The rooster crows at midnight :)

This is the bag I made for my neighbour - I did bags for everybody but the hubby :)   Dobie Xena's gift is here, their son's gift is here, and their daughter's gift is here :)   If I have time I'm going to try to embroider a doberman on a gift bag - I tried the pattern already and it didn't work, but that may have been because I was trying to stitch on a suede-type fabric - it was very thick and I probably wasn't using the right combination of stabilizer/needle type etc. 

She has a rooster collection, hence my choice of pattern :D  The lining is embroidered with a rather naughty saying *ahem*, so I won't post it :D

A few Christmas gifts :)

Daphne's pouch embroidery :)

Daphne's pouch :)

Hawaiian embroideries :)

December 16 FNSI :)

Our Amanda wasn't able to make it last night, but Nancy, Susan and I got together for a rollicking fun time in the dungeon :D  Susan brought her hubby along to meet her Aurora buddies - I think we probably scared the **** out of him :D  Just kidding - he was lovely, and he's used to Susan, so Nancy and I didn't phase him, LOL.  Hi Dave! 

Here are a few photos of our evening frivolities - the sewing part, anyways - I forgot to get pictures of the junk healthy food we consumed :D

Susan's house ornaments under construction (tutorial here)

Nancy's fruitiness under construction :)

My embroidery-ness under construction :D

Stuff it!  Stuff it!!

Turn it right side out! ;)

Nancy's lovely completions :)

Susan's lovely completions :D

My froggy completion :)

This is what I embroidered to go inside the froggy bag - it's the recipient's name :)

We had a great time - Susan's husband joked that he could tell we weren't having a very good time because we didn't make any noise downstairs ;)  We could have awoken the dead (from abed! PML!) with our hooting and hollering and carrying on :D

I'm covered - the rest of you are on your own :D

 I made a pouch for our new neighbour's dog Xena - she's a dobie, and I'm of course attempting to buy her love :D  This is what I put inside the bag, just for reinforcement! ;)

Here's the outside of the bag :D

I'm in my happy place :D

My wench friend Nancy picked me up today for a quick run into town to go to the fabric store :D   I only picked up a few little bits and bobs @ Fabricland, but found my big "score" @ Evelyns - Clover quilting pins, woooooooohooooooo!

I'm far from a "notions snob" - my favourite brand is "on sale" :D  A few weeks ago I was at Nancy's house to sew, and happened to use her Clover quilting pins - I fell in LOVE, and have looked for them ever since.  I was ever so pleased to find them @ Evelyns :)  The price was kinda sucky but sometimes you just buy what you want, despite the extra few bucks.  And WANT I DID!! I'm now the happy owner of 2 packages of these sharp little lovelies, and it has put a smile on my face - thanks Nanc!!!  See you tonight :D 

It only took 11 days ...

Every year by mid-December I start to dream of going to a hotel on Christmas Eve and not coming home until Boxing Day.  I never do it, but I dream it.

Things that care more about Christmas than my guys:
- a box of rocks
- road kill
- the lint in my dryer
- mold on bread

I made these today - they're first aid bags for my kids, who like most (some?) people in construction, come home with paper towel and electrical tape wrapped around the cuts and scrapes they get at work.  Surely a little bit of antibiotic cream wouldn't kill them?!  The first aid cross is a freebie embroidery pattern from annthegran.com - it stitched out perfectly both times.

Edited to add:  the denim I used for the bags is reclaimed denim from their work jeans - very appropos ;) (and I'm running low on denim, so they need to wear out more jeans!)

Save the Tatas :D

Save the Tatas :D

 One of my SIL's was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, so I decided to make special bags for all the ladies in the family.  I got the first bag done last night - here's what I embroidered for the inside ;)

Here's the first bag - the rest will be done in time for Christmas (if my embroidery machine co-operates!) :)

Little Christmas elves :D

Guess who these are for? LOL!

There's a pinup girl in my house! ;)

Gift bags - heron stitchery from Designs by Sick, pinup lady (heehee isn't that adorable?!) from Julias Needle Designs :)

 First aid bag - this is a Christmas gift for the lovely nurse that comes to give me my Humira shot every 2 weeks :)

Nurse Lisa's name is embroidered inside :)

Pet stuff :D

I wish I could remember where I got this pattern from (I think the proper phrasing might be "from where I got this pattern" but that sounds snooty and I would never say it that way, LOL) - it's called, I think, PetStuff - I downloaded it when I first got my machine and hadn't figured out yet how best to save file information.  Cute, eh?  :)

From heron in ...

Heron

Bad pun, bad pun!!  I stitched this out tonight but wasn't paying close enough attention to the colour guide - I used blue when it was stitching the cattail leaves, lol.  I had a thread shred at one point but was able to fix it, now that I know how to "backspace" the stitching :D  Tomorrow I'll try again with the proper colour sequence ;)

Winter wonderland :D

This photo was taken from my front porch this afternoon :)

Taken from my front porch, the kids' public school is in the background, and the house on the right belongs to our new neighbours :)

We finally got a blast of winter snow - I sure don't like it, but it's definitely pretty!  Prettier than my crappy photography shows, anyways, lol.  Much easier to handle as I listen to my new favourite Christmas carol --- Michael Buble and Shania Twain singing White Christmas - GOOSEBUMPS!!!  I have a crush on Michael, LOL!

I have an embro assistant - do you? :)

I finished up a bag today with the help & supervision of my favourite assistant :) He works cheap and doesn't give me a hard time :D

First humbug tall pouch :)

Here's the bag I started last night - you can't really see it in the photo but instead of a zipper pull with a charm or beads, I tied on a jingle bell!  Jingle jingle jingle!!  It has 2 embroideries inside - a name and the Christmas tree I posted yesterday :)

Just like potato chips ...

you can't stop at one! I stitched this tonight to tuck inside a Christmas bag I'm doing :) The pattern is from the Christmas Whimsies set from Designs by Sick :)

I learned tonight that I can fold my stabilizer in half (I generally cut it 7x9 to fit into my hoop) and just hold it in place under the fabric while attaching the hoop to the machine - it stays in place perfectly when the stitching starts and I don't need to use 2 x 7 x 9 sheets of stabilizer to get a double layer - now why didn't I think of that earlier? LOL!

Vroom vroom :)

Close-up of embro

Reclaimed denim and (sexy!) convertible embro - this is the "wrapping" for a Christmas gift ;)

Embroidery pattern set is Redwork Convertibles by Designs by Sick :)

A little preview ...

I stitched this out today to use on the lining of a bag I'm making :D  I wish I could remember where I got the pattern - it was an online freebie in a set called PetStuff.  If anyone knows, could you let me know - I'd like to post a link - thank you!

She's done :)

Here's the Santa 'mingo zipper bag I made for myself (link to freebie embro pattern is here) - even the lining is 'mingo fabric, but I forgot to take a picture of that :D  This is going right into my purse for Christmas use :)  It stitched out SO perfectly - Teri did a wonderful job (and I'll be emailing her to let her know!).  I'm very very pleased with how this turned out!

Hair and manicure - part deux - the completions :)

3 piece set - tote, panty bag, round bottom bag

Close-up of panty bag and round bottom bag

Stitchery added inside all the bags

Blow dryer zipper pull

Brush zipper pull

Blogger insists on arranging photos the way they want them.  Here's a zipper pull with a nail polish charm - I made this same pull for each bag in this set

Manicurist tote and tall pouch - panels are by Loralie

Back of tote

Nail polish stitchout in both bags

Santa Flamingo :)

I decided to take a bit of time and make something for myself today - I found a cute Santa flamingo freebie @ Sew Teri-fic Designs - I downloaded it and am stitching it out right now onto a piece of reclaimed denim (salvaged from worn out electrician's jeans, hehe). So far so good!  I'm using a jeans needle and 2 layers of tear-away stabilizer - the pattern is somewhat stitch intensive so I don't want any warping or stretching :)

It stitched out PERFECTLY - I think the extra layer of stabilizer made the difference. I have a bit of housework to do (booooooooooo, lol) and will be going out tonight, but hopefully I'll get the stitchout "installed" in MY project tonight and can post it :)

Hair and Manicure #1 :)

I got a request for a gifty for a hairstylist and a manicure. Here are some in-progress photos:

Hairdresser tote lining

Inside embellishment for hairdresser set

I hadn't thought much about taking in-progress photos while I was doing the hairdresser set, lol.  When I started the manicure set I had the house to myself for the whole day and evening (hubby and kids were going to a work Christmas party after work)  so I got to play sewing machine and photographer all day!  ;)

Manicure tote - panel is by Loralie

Tall pouch

Nail polish stitchout, for the lining of both bags

The nail polish pattern is the first embroidery pattern that I actually paid for - until I go that one, I had only downloaded freebies.  I wish the designers would put their names/websites on the files so they can be given credit!  I save files by topic, not by designer, and I don't even remember where I found this one - but it cost $3.99 ... HA!