Therapy for All!

I need to learn to squeeze more things into life.  Here's the thing. I love to make, to create things. To me, it is soothing. I had such a productive weekend. Putting up and decorating the Christmas tree, adding Christmas decorations to our house, making stockings and pillows. It was wonderful and I loved every minute of it.

But now, the work week is back. My evenings are filled with making dinner, which in and of itself is a creation, but my culinary skills are still at the recipe-following (to a T) stage. Eventually, I would like to get beyond that point so that cooking does become a creation. I'm not there, yet. The laundry piles up in the basement and the dishes pile up in the sink, even though we have a dishwasher (thank you in-laws for the wonderful dishwasher last Christmas!).

I need to make the time to crochet at night. Or paint, or sew. If only for five minutes. Maybe sewing, painting, creating is my therapy. Therapy or not, I love it and need it in my life.

Everyone needs a little therapy, anyway.

Rookie Mistake

I had some left over fabric from my stocking adventure. I also had some pillow forms lying around from when Mr. Husband's grandmother passed away. I had no zippers, so I searched for a tutorial on how to make an envelope pillow... Seemed easy enough.

Excitement got the best of me. I forgot to put the fabric with the right sides facing each other. Sewing away I went, with the right side of one fabric facing the wrong side of the other piece. Dang it!

I flipped it out and put the pillow form in anyway, in hopes of having the correct size (I did). So the pillow could have been a success.

So instead, I cut a Christmas tree out of on side of the pillow, glued it to a cross-stitch napkin, stuck it in a hoop and hung it on the way.

At least all was not lost from my rookie mistake!

Christmas Stockings!

My favorite wedding present is by far the sewing machine I got from my aunt. I love it, and just completed my third project.

My first project was a quilt for my newest (and only) nephew. Mr. Husband's grandmother started the quilt, but passed away before it was finished. I took the honor of finishing the quilt. While it turned out nicely, I still have a lot of practicing to do. Quilting is not yet a strong suit of mine.

Project number two was our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Halloween costumes. They turned out beautifully! I used store bought green sweatsuits and craft felt for the turtle bellies. Target happened to have green saucer sleds out the day before Halloween. I purchased two of those, added straps and had an instant turtle shell. The costumes were fabulous!

Number three, though, is by far my most successful project. The Christmas stockings! Mr. Husband and I don't have a fireplace, but Christmas decorations cannot be complete without stockings. I made my way to JoAnn and got four Christmas prints (on sale, to boot!). I printed this pattern and got right to work. The stockings are so adorable. As soon as my camera battery charges, I will get pictures up!