I hope you had a Merry Christmas....

We had a Fun Family Christmas.
All of our kiddos were home along with the out-laws and the Grandangel herself!
My own three siblings came to celebrate at our parents home so there was lots of coming and going and eating and laughing and celebrating.



Here are a few things I made for gifts this year....



....covered hangers for my daughter and daughter-in-love and some for friends too.
Here is my favorite link for making these which is found in Mary Engelbreit's handmade section. I made my covers 4x9" (one for each side of the hanger) and only had one seam on the bottom. I also bought my hangers pre-wrapped (lingerie hangers from Stuff Mart) and saved a step. These go really fast and I love them for drying wet lingerie, bras, or hand washables. I also like to hang camis on them or other clothing with slippery fabrics that tend to fall off regular hangers.



Here are some Softie beach balls for the babies to play with.
A good pattern comes from The Purl Bee.



I had fun making some appliqued and embroidered dish towels. The Scottie Dog applique came from All Sorts. And I'm sharing my hen pattern from my embroidery collection with you. Click the picture below to get an enlarged pattern. You may embroider it as-is, or trace the different pieces of the hen (tail, wing, body, crown, waddle) and then trace onto sewable Heat and Bond, following the package directions. Iron the pieces onto fabrics that you like, peel, and apply to your tea towel. I used a small blanket stitch around each part of the hen. For the nest, I did straight stitches here and there with two colors of gold to simulate straw.



Embroidery is a fun handicraft to do during long, cold, winter nights. If you need some help with the stitches, check out this Stitch Dictionary or You Tube where you can find the blanket stitch and other embroidery lessons.
Enjoy!