My Brother-in-law gave me a gift.

I realized today it has been over a year since Joe has seen his older brother,  James.  This is because he brought by a sewing machine and table he has had in his attic for at least 20 years.  Then we all realized even though James only lives 50 miles away, we haven't seen him since he was in the hospital.

He is busy with family, remnants of cancer, and traveling.  Joe is fighting M.S., so even though they email almost daily, an in person visit has not happened in quite a while.

A short visit, but James gave Joe a family trunk filled with papers, pictures, and other stuff. We haven't opened the trunk yet.  But I have already dusted and tried out what he brought me.  They are not sure if this is a family heirloom or not.  However, I already cherish it.

It happens to be a Singer featherweight built in New Jersey circa 1948.  Plus the table that goes with it.

Pictures of it as received:

A wipe with a damp cloth:

A beautiful machine that purrs.  I haven't even oiled it yet.

Thank you James!

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Dinosaurs!

Since my nephew Chase is three and can't quite read, I feel safe blogging about his Christmas present.

Being three years old, he loves dinosaurs.  Since he loves the pillow I made for him last year, I thought another pillow would be a great gift this year.  With a dinosaur theme of course.

It is hard to believe he is only three, he is so grown up.  Here he his telling Santa he wants "dinosaur trucks" for Christmas.

I used some green material I bought at the thrift store, some batting, and a standard pillow.  First I cut nine squares 9" by 7".  I embroidered dinosaurs on eight and did applique on one.

I sewed them together with a 1/4" seam.  Then I sewed the batting to the back of the designs by stitching in the ditch through all the squares.  I also sewed a piece of fabric over the batting to seal it in.

Inside

Front

Making these pillows which are like miniature quilts is good practice for when I decide to make a full-size quilt.


The pillow can easily be removed for washing since I sewed two pieces to make the back and serged the seams so the inside would look good.

Back

I used my White sewing machine and my Janome embroidery machine for this project.

It will be fun to see Chase's face when he sees all the dinosaurs.

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Christmas Stocking

I did a quick embroidery project yesterday with no formal plans, just an idea in my head.  It started when I found a cute little embroidered reindeer design.  I thought this would look cute on a Christmas stocking.  My poodle Max needs a stocking for goodies, so I made this for him

I used some left over pink fleece and a scrap of white fabric.  I first embroidered the reindeer and "Max" on the fleece.  Then just freehand I cut out a stocking shape on the fabric folded over.

After sewing the stocking I attached the white trim, and Voila!  A cute Stocking.

If you would like the free reindeer design, it is available through 12-31-14 at Emblibrary.

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