Pillow Cases and Self Binding Blankets Galore!!

More things I have been making. 

 LOADS of pillow cases, some crib sheets and some self binding blankets. 

 I made a few more nap blankets too. 

 Trying to power through some of my fabric.

  Although I do have to confess I bought Christmas flannel for the pillowcases.

Four pirate self binding blankets. Check.

Someone claimed this one, LOL.

Aren't these otters the cutest?

Self binding blanket with airplanes.

These were all the self binding blankets I made.

The first of the pillowcases.

With matching self binding blanket.

I wish I had bought more of this print.  This is a pillow case and matching crib sheet.

Pair of pillowcases.

Crib sheet

Two pairs of pillow cases

Pair of pillow cases

Found that faux fur in the remnant bin so had to make this self binding blanket with it.

I totally fell for these vintage reindeer.  2 pair of pillow cases.

These black Christmas cats had to be made into pillow cases for my bed!

I made another pair reversed but forgot to take a photo

Christmas gnome pillowcases.

 That's all I have for now.  

If you are interested in making pillowcases I have a tutorial on my tutorial page and

 you can find it here 

 I also have tutorials for the crib sheets and self binding blankets on my tutorial page. 

 The link is in the header for Mama Spark's Tutorials.

Most of the pillow cases have been wrapped and are ready to gift. 

Some will be gifted in person.

Are you making things for Christmas this year?

~XOP~

Felt Christmas Trees

 My sweet SIL, Mary, and I spent a couple of weekends making some felt Christmas trees for our grandkids and some for a few of their friends.  
She had made one previously and we copied the tree she had made before.  

We had SO much fun making these! 

 We put on sappy Christmas movies and got creating! 

 We laughed and talked and just had a wonderful time. 

 Such a special memory for me.

  I hope each and every one of the kids we gifted these to can feel all the joy and love that went into their creation.
We began upstairs on her kitchen counter.

One of my favorites was this snowman.  

Once we got going we moved to the table in the basement. 

 You can see the TV at the top of the photo. 

We made the trees 2 layers and I sewed them together.

We put a loop of ribbon at the top so the tree could be hung on a wall using a Command hook. 

 Here you can see the trees as we were finishing them.  

We had a fifth one but ran out of velcro.

I ordered more (green) and will give that to Mary when it arrives.

Close ups of the trees

I had to mail mine to my people, so I folded the trees up and put them with their ornaments into a Ziploc bag for mailing.  

You can see we put their names on the round ornaments. 

 Mary used her Cricuit to do the lettering.

  I also found the round with the clear center ornaments

 for their parents to put a photo of their child into. 

 We put the year on those.  I sent one to the twins and Lynn, Avery (of course) 

and a little friend of Avery's, Reese.

I don't have a photo of Avery with his tree but he is enjoying it, according to him mom. 
 I have heard from the twin's mom and they are loving it too. 

I think I might add an angel and a few more things for next year.

Wouldn't it be fun to send new ornaments each year?

LOVE making for friends and family!

~XOP~

The Elves Have Been Busy

 I am so sorry it has been so long since I posted last! 
 I have been busy sewing up a storm and can finally share some of the things I have been making!

 I can't believe how far behind I am in posting the things I have been working on.  

YIKES!
First up, I made a cute little panel quilt for a friend of my daughter that had a baby.

  I fell in love with this panel and the coordinating fabric with zero idea who I would be making it for. 

 

Isn't this sun so cute!

I had a fantastic Minky that I was able to use for the backing.

You already saw some of the things I made for new baby Lynn.  
She is the baby of a friend of my daughter also. 

 I made a few more things for baby Lynn too. 

 I used the pattern called Nightingale and the fabric is Dorothy's Journey.,

I used the panel from the fabric line for the back. 

 I embroidered a label (you can see it under the panel.)

I also found this cute embroidery that I added above the panel.

I made her a really cute self binding blanket too.  

Enough for today!  

I will post more soon.  

As I said I have so much to catch up on here.

~XOP~

A Few More Makes

 I have been sewing like crazy but most has been for gifts. 

 I will show a few things I have made that I can show.

  I don't think the people I made them for read my blog so I should be safe, LOL. 

I made another Nightingale quilt using the Dorothy's Journey fabric. 

 I just finished binding it!  

I have not taken a photo of the finished quilt yet though.  

Michigan weather has NOT been cooperating with my photo taking! 

 So just a sneak peek of this one.

Cole and I have been busy.  

I need to make 3 Christmas stockings.  

One for a friend and 2 for my sister-in-law.

I got started one of them the other day.  

I made stockings for this little one's parents when they got married. 

 Then I made them for their twins.  

Now it is time to make for the newest addition to their family. 

 You can see the front and the lining in this picture.

This is the back and still the lining.

Ta-Da!  The finished stocking all ready to mail out soon!

I had one block left over from the baby quilt so I decided rather than have an orphan block I would make it into a pillow cover for the baby.

This is the front of the cover, using the orphan block.

I had some fabric left over from making the quilt so I used it on the back.

If you look closely, you can see the zipper flap. 

 I was pretty excited to put a zipper in the back.

I will send it off with the quilt.  

They will just need to purchase a pillow form to make it into a pillow.

I have also been doing some test embroidery for Meags and Me.

This is one of the adorable parts of their Goodbye quilt pattern.  

I have finished all of the embroidery for the quilt, now I just need the actual quilt pattern to finish it.

They needed testers to use the format I use to check if the embroidery was alright, which it was.

Isn't it so adorable?

Hubby and I went out to pick up some things at Cabela's today for the basket raffle at our church.

We stopped in Dundee and shopped a bit.  Most of the shops have closed, sadly.

We walked by the river and I snapped this pic of us.

I have some more to share, but I need to take some photos.

So until then, happy stitching!

~XOP~

Sew Quilty Quilt Retreat

 I had the pleasure of flying in to the MSP airport in MN and

 driving with some friends to Siren,WI for a quilt retreat. 

 It is the same group of women that met up in Kansas City in August. 

 One of our friends owns a quilt shop in Siren WI. 

 It is called Sew Quilty. 

 My friends, Paula and Mel flew in from Kansas City and Colorado and we rented a car and 

drove to our friend, Traci's shop.  

I brought Captain Jack along for the trip.  I think he had fun too.

This is the only photo I took of the three of us (and it is a HORRIBLE pic of me). 

 We were in front of Traci's shop.

Mel and I were working on the Lyric quilt by A Crafty Fox. 

 Jack is showing my favorite star block.  

It used a fish from one of the Ghastlies lines.  

Mel has her whole top put together already. 

 I don't, LOL.

In my defense, I have been binding like a mad woman.

On the way to the shop we stopped at a dairy. 

 In the fields around the dairy were hundreds of Sand Hill Cranes!

The retreat took place at a hotel called the Lodge.  

This is the entry into the hotel. 

 It was a really cool place for a retreat.

I did take a short video of the quilting space and made my friends wave to all of you too!

Jack needed some caffeine to keep going and so did I!

If you are looking for a gift for a quilter these mugs were great!

Traci has them in her shop.

I was afraid someone would tell me I needed this one!

YIKES!!!

All in all it was a wonderful time spent with friends and sewing! 

 Can't wait to see them again.

~XOP~