Gift for Suzi

So I have been on a handmade gift kick lately, everyone had handmade gifts at Christmas this year that I will have to blog about.  But my most recent gift was for my cousin Suzi.  I love her and miss her living all the way in Alaska.  

She was married last year and her husband is a sweetheart.  So when scrolling through facebook when I saw a sign that said, "Come In! We are awesome!" I knew I had to make one for Suzi and Doug.

I chose a 6 inch embroidery hoop, drew out my design, and went to stitching. 

And stitching

And stitching

But I love the outcome.  I hope that Suzi will too. 

Wedding Gift

I had another wedding this month and decided to make the bride and groom a little hand stitched project.  The bride, Aggie, is originally from California and the groom, Steve, is from New Jersey.  I have seen all over Pinterest and in stores state items so I decided to make the project with their states.

I started by printing out outlines of the two states and then I pinned them to the fabric.  Then I stitched around the states with a chain stitch.

.
I added in some dashed lines, their names, and the wedding date to finish the project.

I cleaned up the back with another piece of the grey fabric that I pressed and stitched a finished line around. At that same time I machine stitched the tag to the back with a note to the happy couple.  I whip stitched it to the back for a nice clean finish.

It was a fun wedding that apparently I didn't take any photos at :(  Oh well.

So one more wedding in a couple weeks that I won't be able to make, but I need to whip up a project for that, too.

A Little Hand Stitching

Last week I had a little down time from sitting at my machine and being able to move too much so I sat and finished my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I completed the stitching part of project that is a wedding present for a friend whose wedding I was in a couple weeks ago.

Now to clean up my edges and finish off the back.  I will be adding a ribbon to hang it by that was on my bouquet from the wedding.  Can't wait to mail it out!

Congrats to my friends, Kayce and Brad and their little one Orion.  Such a happy family.

And the obligatory college friends picture needed from any wedding :)

Happy Birthday Layla

My friend's little girl turns 1 today.  We had originally planned to visit today as they headed to the beach, but with me on crutches and their families going with them it would be a bit of a production.  So to celebrate with Layla in my own way I sent her a couple onesies that I stitched a little something on.

Two little cupcakes for a little cupcake.  

One with a cherry on top and...

the other with rainbow sprinkles.  (My favorite!)

I sent them earlier this week and she got them on Thursday.  Her Daddy, my very good friend, called to thank me.  He said that they are Layla approved.

Some hand stitching

This weekend I worked on some hand stitching.  I headed to my LQS for a weekend sale and dragged my mother with me.  I should know by now that taking her with me is never a good thing.  I always spend so much more when she goes.  She saw a pillow pattern that she loved with hand stitching on it so I bought the pattern and started it this weekend.

Here are the two panels.  You only need one for a pillow, but after I completed the first one on just plain white I was informed that she wanted it on the white on white nautical... ugh.  So I started again.  

Plain white 

These are the two that I completed the stitching for.  I need to go back to get the rest of the fabric for the pillows because they were out of the fabrics already.  I was told they will be back in this week.  

White on white

She also decided she wants some shams for her new bedding in the same colors that will be in these pillows.  I love how my mom loves to add to my project list.

So I am not much a fan of hand stitching, but I was surprised at how easy it is and what a difference it makes.  I think I am going to play with it a bit more.

I am linking up with Linky Party Tuesday at Quilting by the River.