Many Merry Stars Kit

At my Ornament Exchange every year, we not only have fun, eat and exchange our ornaments, but we also make a handmade item.  It's usually another ornament for our trees, but this year I took out an old Stampin Up kit that has lots of cardboard cut outs in it to make assemble star boxes.  (I was running out of time and didn't have an ornament idea ready.)

Each person got to pick out an assortment of star colors and sizes to make.  The wooden snowflakes and other embellishments came with the kit.  

These are four that I made.  I like the red and cream-colored look to them.  I put them out as part of my Christmas display in the crafting room.  They came out sweet.  And surprisingly, the ladies really liked making them.  

The kit was called Many Merry Stars.  Does anyone remember this kit?  Have you made the stars in it?  Or do you still have it sitting around in your craft room waiting for the just the right time to take it out?  

 

More Patchwork and Embrodiery

Before Christmas I decided to do some more patchwork for some gifts.  I love the book by Gail Pan called Patchwork Loves Embroidery.  

It's a book that I've had for a while but I love to transfer the patterns to embroider.  She also has several nice projects to make in her book.  Each time that I take it out, I want to make more of her items.  

After I made the bag which has a nice enclosure at the top, I stitched up some more birds to match the bag.  I made some bitsy yo-yo's for embellishments along with some buttons.

Then I decided that I wanted to put another piece with embroidery on it with this gift, I stitched up the sweet little heart and made it into a pin cushion.  You can also use it for decorating, putting on a shelf or in a basket.  

I had fun putting this all together.  I gave it to my friend for her gift but now I want to make more of these!  The fabrics come together and coordinate so nicely.  How can I even stop?

 

Birdie Apron

I love making aprons for both myself and to give as gifts.  For Christmas this year, I made this "bitdie" apron for one of my friends who loves birds.  I purchased the bird fabric at JoAnn's a few years ago and remembered that I had it in my stash.  It has light green vines in it and some rust colored flowers.  So I lined the apron with a light green, making it reversible and added some rust fabric for the pockets and ties.

I had a cute bird stamp that I wanted to use to make a card to match the gift, but after stamping it in a lot of different colors, it just didn't have the look I was after.  So I made the card from a piece of the bird fabric! I ironed on some fusible interfacing and then ran it through the Big Shot with a stitched circle die.  I like how it turned out.  Now it matches the apron.

I sewed some little birds to match the apron and added some buttons for embellishments.  The birds can be either hung or placed in a display.  Then I made a little pincushion that also has the robin on it.  I added some lace and buttons to that.  I love how it all came together.  :)

 

"Oh, My Starts" Quilt

I started this teal quilt about 2 years ago and finally finished it this week!!!  The pattern is called, "Oh, My Stars" from Pat Sloan.  It's a fun, easy pattern that you can make with charm squares or 5" blocks of fabric.  You do need a design wall to put them on so you can decide where to put the "stars."  You want to make sure that you don't place the star next to a fabric that is similar in color.  You need the contrast to make the stars stand out.

I've made the pattern before for my son but this time I used pretty teal fabrics with flowers in them to make it more feminine for one of my girlfriends.

I made a strip of patchwork for the back of the quilt to give it some visual interest.  I love how it looks going across the back of the quilt.  That's the first time I've even done a pattern on the back.  

I quilted it on my longarm with an overall random swirl pattern.  I love how it turned out.

Here's a photo of my friend receiving her quilt.  And guess what?  She loved it.  :)