Christmas is coming!

 I've been working away on my Christmas cards lately.  Just because making regular cards was not time consuming enough... I decided to up my game and make fabric postcards too.  

I was introduced to this idea last year.  So I entered a swap with my guild and made these.

The darker one was swapped along with the start ornament.  My mom got the Noel card.  Both were appreciated. 

This year I'm making one to swap that has been sent and finishing up 12 more to give away!

Hugs!

It's Christmas time!

 Hello!

I love Christmas. 
So nice to hear from family and friends, lots of good cheer and secret making, but also SOOO chaotic!
In the past few years though it's been hard to get into the jolly time of year.
So if you too are having a hard time, hang in there!  
There will be a better day!
That's all we can do.  Just keep trying.

I made my mom's Christmas cards in time for her October birthday again this year.  
She like cutesy and Suzy's Zoo by Susy Spafford. 
So I took some wrapping paper I bought last year and fashioned some cards for her and my seester!  (that's not a typo, just the way we call each other)

Then a friend asked me for some cards for her business, so I made her some fun ones.

And finally I finished mine in early December. 
I used the same background paper on all of them and the same greeting inside, but used up all the stray embellishments I had collected over the years.

We sent them out a little later that I prefer, but there you go. 

Just aim for done and not perfection! 
I learned that this year! 
How about you?  What did you learn this year?

Happy Christmas everyone and keep safe!

Hugs!
Cindy

Fabric postcards

Hi!

 I participated in a fabric postcard swap this year.
It took me a while to find the Pellon Peltex 9292F Stabilizer, but once I got into the groove, it was fun!

My first ones are quite plain, but I got to play with the font feature on my sewing machine and spent a happy afternoon playing and adding decorative stitches with gold thread.

That's a paper pieced ornament next to it.  I sent it to my swap partner too.

The second one gets given to someone special.

Next year I understand we may do it again, so I'm gathering ideas to make more elaborate ones!

Hugs!

Cindy

Merry Christmas!

 Hello!

Now that most of my cards have arrived, I can post this year's card.  

This year was not as bad as previous year's in the motivation department.

I happily worked on these and looked forward to sending them out, compared to the last few years of just giving up, or forcing myself to do so.  Winter blues, or SADS is common, and it hits me usually in late October, early November.  I have a light box I use each morning and oddly, this year's Covid restrictions motivated me!  

I wanted to make a little tea kit to share with some members of our Quilt Guild who were really feeling isolated, so I made some large mats or Mug Rugs as some say.  Combined with a tea packet, a treat and my card I went around to their houses to leave a surprise.  Some I had to notify ahead of time as they lived in apartments, but most I just left and ran.  Brought Kara with me and I finished feeling quite up!

In each card, I also usually include a letter with our updates of the year.  

This year I decided to share a poem I found on the internet....

I've since discovered the author is Shawna Hickling from Calgary, AB, Canada

Hugs to all!

And I wish you a healthy and happy 2021!

Merry Christmas!

Hello!

I still make some cards for special occasions and of course Christmas!

This year I made these cards for my sister and mother to send to family and friends.

Our cards looked like this.

I also participated in an ABC tag swap with friends from Alberta.  Each year we get given a letter of the alphabet and need to make 26 identical tags with the theme of Winter Wonderland.  My letter this year was 'T'.  We then get a full alphabet back each year.

I've only got a few more letters to do until I have done the entire alphabet!  Yay!  I hope your winter celebrations are filled with love and family!  See you in 2020!

Hugs,
Cindy :)

UFO Fun

Hello All!

I am participating in a UFO (Unfinished Objects) challenge with my quilt guild and I'm doing much better this year at organising myself!

So far I've completed a Fabric Tree for our local Festival of Trees fundraiser for the Lung Association.  This was completed in September and fine-tuned to be donated in November.  It stood 4 feet high and all the ornaments were hand made by friends and myself.  The final bid was $150 Canadian.

December was a Christmas table topper that I made with 2.5" diamonds all by hand.  I'd always wanted to do a project completely by hand, and had started this last year in April.  So it is hand stitched together, hand quilted and a rolled hand stitched binding.  Finished size is 14.5" diameter. It is not very big, but it took a lot of time!  Major respect for those that did and still do their quilting all by hand with no machines!

I am running away in February so I completed my February project early.  A 16x21" Valentine wall hanging.  This was a class that was offered a year ago at our guild, but a death in the family forced the class to be cancelled.  In that year I have learned quite a few techniques, so decided to tackle it. It is raw edge machine applique and the snoopy heart is trapunto, where you put extra stuffing behind it to make it puff out. This is also my second project that I have free motion quilted it on my machine.

Hoping your 2019 is off to a good start!
Hugs!
Cindy

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hope this holiday time brings all of you some craft time, relaxing time and family/friend time!

Here are some more cards I created this year for friends and family.

See you in the new year!!!

It's Almost Here!

Hi everyone!

Well the Christmas season has snuck up on my again this year!
Work hours increased, and preparations for a family Christmas here has kept me busy.
Before my guests arrive, I thought I'd show this year's Christmas Card designs.

I decided to do a foil emboss this year.  Relatively quick and very pretty!

Here are the steps!

Foil adhered in random fashion on cardstock that has double sided tape (sookwang in my case), then passed through an embossing folder and machine. 

 Rub a permanent ink over the raised parts of the embossing

 Cut these panels in half and also cut the layers you will need.  Keep the scraps for the inside!

 Use the green panel to cut a mat for your embossed piece.  Also will save on weight when layering.

Add embellishments and voila!  80 Christmas cards ready to go out! LOL!

Vintage Christmas

Hello!

I've been busy making cards to sell for the upcoming Christmas season.   Man I dislike that term, but when making things to sell, unfortunately November 1- December 24 is the Christmas season...

I've attacked a pile of vintage cards that were given to me and upcycled them to be able to use today.  The artwork is quite pretty and it seems such a shame not to re-use them!  I cut them apart and add pretty papers, sometimes fibres and Voila!  We have new/old cards!

For all my cards, new or recycled, I try to add a little something of the front of the card to the inside.

Sometimes it's a few strips of the same paper, sometimes a bit more.

Feel free to come down to the Vintage Co-Op on Saturday's from 10-4 to see what new cards I have for sale!