Felt Christmas Ornaments

I made some felt Christmas ornaments with various appliqué motifs a couple of months ago. In November I took 10 of these ornaments along with some quilted wall hangings and table runners to a gift shop in Old Town Albuquerque to see if they would sell. I priced these super cheap and 6 sold rather quickly. I don't know which ones sold. I hope the rest sell this month. These were fun to make and I love a hand project to work on in the evenings.

Kitty with scarf.

Red truck with tree and wreath.

Penguin with scarf and hat.

Snowman head with hat.

Snowman head with plaid hat.

Snowman head with earmuff.

Snowman head with cowl scarf.

All 4 snowman heads shown together.

Fox in snow.

Snowman with scarf.

I also had an ornament with circles in circles and stitches on it, but I guess I didn't take a photo of it. 

Do you have a favorite? I will make more ornaments next year too, but I will make some different shapes and motifs. I will see what sells this month and do more of those plus others for next year. If I get them made early, I will share them here next year before they go to the shop in November 2022. In case anyone reading my blog wants first choice in buying some.

I would make some Hanukkah ones too, but the shop doesn't take anything like that, so those I can make custom if I get any requests.

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Scrappy Trees Table Runner

I finally finished this table runner earlier this month. All I needed to do was to sew on the binding. So I got it done and took it to the craft show in mid November. It didn't sell at the show, so the following Monday I took it to a gift shop in Old Town Albuquerque where I sell some of my things, and this sold within a couple of days! Yay, I am so happy someone wanted to buy this runner. 

I love creating backgrounds using my neutral fabric scraps. It is both satisfying to use up the scraps, but also looks great as a background in a quilt. The trees were also made by cutting up scraps of red and green and stacking them in a fun and wonky way. I blanket stitched around the trees and added a star button on top of each tree. I forgot to write down the measurements of this runner, but I could make another one in any measurements I decide on.

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Sew Powerful Purses #105-127 for 2021

These are the last purses I made this year and sent them off in late November. They should arrive in time to be counted for this year's goal of 24,000 purses and be included in the ship that sails for Zambia, Africa in December. I will be curious if the goal for Sew Powerful Purse Project has been met for this year or not? They really set a much higher purse goal this year, so we will see if they come close to that goal. 

Personally, I did not set a goal as this is the first full year I have been making and sending the purses to Renton, WA. I started making purses in December 2020, so I didn't have a full year to compare to until this year.

These are the final purses I have made this year:

#105

#106

#107

#108

#109

#110

#111

#112

#113

#114

#115

#116

#117

#118

#119

#120

Close up of quote I wrote on the quilt block that I used for the purse flap in the above photo.

#121

Close up of the Fortune Cookie quote that I wrote on the purse flap in the above photo.

#122

#123

The brown fabric with stripes I repurposed from throw pillows

 that we got when we purchased a sofa several years ago. We sold the sofa and I gave them a couple of pillows, kept a couple and gave 5 to my daughter (there were 9 pillows total). She didn't want them anymore, so I took them apart and washed the fabric and made about 5 or 6 purses using the fabric. I showed some purses earlier this year.

On the back of 2 of these purses with the brown fabric, I added  a slip pocket with a snap closure. I had just a bit of the brown fabric left and thought I would use them in a couple of smaller pockets. They both look the same, so just showing this one.

#124

#125

#126

#127 (I will be highlighting this purse in a separate blog posting later).

That's the total for 2021: 127 purses made! I will be taking a break from making these purses until next year. I was curious to see how many I would make this year. I would have stopped at 117, but I needed another 10 more purses to really fill the box up to be mailed, so I sewed up some more. I used a larger box and mailed it through UPS this time because it was a bit more than $4 less to mail it with UPS rather than USPS. I love mailing through Pirate Ship because you can print your labels at home and pay for it and just drop it off at the post office or UPS, whichever one you choose to mail through. (Not an affiliate, I just like their service).

Not sure if I want to even declare a goal for sewing purses for next year or not? Just knowing how many I made this year feels great. If I make more purses or make fewer purses next year, that's okay either way with me. It's a great worthwhile cause and I am happy to be sewing purses, no matter how many I sew each year.

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Happy Birthday Gnome Wall Art

My friend Tara's birthday was a week ago. we both love gnomes, so I thought I would make her a little something that wasn't quite a card and wasn't quite a gift. I made her this cute appliqué gnome (5" x7"). I found the inspiration for this gnome online somewhere.

 I used HeatnBond Lite Iron-On Adhesive to fuse the appliqué to the background fabric. Then I stitched around the shapes using black thread in a zigzag stitch. I mounted it on an artist stretched canvas by fusing it to the canvas with HeatnBond UltraHold Iron on Adhesive from Therm-O-Web. It irons on and adheres well and it's a no sew product.

I glued some rattail cording all around the piece and added some hot fix crystals for some bling. On the back I glued a piece of grosgrain ribbon for hanging and a small piece of ribbon to cover up the raw edges. 

The back with the grosgrain ribbon to hang the little wall art.

He looks cute hanging in my tree.

Tara liked this gnome and I hope it makes her smile when she looks at it, because it made me smile. :0)

I enjoyed making this little wall art appliqué and plan on making other applique wall art pieces in the future.

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Sew Powerful Purses #94-104 (made in 2021)

Well I made over 100 purses (so far) for 2021. I am still sewing, so won't have the final count actually made until the end of the year. Right now I have completed 104 purses. This is the first full year I have been sewing the purses, since I discovered the Sew Powerful organization in December of 2020 and made a few purses that December.

Here are the eleven latest purses:

#94-97

#98-100

#101-103

#104

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