Twas The Night!

I love, love, love the holidays!  I love seeing all the decorations....trees and twinkle lights, Santa faces, reindeer, candy canes.  And the scents of Christmas at our house - cinnamon and cloves, cookies baking, a turkey roasting - bring a smile to my face.  That's why I wanted to be a part of this blog hop!  Twas The Night says so many things to all of us, not matter what our faith.  The night before a holiday, the night before a birthday, the night before a wedding - the anticipation of that event makes our hearts skip a beat.

Thanks to you Madame Samm for the creation of this hop and for the way you continue to inspire us and coach us and love us!  This hop was a bit different from others because we included a gift giving part to it.  Everyone in the hop sent a gift to someone else in the hop....and I was so blessed to receive a gift from Cori (Creativity Amongst Chaos) She sent me the most amazing pincushions and the sweetest pins to go with them!

Not just one pincushion but three!  And those sweet pins...made by her daughter!  :)

I tried to pick a favorite, really I did, but I just couldn't!  Cori, thank you so very much....pincushions are something I never make for myself and these are going to be everywhere in my house.  One on my sewing table, one on my cutting table, and one on my chair in the sunroom!  My friends are going to be so jealous.  :)

This hop has inspired me.  Really, it kinda made me crazy!  I kept thinking of all the things you could do in a night, or a morning, or just a few hours....like appliqued tea towels.

I do machine applique using a blanket stitch for tea towels like this since they will be washed many times.  Find a coloring book or look for coloring pages on the net and you'll find a million shapes!

Or fussy cut some fabric and stitch some ribbon around to frame it.

Or make some Christmas coasters with fussy cut fabrics.

Or maybe you like zippered bags.

One to hold a ruler or two, needles, pins, etc. and a matching smaller one for the little rotary cutter.

Or one to hold a pair of scissors.

Now these...yes, there are eight of them....are for sweet sisters of the heart.  My high school girlfriends - go Zebras! - will be getting one of these.

I bought the pattern for my zipper pouches but there are tons of free tutorials on Pinterest.  Here's one I really like at Sweet Verbena.

This might be my favorite thing I made.  Lavender scented drawer liners and sachets.

That's really a lavender bush they are laying on!

I laid my batting on the fabric, sprayed a little adhesive on it, sprinkled lavender buds all over that, and quilted the whole thing.  Yes, quilted right over those lavender buds.  And the scent - just luscious!

I hope my "make it in a night" gifts will inspire you to get started on your own gifts.  I keep a basket in my sewing room with all kinds of things in it.  When a birthday rolls around, or some other occasion like a baby shower or a friend who is down in the dumps, I pull something out and send it off.  It's so nice to have a little stash of gifts put aside.

What's my next project?  Well, this isn't a quick one but it is a fun one.  After 25 years away from it I'm starting a counted cross stitch project.  I bought a kit of Anne Hathaway's Cottage while we were in England.

I do my hand stitching at night sitting in front of the television.  The chair where I sit is in a dark corner and no matter what I do I can't seem to get enough light there.  So here's a tip from me to you...Beam N Read!  :)  See that light right there next to my project?

Just look at how it lights up the whole area!  Most of the time I wear it around my neck but sometimes I clamp it to the side of my hoop with some clothespin type clamps I found at the hardware store.  It is truly amazing!  It's battery operated or you can use the USB cord they include but the battery seems to last forever.  This is actually my second one....the first one I had I literally wore out.  Oh and there was the little incident of forgetting to take it off and dropping it in the dishwater.  :)  If you are interested you can find it here.  It is so perfect for sewing down bindings, a little hand embroidery or sewing on a button.  I bet you'll be like me and wear it all the time.  Just don't forget and go do the dishes.

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting on all the blogs today.  Go see who else is going to make you say, "oh I want to make that!" today.

Tuesday, Nov. 11

CeLynn’s Sunflower Patch

Creativity Amongst Chaos

Stitchin’ By The Lake

Seams To Be Sew

Why Knot Kwilt

Quilting Quietly