A Reindeer Mug Rug

This is what I made for our work gift exchange this year.  I had the idea to find a nice pottery mug and then make a mug rug to match it.  The more I thought about it, while I love pottery mugs, for the most part they are sort of plain so I found this mug at a local coffee shop.

I participated in a Christmas charm swap recently and used some of the fabrics for the top. I used fusible fleece for each side and then did diagonal stitching across to keep them together except where the reindeer was on the back. 

                                                                    

This is the back. I traced the reindeer onto tracing paper and made an applique. I wound up putting two pieces of fabric together, sewing it around and turning it right side out. I did it this way because when I tried the applique with one piece of fabric I could see the backing fabric through the white and didn't like the way it looked. I used a solid lime green that matched the ornament on the mug for my binding.

                                              

I bought a bag of Raisinets, put them in one of those plastic bags you can buy in the candy making isle of JoAnns and made a 'Reindeer Droppings' label for it out of card stock. I found a cute reindeer graphic on google and typed up the serving size and calorie count on the back.

Our gift exchange was done by rolling dice. It wound up that my gift was the last one opened so no one fought over it but I think the lady who got it really liked it! 

Blessings friends!

Please check out my Linky Party button to see where I am linking up!

Notebook Covers

I saw these adorable mini memo book covers here and decided I would make a few for Christmas gifts. Twenty books later I am finished! Of course I started wrapping them and then remembered I needed to take a picture! The tutorial was awesome and they were pretty easy to make.    
            

A closer look.

I made each one different.  Some of the scrapbook paper had a coordinating color on the back so that worked out nice.  I coordinated the embroidery thread to match.  I bought the brads at Michaels.  The notebooks were 4 for $3.99 at Staples.  I think they will make nice stocking stuffers.

Blessings,

The Stockings Were Hung...

Me and my big ideas!  I had bought this fabric at JoAnn's after Christmas last year with the idea to make new stockings. Why I waited until December to start, I have no idea. I was going to make them all the same with the maroon on the bottom but then thought the green might look more masculine.  I used my daughter Jocelyn's Accent machine to embroider the names. I made 11 in all. My parents get a new one, our family including a boyfriend and a girlfriend. I even made one for the new friend from Taiwan that Jocelyn is bringing home from college for Christmas break. 

 I sort of followed this tutorial after seeing these stockings here.

Now my problem is how do I hang 11 stockings on my mantel! I only have 8 stocking holders. I hung the last three up by paper clips just to take the picture! I don't think that is going to work once I fill them! :)

Blessings to you and yours, 

A Message from Santa

Have you seen this?  I am such a nerd.  I am all about celebrating the birth of Jesus but I just love this silly Santa message you can send to people.  
I made one for you!  Check it out.  To watch the one I made you need to use my email address and the pin below.

www.portablenorthpole.tv Username:   fkmtj@comcast.net PIN:   78zs

Blessings,

Gotta Love Pinterest

Pretty funny.  
I don't know how many of you know the song Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zero's but my husband LOVES that song.  Our daughter used it as the music for her first fashion show two years ago at college and he's been crazy about it ever since.  So I was checking out Pinterest tonight and besides finding that cute saying above I was inspired to make this for my husband for Christmas.  The words are from the song.

I am going to put it in a nice frame.  I think he will really like it! :)

Blessings,

The Vanilla Adventure part 2

Yesterday I took my Vanilla that's been brewing since the middle of May and bottled it all up. This year I decided to buy 4 ounce bottles so I would have more to give away.  You can go here to read about where I buy my beans and bottles. My one gallon jar of Vanilla made 20, 4 ounce bottles and 3, 8 ounce bottles.  After I made my last batch I read about using the left over vanilla beans to make vanilla sugar.  I decided to try that this time around. I laid the wet beans out on a cooling rack so they could dry out for a day or so.  Then I divided them up between four containers and filled them with sugar.  I used about a 5 pound bag of sugar.  You can use this sugar for baking or add it to your coffee! Yum!

Here is a different kind of sweet. Our Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Sadie. She is the most faithful dog and takes her protection 'job' very seriously. She never leaves my side.   

On a side note I was featured over on Measured by the Heart.  Take a look at Connie's blog.  I found it recently and just love it!

Blessings friends,

A Penguin for Pat

Last year I became cyber friends (and then real friends!) with Heather through a flickr swap. Through Heather I met a group of super nice and talented ladies who have a quilting group called the Wild Threads.  Then they invited me to join their group!  Did I mention these ladies are really talented?  I am not sure if I really belong in this group but I am glad I am.  We laugh alot and I am learning alot too.  So... on to the Penguin. The group decided to have a Christmas mug rug exchange. I vacillated but decided to be brave and join in.  Here is what I came up with.  

The information I received about my partner: "I like winter brights...pinks, teals, purples, & yes, I am a fan of lime green...not into the country/homespun look...and I am a collector of anything "penguin". I found the backing fabric first.  I thought the pattern was busy enough that my stitching wouldn't be so obvious!  It had small hints of orange so I added orange even though she didn't mention it.  A penguin needs an orange beak and feet, right?  I am not very good at FMQ so I hope she likes it in spite of my learning curve. Here is the back. This is my very first label, which is obvious. :)  

The other part of the gift exchange was to come up with a spoon. They said to be creative.  Here is what I came up with. A spoon necklace with her initial on it. 

          

Tomorrow is the big day when we'll be exchanging with our partners.  The anticipation is killing me!  It's like an early Christmas! :)

Blessings friends,