It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. . .

The tree has been decorated and the shopping is done.

The gifts have been wrapped and the cookies have been baked.

Here's wishing a
Merry Christmas to All!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. . .

The house has been decorated, the gifts have been wrapped and the cookies have been baked! Here are a few scenes from around my house.

As you can see from this cupboard, I love Santa figurines! Here is some of my collection.

I love this big Santa in a traditional red coat. He was handmade (not by me!) and dressed in a beautiful red wool hooded coat with fur trim made from recycled clothing. His arms are loaded with toys and gifts.

This Father Christmas style Santa was made by the same person. He is wearing a real fur cloak made from an old fur coat. He has an arm load of toys, a wreath and even a tiny tree.


And there are more Santas on the Christmas tree.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Have a safe and Happy Holiday!

Handmade Holidays Part 1

Are you making any gifts for the people on your list this year? Or, are you like me and love handmade holiday home decor? Simple to make, these cute heart shaped ornaments make wonderful gifts or gift wrap accents. Hearts are one of my favorite shapes, and I love crafting with recycled felted wool sweaters. So I combined the two to make this version of my Heart Felt Ornaments. Heart shapes are cut from a felted wool sweater, then embroidered and accented with beads and buttons. Sew two layers together and fill them with stuffing.

Here's a quick tutorial to show you how I made these ornaments.

Don’t worry if you can’t find a wool sweater to felt. Wool felt fabric will also work just as well and can be purchased at your local fabric store, craft store or ordered online.

Tools and materials needed:
Felted wool sweater or wool felt
Embroidery thread and needle
Cotton or wool thread
Assorted beads and buttons
Stuffing
Scissors, pins and tracing paper

For my Heart Felt Ornaments I used red and white as my colors.

What to do:
Step 1. Cut out hearts. To make a heart shaped paper pattern, fold a piece of paper and starting at the fold, cut out one side of the heart so that the fold is the center of the heart. This way when you open the paper you have a perfectly proportioned heart. Try several shapes and sizes until you have the desired heart shape. Then pin the paper to the wool and cut out two hearts for each ornament you want to make. I also cut out some smaller hearts to make contrasting centers for some of my ornaments.


Step 2. Embroider and embellish the hearts. I used a contrasting color embroidery thread to sew simple stitches in star and swirl patterns on some of my hearts. Then I stitched on seed beads as embellishments. On other hearts I used a blanket stitch, or buttonhole stitch, to appliqué smaller hearts to the center, then added a button for embellishment. You will be using two pieces of wool for each heart ornament. You can decorate one or both sides of the ornament.

Step 3. Sew the hearts together. With wrong sides together, use a blanket stitch to sew around the outside edge of each heart. When about a one inch opening remains, fill the heart with stuffing, then finish stitching to close the opening.


Step 4. Hang the heart. Thread a short length of wool or cotton thread through the top edge of each heart to hang on your tree or tie to a package.

If you don't have time to make ornaments this year, check my Etsy shop next week. I'll have a shop update with some of these listed for sale.

Wicked Fun

How do you decorate for Halloween?

Is yours the family on your block that turns your front yard into a graveyard for Halloween?

Do you have wispy ghosts floating outside your house to haunt trick or treaters?

Is there a witch, with her feline friends, that roam your neighborhood?

These pictures are a few of my favorite outdoor decorating ideas from the October issue of Martha Stewart Living. We don't have a lot of trick or treaters at my house. Probably because my neighborhood/comunity has a great Halloween party in the park for all the kids in the area. The spooktacular festival includes costume contests, hayrides and a "trick or treat trail" where local business sponsors hand out candy.

We don't go all out decorating at my house, but we do have a stack of carved funkins jack-o-lanterns to greet any October guests.

Leave me a comment about, or link to photos of, your favorite Halloween decorations!

And The Winner Is!

Congratulations to Amie P., the winner of the Felt Sew Good Customer Appreciation Giveaway.
http://feltsewgood.blogspot.com/2008/11/customer-appreciation-giveaway.html

Thanks so much to all of those who entered.

There is still plenty of time for holiday shopping

and I'm still adding lots of new items to my Etsy shop, FeltSewGood.

Handbags, scarves and mittens made wonderful gifts!

I have some new Christmas stockings
and there are more Holiday Heart Felt ornaments on the way.

New Holiday "Heart Felt" Ornaments

I've just made a new batch of "Heart Felt" hearts!

I've been getting reading for the first holiday shoppers in my Etsy shop, Felt Sew Good. I'm not an early shopper myself, but some of you may want to get a head start. These are the latest version of my "Heart Felt" embroidered hearts. I love these little hearts, and they are fun to make. These cute puffed heart ornaments were made from felted recycled wool sweaters. They are embroidered in traditional Christmas colors of red, gold, dark green, light green and cream and each is accented with a tiny vintage button. They are blanket stitched around the edge and "puffed" with a little stuffing. Each heart has a tiny red satin ribbon loop for hanging. The back of each ornament is unadorned. They would be lovely hanging on your Christmas tree, or spreading holiday cheer anywhere in your home. Or use one as a sweet accent tied to that very special holiday gift!