Catching up!

Oh man, November and December were CRAZY!  My Etsy shop exploded, which is a good thing of course, but it kept me super busy trying to keep on top of all the orders.  Not to mention the commissioned quilts I started in October and finished in December (more on those later).  Whew!
But for now, here are a few quick photos of some of the things I made in November and December 2015.  :)

Korbin's Growth Chart
One of my long time/favorite customers on Etsy (who happens to be my sister-in-law's mother) ordered another growth chart for her newest grandson.  The mom requested red/orange/gray to match his brother's blue/green/gray growth chart.  I had fun trying to get some artsy shots of this awkward shaped object with my weaksauce camera and yellow walls and toddler helpers.  :)  But the best part about making this growth chart was getting to deliver it personally.  Korbin's grandma is one of the sweetest ladies I know.  :)

Starburst/strings pillow
I thought I had some pictures of this, but apparently I don't.  I've been using it for three months on my rocking chair, so I pulled it out for a quick photo just to prove I actually finished it.  ;)  More photos of it HERE.  I made this pillow as part of my guild's challenge to make something from scraps.  I pulled out my TINIEST scraps to make the two sides of this pillow.  I really want to make something bigger with my strings someday - I have a TON of them.




Noah's Stocking
Whew!  Now everyone in the family has a stocking.  I should have taken a picture of them all lined up.  It's a little embarrassing - you can definitely see the progression of my sewing skills over the years!


Camera Strap Cover
My sister is an avid Harry Potter fan and a self-proclaimed Ravenclaw, so I whipped up this blue and silver camera strap cover for her fancy new camera.   Tutorial HERE.

 I also made a whole bunch of these little tissue holders to give as gifts at a party.  I made a few extras for myself, of course.  Tutorial HERE.

Crayon Rolls
I made these for my boys' 4th birthday.  They LOVE these little notebooks, so I had to make a spot for them.  They are also obsessed with all things super hero lately.  (Although if you were to ask them now, they would say Darth Vader is their favorite...)

Lastly, Rummy mats!  I made 12 of these babies in 2 1/2 months.  Yikes!  Next year I'm going to make them ahead of time so I'm not completely swamped during the Holiday season.
I took this picture one day to show the difference between my very first Rummy mat and my 30th Rummy mat.  I would like to think that my skills have improved.  ;) 



 Wahoo!  These are finishes #2 (pillow), #4 (stocking), #11 (growth chart), and #12 (crayon rolls) from my Quarter 4 Finish-Along list.  Linking up!

Character Pillows

I've been dying to share these with you!  They've been finished for quite awhile now, but since they were birthday presents for my two sisters, the final post had to wait.

One of my sisters is an avid Harry Potter fan, the other is a huge Dr. Who lover.  So, naturally, I started searching the web for Potter/Who ideas.  I found some paper pieced patterns, but had no idea what I would use them for, so I kept searching.  Finally, I came across this super cute etsy site:  Heart Felt Design.  Seriously, go check it out - she makes these ADORABLE character pillows.  Of course, I wanted to make mine myself.  So I did.  See:

I sat down and made up my own paper pieced patterns for the Potter and Dr. faces.  No, I won't be sharing them with anyone, and no, I won't make these to sell.  I already feel a little guilty for copying Heart Felt Design's idea. Of course, my pillows are paper pieced with cotton, hers are appliqued with felt, but still. 

Here is Harry, all squared up and ready to go.  He is about 16 inches square.

Of course, I couldn't stop there.  I had to go back and try out those paper pieced designs that started me on this road in the first place.  I found both of my small designs at Fandom in Stitches.  It's an awesome place.  The HP Snitch pattern comes from THIS page.  There were some pretty tiny pieces, but I think it turned out okay.

Here is Harry with his mini block:

And here is Harry the pillow.  Isn't he cute?

The mini block went on the back of the pillow, so now it is "reversible."  :)

Next up, Dr. Who.  I haven't had a chance to watch Dr. Who yet, so I'm hoping this is an accurate representation of Dr. #10.  Can you tell?  His bow tie came out a little wonky, but I wasn't about to go back and redo it.  And those triangles in the corners?  Those are elbow patches, thank you very much.

For my mini Dr. Who block, I had to go for the tardis.  My original plan was to make THIS one, but in the end I decided it had too many pieces.  So I went with THIS one from Fandom in Stitches.  Unfortunately, this pattern had some TINY pieces and my papers kept ripping and nothing lined up properly.  My middle section turned out HORRIBLE.  SO I scrapped it and started over again, this time skipping a few parts and simplifying the whole thing.  The overall block still turned out a little crazy, but much better...

Here is the Dr. with his mini-block:

And here is Dr. pillow:

And the back, with an easy envelope closure:

I'm a little jealous that I don't get to keep them for myself.