The Year of the Stockings and the Rummy Mats

So I've already dumped a bunch of new finishes on you (see my last post), but I decided to save these for a post of their own, since so much of my December was devoted to them.  :)

Like I mentioned, my Etsy shop exploded with big, time consuming orders around mid-November this year.  Most of these orders were for Rummy mats and stockings, which is awesome.  The hubby is proud because these are the things he convinced me to list because they are so unique. 

So, here are some more of the things I finished in December 2014:

First up, Rummy mats.  I actually made two of these (not counting the three I made before December - I can't believe people like these as much as I do!), plus sold one that was already made.  This one was ordered by a little family in Australia, which is cool.  They were nice enough to send me a photo of the mat being used on Christmas morning, along with a super nice thank you email.  SO AWESOME. 

And then there were the stockings. 

We got a new nephew in November and since their family already has tons and tons of quilts, Braden's mom requested that I make a stocking to match the rest of the family's.
So I started with a simple cross stitched cuff in the same font, with a border to match Daddy's stocking (since Connor's cuff matches Mama's).  

Then I attached it to a stocking made from flannel houndstooth, to match brother's stocking.  

Here are the two brothers together.  :)

Next, I had a lady order four stockings from me (only three are pictured) with plain cuffs because she wanted to cross stitch them herself.  It was a little tricky, but I figured it out!  The cuffs in the front are not backed completely (just along the edges), so that she would be able to reach her hand back there and work her stitches into the already finished cuff.

 She requested snowman fabrics and I added some fun custom quilting (sorry it is so hard to see).  Snowflakes for the black one,

Bubbles for the blue one,

And cross-hatching for the green one.

This next set of stockings were fun to do.  The Mom sent me a picture of her childhood stocking and asked if I could make two more to match it.  So I altered the cuffs a little and tried to copy the font on the original stocking as best I could.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

Whew!  Is it too early to start thinking about a stocking for the little one due in May?

Since Braden's stocking was on my Quarter 4 Finish Along list (#3), I get to link up here:

Time to Slow Down!

So.  November and December were CRAZY busy for me!  I had this big old to-do list to begin with, and then my Etsy shop sort of exploded.  Things in the shop had been pretty quiet for awhile, but once Christmas shopping season started, I had all sorts of things lined up to make for others.  Mostly stockings and Rummy mats (that's another post, I think) and one huge quiet book.  I barely managed to finish it all and now that things have slowed down I'm going to do a big old photo dump right here on the blog over the next few posts.  ;)

Oh yeah.  One more thing.  We're having a baby!  Yay!  It's another boy and he'll be here in early May.  Does anyone have any good ideas for boy names?  We are stumped, since we already used our first two ideas...
Of course, we are super excited for baby #3, but I must admit that I didn't feel too great for most of September and October, so there was a bit of a decrease in production/blogging around here for awhile.  Let me just say that the 2nd trimester has been awesome.  I LOVE not being sick all the time.  :)

Alright.  Lets get to it.  Here are all of the things I have finished since my last post in October:

First of all, my Mom had a birthday back at the end of October.  She just had back surgery and I found out that she's been taking my sister's pillow with her to church every week to sit on and decided she definitely needed her own!  She really liked the cathedral windows block I made for my Something New Sampler quilt, so I that's what I went with.
Here is the finished Cathedral Windows block:   I loved going through my scraps to choose fun warm/cool prints.

And here are a couple of crappy phone pictures taken right before I delivered the pillow:

I even used some of my hoarded Simply Color Ogee print for the envelope back.  I don't have a lot of purples, but I love this one.

(This pillow was #9 on my Finish Along list)

Next up, baby Braden!  My Sister-in-Law had a baby in November and Braden's Grandma ordered a growth chart for him to match his older brother's.  They wanted to stick to the BYU theme.  These are kind of fun to make.  :)

(This was finish #2 on my Finish Along List)

We are lucky that our new baby will have a cousin his age on BOTH sides.  My sister is due with her first baby any day now, and requested a puff quilt for her baby shower.  She's going to name the little girl Avonlea, isn't that cute?  I actually made two puff quilts with the intention to list the other in the shop.  As soon as the second one is bound, I'll get some better pictures.  :)  This puff quilt was a big hit at the baby shower - it even inspired one of my aunts to make one of her own! 

(This is finish #4 on my Finish Along List)

Of course, I snuck in a few bee blocks during all this madness.  Vickey asked for Churn Dash blocks for November.  The first few I made turned out pretty washed out because of the one really busy print I used, so I made her a few extras to make up for it.  I love the pinwheel one.  :)

Amazingly, someone ordered one of my ABC quiet books, which was awesome.  All 28 pages.  The whole thing took me 22 hours to make!  I actually went and bumped up the price for this book after making the second one because WHEW!  That was a lot of work!  I also updated some of the pages with bigger and better images, which I was happy to have a chance to do.

I even got to make a couple customized name books.  These short names were a breeze to work with and I updated the cover to add a few extra details.

I made a new M page, since Emily's book already came with a mailbox for M.  Luckily, my boys were able to tell it was a monkey and not a bear...

And lastly, I whipped up this tablecloth in those final days before Christmas.  This was a gift to my mother-in-law from all the siblings.  Our family is getting bigger and we no longer fit around a normal table, so she usually sets us up at the ping pong table.  :)  Unfortunately, she can never find a tablecloth big enough to fit the ping pong table so she always has to layer two or three tablecloths on top of each other.  Now she has one that is custom made to fit (which is totally DOES - I am SO relieved)!  AND it's double sided.  The first side is for when her friends (who don't spill) come over and is made with regular quilting cotton.

And the second side is for when we (the spillers) come over and is made from vinyl. 

(This is #8 on my Finish Along List)

And I lets not forget the quilts I made for my twins' birthday at the beginning of December.  They are waiting for a proper photo shoot so they can have their own post.  But in the meantime, here is proof that I finished them!

(These are finishes #6 and #7 on my Finish Along List)

Most of these projects were part of my Quarter 4 Finish Along list (YAY!), so I will be linking up here: