Scandinavian Stitches

I got Kajsa Wikman's beautiful book Scandinavian Stitches about a week ago and I haven't stopped sewing since.

Things are actually getting a little silly around here...there are Tomte everywhere and my family has been joking that I am turning our home into a Scandinavian sweatshop. My oldest has been home from college for Thanksgiving break and I have recruited him and my daughter to help me with the turning of legs and stuffing and so on. I made one for Lee to take back to school to Christmas up his dorm room and I have already given away two others as earl Christmas gifts. We are keeping a couple to decorate our house....

...and one will be sent to Germany for our dear friend's little boy.

I have so enjoyed making these little elves, Kajsa's designs are very simple and graphic and yet still so sweet. Scandinavian Stitches has many beautiful projects, not just Christmas themed. The book is arranged into projects by the season. I like that many of the projects are small so you can try your hand at a lot of different needlework techniques without getting too involved in a very lengthy process. There is a winter quilt that is so up my alley, it will definitely be my first quilt project. love. love. love. this book!

Advent Calendar III ....step away from the felt

...I'm done with the Advent Calendar that I made with Jill from Homemade by Jill's Sew Along...got a little intense there over the weekend...my husband joked that next I'd be recreating the Sistine Chapel ceiling in felt, ha! I really get hooked when I start working with wool felt. I bought some beautiful German felt a while ago ...it's very thick and soft and the colors are just gorgeous. I only had some small pieces and scraps left, but it was just enough for the little teeny tiny ornaments. I have to admit, I was lazy and put my ornaments together with a combination of hand sewing, embroidery and...gasp...glue! I used natural twine and red grosgrain ribbon for the hanging loops.


This last photo shows the special ornaments that I made for everybody in the family...a favorite thing for each of us...hot cocoa (copied from Katie from So Happy) for Mia, an espresso pot for Mike, a book for Lee and a teapot for me...i was going to make my ornament a wine bottle since I spent both evenings last weekend drinking wine and making ornaments (oh, it's an exciting life here at Chez Cunha), but I figured I didn't want Lily telling people that wine is her mother's favorite thing ;) I also made a lighthouse ornament to represent our hometown...we live in such a beautiful city with a lighthouse right around the corner!

So, the calendar has been put away until December first ...just in time to get ready for the boy to come home from college and celebrate Thanksgiving! woohoo!

lilyasauruseseseses

a herd of dinosaurs for Lils and her friends

Advent Calendar II ....almost caught up!

whew! I have been working hard on this project! I got all the pockets embroidered with their numbers, sewn onto the backing and the binding and hanging rod pockets attached. I also sewed all the buttons on and got 8 ornaments made. I think I am a bit obsessed ;) Now all I have to do is make 16 more ornaments...but the remaining work will have to be done in secret so my little one doesn't see the them! I want her to be surprised every morning in December :)

check out the beautiful work here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/homemadebyyou/pool/with/5190457276/

Advent Calendar I

I decided that I wanted to take part in Jill from Homemade by Jill's Advent Calendar Sew Along when I first saw it on her blog a couple of weeks ago. I have been just out straight preparing for a market that was held last Saturday...market is done and I now I am free to sew for myself! Yay!!I am starting the sew along two weeks late but hopefully I can catch up! Jill has set up a Flickr group so people can share photos of their progress and as I was checking out what other people are doing I came across photos from Katie of So Happy.

Her tree is AMAZING...

I had to copy...

I had to go out to Joann's and buy wool felt instead of the eco felt...

this is what I have done so far..

I used a light blue quilted cotton for the background, because I had it on hand and will edge the whole thing with red and white polka dot binding when I'm done. I am using a combination of wool felt and some eco felt. The greens are wool, white and red are eco. I totally ripped off Katie from So Happy's tree design and found nice wooden buttons at Joann's. I am a sucker for any kind of anything Scandinavian so I wanted to kind of keep the whole thing simple and natural with the accents of red and white. I haven't made any ornaments yet, but I when I do I will be making a hedgehog and a mouse and maybe some other forest creatures as well as using the templates that Jill shared on her blog.

I'll post more photos as I go along ...got to get back to embroidering those numbers!!!