Pretty simple. Lots of cutting, but what isn’t I guess. No sewing required! It’s all assembled with Heat and Bond and double sided heavy Peltex.
We had a lot of fun decorating them!

Mine of course was not made in traditional colors. I love the turquoise and pinks that are in so many Christmas decorations now.

Paige made a modern, whimsy Christmas house with bright pink fringe and a purple polka dot roof!

Two of the girls decided on grays. This one is the classy house on the block!

And this one is super cute with the little fairy house fabric from Cinderberries.

And these two houses were done in traditional cuteness!

Isn’t that the cutest ruffle roof!

Pick up one of the patterns and get started on your own little village. Lots of fun!

The little deer are sooo cute! And that sleigh, oh my..

The tree fabric has sweet little critters in it too.

The Alpine Wonderland print is adorable. Can you tell I’m swooning over this line?

Check out all the fabrics in our Etsy store.

Another sweet line we got in this week is Dress Up Days by Riley Blake. Cute scooters and little chevron prints. And everyone knows I can’t resist a bicycle with a basket of flowers:)

We moved some fabrics into the sale section on Etsy also. Head over and take a look. All LakeHouse, Pick A Bunch, and Anthology fabrics are now marked down. Great prices especially if your looking for a backing for a quilt.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the awesome summer weather!

This free pattern comes from Elizabeth Hartman from the Oh Fransson! blog. You can find the pattern here.

I rolled them up, tied them with a pretty ribbon and gave them away with a casserole dish.

Here’s a set that my SewMod friend Andrea made up with some of the Bespoken fabrics. Check out her Funky Placemats Flickr page. She’s made several cool ones!

Very nice! Thanks for great idea Andrea. I will definitely be making more.

Got a traveler on the list? We did. And what better thing for a child while traveling than a pillow:) At least I was always hoping that mine would eventually fall asleep. We never left for a trip without ours!

This was a travel pillow set with a play mat quilt panel with a road scene backed with flannel. A great idea to keep that little boy busy on the floor with all those Hot Wheels!

A baby set including an Owl, Minky Blankie, Ouchie Bag and a Bag for the new mommy to enjoy.

The kids will enjoy toting their own bags to the library to check out all those books with their new Library Bags and a Color Book for baby sister.

And the last giftie is a soft blankie for baby made with a cute puppy panel.

Did anyone else out there make some cute children’s gifts this year? We’d love for you to share some of your ideas too!

Supplies:
Scrap pieces of fabric
½ yard linen
Thread & basic sewing supplies

Pieces are sewn using ¼” seams.

The fun part is gathering your fabrics. I chose Kate Spain’s 12 Days of Christmas fabrics and a red linen background which I bought on sale at Joann’s. I like the linen because it gives the scarf a nice weight to it.

Cut your fabric scraps into 2” to 4-1/2 inch wide x 7” long. The number of pieces you cut will be determined by how long you want your scarf to be. I stopped cutting when my scarf came out to be approx. 87” long.

Cut your linen into (2) 7” strips WOF. Sew them, right sides together on one of the short ends. Press the seam open, set aside.

After you’ve arranged your scrappy pieces to your liking, sew them, right sides together in a row.

Iron all your seams in one direction.

Measure your pieced scarf and cut your linen to that measurement. With right sides together, pin the scarf to the linen. Pin well, all the way around. Linen tends to slide a bit.

Place the pieced side up under your machine. This will help you see and keep all those seams gpoing in one direction. Starting at the beginning of one side and working your way around, sew the scarf to the linen. Leave one end open for turning.

Clip your corners on the sewn end.

Turn your scarf inside out and press. Turn the seams under at the open end. Press and whip stitch closed.

Enjoy your new scarf!

Here’s one I made using Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom line. I used plum linen on the back of it.

I think it’s time to hit the gym. My dress forms shouldn’t look better than I do in my own clothes!

I saw this in a holiday magazine and it only requires a few items to make it, which I already owned. If you have buttons, scraps of Christmas fabrics, embroidery floss and an 8×10 frame you’re all set! I only had to purchase the frame and ,of course, I couldn’t find a red one, so I painted it.

I seem to be on a button/embroidery/tree theme this year!

Here’s an easy gift to make.  A button tree pillow. I make these easy little pillows and give them as hostess gifts, to friends or someone special. Give your pillow with a box of chocolates tied with a pretty ribbon.

Supplies:
pattern
White background fabric 9-1/2” x 9-1/2”
FQ for the backing
Buttons
Embroidery floss
Fiberfill
1-1/2” wide scraps of fabric

Trace the tree design onto your background fabric. Embroidery using 3 strands of floss. Add your buttons.

Just like making a log cabin block, piece the strips of fabric  around the background until your satisfied with the size of your pillow. Mine was about a 13” square.

Lay your backing FQ fabric right side up. Lay your tree face down on top of backing. Cut out the backing fabric to the same size as the top and pin. Sew around all the edges leaving a space for turning, about 4 fingers length. Clip your corners and turn right side out. Stuff with the fiberfill and sew the opening closed with a whip stitch.

I’ve made several of these before. Here’s one I made with a leftover applique block.

And a couple of embroidered Santa pillows..

We did manage to make this super cute Christmas Elves table runner.

The runner is made from the pattern Which Witch by Crazy Old Ladies.

Both are available in the Etsy shop and at SewModDesigns.com. We’re having a Christmas Sale this week on all handmade items at SewModDesigns.com and the Etsy shop, 20% off. Don’t miss it!

Another great gift idea for those co-workers, teens, or your BFF is the Little Wallet. We recently finished these up for a friend who plans to share the handmade love with her co-workers.

We have kits available with the crochet flower or buy the pattern and make them from your scraps. They whip up easily and fast!

I’m a bit in denial, although I do Love my holidays. I’m usually ahead of the game by this point. At the beginning of every year I make a Christmas list of all friends and family I’m buying for and add ideas next to their names throughout the year that I think they would like.  That way, I’ve at least given some thought to the gift and I’m never rushed to just pick something up. There’s nothing worse than a gift without a little thought behind it, right?

I have started my list but I’m definitively behind on my handmade items. One of my SewMod friends is doing a handmade holiday. It’s so hard for boys and men though! Any suggestions out there? I’d love to hear some ideas.

I’m going to have to kick it into high gear over the coming weeks before Christmas and hopefully by following our blog, we will be able to inspire you as well with some ideas!

Our 1st handmade item is from Stitch Craft Create magazine. I picked this up at Joann’s the other day. I love it! Lots of ideas for stocking stuffers for your favorite quilter and crafty project ideas. I love to craft!

The 1st thing we had to make was those adorable trees on the cover. Paige chose whimsy blue and green Christmas fabrics from the stash and we were off from there onto our 1st Christmas craft. Don’t ya love being able to use scraps for a project?

The directions were easy to follow and I found all the ingredients at Joann’s.  The wire is available in the jewelry making section of the store and available in a variety of colors too. The only issue I had making these was the wire is not sturdy enough to balance these trees, so I just left that part out.

The trees are strip pieced, then decoratively stitched at the seams with embroidery floss pinned to the cones and whip stitched up the back.  Add a snowman scene as the backdrop and we have our 1st Christmas display:)

And I must say…super cute, right? A little time consuming but most of the work is in the hand stitching, which can be done while watching your favorite holiday movie! Well worth it!

Keep checking back with us. My goal up until Christmas week is to provide a Handmade Holiday craft or sewing project every Friday and sometimes during the week too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hoo’s In The Forest? Cute little deer, wide-eyed owls, hedgehogs, all kinds of forest critters!

And what do they like to eat? ….apples, cherries and strawberries!

The full order, all 23 bolts in this collection, arrived yesterday. It has 4 main colors to it…blues , greens, yellows and pinks, along with some plaids, daisies , and solids.

Cute & whimsy!

We also had some charm squares from Hoo and Christmas Candy come with it.

I hope everyone enjoys their Friday. I’m going to spend mine working on adding these to the Etsy shop and later having dinner with Paige.

Happy sewing!