Then my dad called.

I managed to get this little guy knit in a little over an hour and was only a little late to dinner (though I got there right when our group was seated...so I like to think I was perfectly on time).

She loved him and I already have plans to knit some more.  I found a lady gnome variation and I foresee some cute little Clauses for Christmas this year!

Chuy isn't sure what to think of this little guy