Pin It Weekly #301

Geez, I'm struggling. This bout of depression is really sticking to me, but I'm determined to just wait it out until it gets out. In the meantime, I have managed two minutes in the studio, some babysitting, and some pinning. Yes, I know, but there's been quite a bit of waiting in doctors' offices, so ....

What have I been pinning you ask? Well, I'm not quite over Christmas. I know others have put away their trees and packed up their pretties, but I'm just not ready. I want to wait and enjoy them when the blues are a little more rosy. Take that, depression!

I'm kind of interested in these salt dough ornaments. They look cute and easy.

I'm really into all of these little baubles and bags and beauties. Isn't that little coin purse above fabulous? And the birds! 

Christmas continues...

I finally got into the studio today. I didn't know what to do, except clean house, but what fun is that? So, as we say in French comme ça va (as it goes), I decided to start a new project. New projects generally create messes, so as we also say comme de fait (as it does) I made the already big mess beaucoup plus much bigger. 

But the mess is worth it! Because look what I pulled off. Today. I know. It is after Christmas. That's okay. I just had an itch. It's been weeks, WEEKS I say, since I went into the studio and turned on a machine. 

Today would have been my dad's birthday, so I figured I needed a little creativity to counteract the tears. It worked. Making a few little happy things and praying a rosary tonight are two great ways to fight the depression of the holidays. 

And look how happy! A couple of little hearts. Some strings of beads. Red flowers. Shimmery satin flowers. 

It took me almost all afternoon. I got stuck on those red flowers. That's what happens when you don't have the correct materials. I really wanted some red flowers. Three attempts in, I decided to use the smaller one. Then finally, I remembered the basket of sheer fabrics. That worked beautifully. 

I have bolts of white satiny fabric, so I used it to make some little hearts, two I embellished with ready-made trims from a drawer. And with some small squares, I made what might be closed tulips. They are cute in person, I'm not sure about in these pictures.

Some gold ribbon serves as string for one of the pieces and strings of small beads work for the other one. 

The tassel on the right is actually a ribbon trim that I just sewed into a circle and added beads to create a head. The strings of beads on that piece are the ones I strung before Christmas. I decided that they weren't showy enough as single strands and planned to made a few more to make into some sort of tassel. Well, here's the tassel I came up with. 



Each piece has six or seven strands of decoration and every strand is different, which is what I like most about them. They look great with the purchased decorations but add some uniqueness to the tree. They may even add a little elegance but, being handmade, they are also simple and homey.

Can you guess where I got my inspiration? 

Christmas 2019: A TREE

I have not been doing much crafting. Or sewing. Or quilting. However, before leaving for Disney I made a couple of decorations for the tree. They are simply strings of large beads on a very thin wire. I added skinny ribbon to hang them on the branches. 

I really like them. They aren't showy like most ornaments, but they are pretty. I hung each one on a branch so that it dangles freely any time the tree moves, which is when the tykes are here. That's been a few days in the last two weeks.

At nap time in Deedee's house everyone sleeps in one chair.

Speaking of the tree, it looks pretty good this year. I've decided that the trick is to fluff the branches and hang lots of ornaments. Lots. Just keep adding. My angel topper did not survive summer in the attic, so I made a topper with some red ribbon I bought in the after-Christmas sale last year. 

Since putting up the tree, I've cleaned the attic. Right? Cleaned. The. Attic. It was a crazy afternoon of getting the Christmas stuff down, realizing how much other stuff was up there and just jumping on another project. Right now, there are no boxes up there. And it's swept! Clean. Like. Never. Before. (Sorry no pictures to prove it but it's real.) I think it's my gift to myself. Ha!

Among our other ornaments, I found these two ornaments that I made a couple of years ago. The mini Santa suit has five pieces, socks, hat, pants and coat. The tassel is made of crewel thread, sheer ribbon, beads all in red and a bit of gold trim. It's an easy ornament and you can find my tutorial to make it here. The tutorial for embellishing it is here. I'm guessing you have everything you need on hand. Am I right?

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: MEMORIES

Family, new baby, graduation, wedding, birthdays.  There are so many memories that occur in a lifetime that it can seem overwhelming to manage all the tangible things that come with them.  Baby's christening gown, graduation gown, wedding dresses, and so many other things that clutter our lives. Pinterest is full of ways to organize the things.  Most of these things are organized by child in file boxes. 

Love it all!  Except my problem is that some of the things are not paper.  Or flat.  Or easily put into a small box. I'm talking clothing, trophies, football gear, and those things that take lots of space.

So far I haven't found a fix for those things.  I have found a couple of ideas for some of the smaller things and the paper.  I thought I'd share some of those ideas with you and maybe inspire you to use a few.

newborn items

photos

beach vacation items

more photo ideas

recipe and photo ornament

graduation tassel

wedding party

Because it's the last Sunday Quilt Inspiration before Christmas, I thought I'd post a few more Christmas quilts.  We'll be back to ordinary quilts next week.

Many of these pins can be found on my "Merry, Christmas" board, but you'd be better to search nativity quilts or Santa quilts if you're looking for a particular one since I've very selective in posting to that board.   Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: book paper ornaments

I'm not sure today's inspiration will get you making quilts but they may move you to make ornaments for your tree.  There are so many ideas on Pinterest alone that I doubt anyone could attempt them all, so I had to pick and choose.  

I decided on these because I like them and they seem relatively easy.  I'm smart enough to know that at this late date a working girl will not be able to begin and finish an involved time-laden project. I may not be able to begin (much less finish) an easy one.

one of my favorites...easy!

However, someone sent me a link that I almost could not escape from and thought, "Well, if nothing else, share it!"  So here we are enjoying (I hope) some beautiful ideas for quick, easy DIY ornaments to add to your already-complete tree.

I am of the idea that my tree can not have too many ornaments.  I lose a few from breakage and from, well, losing them.  The grands love to play with a few and I can't resist letting them enjoy the few things that are pretty in our little home.  That means that I need to replace a few each year, but while I have quite a few bought ornaments, my favorites have always been the handmade ones, regardless of whose hands did the making.

okay maybe not so easy

Any Christmas shape you want--stars, angels, bells, trees, birds, etc.--will work for this design.  Just cut out several of the same shape (cookie cutters are great stencils), glue or staple them together exactly in the center then fold and fan them so they look like this.  Add a hanger and you're ready to go!

Okay, no quilts, but how about some DIY easy-sewing ornaments?

Many of these can be found on my "Merry, Christmas" board.  I found others by searching DIY fabric Christmas ornaments.