I think the blue snowflakes will look lovely with my other Christmas fabrics, and I thought the Christmas owls were too fun and unique to resist.

I love this nativity print. I have no idea what I’ll do with it, but I couldn’t pass it up.

Think of me the next time you visit a craft/fabric superstore. Think of me and feel so bad that you send me a parcel of fabric.:D

Love,

Tiff

cardinals, Christmas in the forest, and pinecones

Love,

Tiff

What, you don’t wear heels and pearls in your kitchen?

I bought the blue towels from Target (2 for $2.50).

The potholders and oven mitts are also from Target (and at the same price).

Brendan has already been warned that the potholders are purely decorative and he is not to touch them.

The oven mitts are for actual use.

The white towels were purchased plain at Big Lots in a pack of five. I embellished them with fabric from Jo-Ann’s and some pink rickrack.

Mom gave me the pink and pastry-printed dish towels for Christmas. I added the rickrack to the solid pink towel for some  interest.

I now have quite the towel collection.

The magnetic cupcake paper tablet is from Target ($1) and the super-cute magnets are original Jeanette Bowman’s. She did some custom artwork for me for Christmas. They look so cheerful on our fridge.

I made the curtains this weekend with adorable fabric from Jo-Ann’s. I picked it out when I went shopping with Mom and Jeanette the day after Christmas. (Thank you Mom Sullivan for the gift card.) I’m very pleased with how well the curtains turned out. I was able to cut straight and accurate lines with my new cutting mat, ruler, and rotary (Christmas present from my darling husband). My curtains are actually lined, too. The rickrack looks like icing and finishes the hem quite nicely. Brendan and I were reminiscing about the ridiculously misshapen and poorly constructed curtains that I had made for our first apartment. (Does anyone remember those?) We both readily agreed that these are infinitely better.

I framed a piece of the fabric with a similar rickrack embellishment for a piece of art!

Yes, my walls are painted “silver berry”–also known as purple.

This picture is actually a greeting card that I purchased from Target for $0.99. “How sweet it is” indeed.

I still haven’t decided where to hang it.

This apron is from Jo-Ann’s and Brendan gave it to me for Christmas. I love it. It’s a simple panel where you cut out the pieces and stitch.

Of course, I had to embellish it. The squiggle borders needed rickrack.

And why have printed buttons, when you can have cupcake buttons?

I have towels, curtains, potholders, magnets, and art . . . and finally:

The amazing cupcake cookie jar is from Wal-Mart! (Only $12!) It makes me so happy. I have a giant cupcake sitting on my counter at all times! How can anyone look at it and not smile?

I still want new rugs (did you see the current sickness in the first photo?) and I would like a brown or turquoise soap dispenser for the dish soap to complete the theme (and I, of course, would not turn down any other cupcake cuteness that I come across in the future), but I’m very pleased with my results.

Isn’t my husband so sweet to let me decorate a room in such a nauseating motif?

I’m hoping that the overall cuteness and cheerfulness will motivate me to cook more.

Love,

Tiff

P.S. I may need rickrack rehab. I’m obsessed with it now and have to stop myself from putting it on everything.

For family, coworkers, and friends, I made little bird ornaments with a pattern found here. The website talks about stitching them by hand, but I used my lovely friend Kenmore 15408 to sew 74 of the little birds. I used some scraps from my quilt and other projects and I bought some fat quarters for the little birdies.

74 birdies!

a closer view

Some of the little birds have eyes (extra beads that were used to embellish my wedding veil about four years ago), but most do not. It seemed to be hit or miss in whether or not the birds looked better with or without eyes. I happily opted out of that extra step.

To make so many, I ended up doing it assembly line style.

cut birds

partially sewn birds and ribbon loops

my assembly line

last step - slip stitching the tails

Christmas tags

tagged and ready to nest in someone's Christmas tree

This chipper little robin is one of my favorites. I have a soft spot for robins since reading The Secret Garden as a little girl.

little robin

This gentleman is made from scraps from my quilt. I love that blue fabric.

blue bird

This bright little bird is made from fat quarters that I bought specifically for this project. I love the burgundy color and little “watercolor” spots.

watercolor bird

I kept 11 of the birds for myself (I couldn’t help it, I love them so much). Our tabletop tree is much too small for them, but I will gladly save them for when Brendan and I have a house and can get a full-sized tree.

For Jeanette, the best little sister a girl could ask for, I made a roll-up pencil case:

roll-up pencil case

I got the idea from a few website tutorials and winged it pattern-wise. The plaid is perfect for Nette and I love that the dusky rose color fabric is almost like burlap. Nette really isn’t a pink girl, so the industrial texture strikes a perfect balance. The colored pencils are decorated with little snowflakes in pink, green, blue, and purple. I thought they’d be perfect for winter.

ready for pencils

extra space for Batman pens?

all rolled up!

Next year, I hope to make more of my Christmas gifts. Considering this was my first year sewing, I think I did a decent job with handmade gifts.

zip-up shopping tote

A couple of years ago, I bought a bag like this at Target. I decided to try to make my own tonight.

all zipped up

I made a zip-up shopping tote!

It folds up and will fit nicely in my purse. I made it with my lovely gingerbread house fabric.

1. Cut: 2 rectangles 17.5″ x 16.75″; 2 rectangles 4″ x 18″; 1 rectangle 9″ x 8″

step 1

2. pin 16″ zipper to single 9″ x 8″ rectangle

step 2

3. Sew the zipper around the rectangle beginning in the middle of the longer side (9″ side)

step 3

step 3 all sewn!

see the Target bag?

step 3

4. fold and press the straps (4″ x 18″ rectangles)

step 4

5. stitch the handles

step 5

6. pin the pocket (the 8″ side is the horizontal) to one of the larger rectangles (the 16.75″ length is the horizontal)

step 6

7. Sew the pocket (don’t sew the top!)

step 7

8. pin and sew the bag’s sides and bottom (I attempted my first French seam)

9. fold down a hem, tuck the straps under the hem, and sew the hem

10. flip the straps up and sew a box and X

step 10

Time to fold, zip, and go!

ready to fold!

1. fold the sides

side one folded

second side folded

2. fold up the bottom and top

bottom and top folded

3. fold again and zip up!

all zipped!

So I definitely need more practice, but I think I did a decent job for my first time. I can’t wait to try it again and see how I improve.

Love,

Tiff

]]> http://www.sullivanrealm.net/2009/12/17/zip-up-shopping-tote-tutorial/feed/ 1 http://www.sullivanrealm.net/2009/12/14/cocoa-and-cookies/ http://www.sullivanrealm.net/2009/12/14/cocoa-and-cookies/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:04:39 +0000 tiffany http://www.sullivanrealm.net/?p=427 Brendan and I had a wonderful weekend. I baked more sugar cookies!

Christmas Trees!

Brendan and I went to our church’s (West Hills Presbyterian Church of America) Festival of Carols last night. Our sanctuary choir performed with the Knoxville orchestra. The music was beautiful! The program consisted of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, selections from Handel’s Messiah, “Joy to the World”, “The Angels Rejoice”, “Away in a Manger,” “Mary, Did you Know?”, “The Lord’s Prayer”, and many others.

I adore Christmas songs and listening to them with an orchestra was even more amazing. I kept my eyes closed and let the music wash over me as I reflected on the reason for the season. It was so special to hear such beautiful hymns and share them with my husband and church family.

When we got home, Brendan and I snacked on sugar cookies and drank hot chocolate.

dining room table

What a lovely way to wrap up the weekend.

Love,

Tiff

winter wonderland

We had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday, we actually woke up to snow! It didn’t last the whole day, but it was very pretty.

view from our balcony

see the lingering fall foliage?

Brendan is bundling up

the Kia

Our Christmas tree this year:

tabletop tree

There are some “rusty” jingle bells and little wooden ornaments from Hobby Lobby. They are little planes, trains, boats, and cars.A transportation theme!

a closer view

To make our house smell festive, I bought some cinnamon scented pine-cones from Jo-Ann Fabrics.

mmm, smells sweet

I tied some to red ribbon and hung them from the curtain rod in the office (the ribbon totally matches the pirate curtains).

office curtains

I also put some pine-cones on a platter for the living room side table. Our house smells amazing. I think this may be a new Sullivan tradition.

living room side table

One last view of the snow before it melts.

winter in Tennessee

Love,

Tiff

This year, I wanted to make an advent calendar, but I wanted something a little more sophisticated and something that would last for years to come. With my new hobby of sewing, I thought an advent calendar of fabric would be perfect. I surfed the web and found several ideas and inspiring designs.

This is what I ended up with:

Advent Calendar Wall Hanging

I bought the cute mini ornaments from Jo-Ann Fabrics.

mini ornaments

The ornaments had ugly gold threads. I cut them off and hot glued ribbon loops on the backs of the ornaments.

ribbon loop

glue gun magic

new loops!

ornaments with beige ribbon loops

I think the ornaments look happier!

I wanted to use my Hobby Lobby Christmas music fabric for the background, so I laid out the ornaments and buttons to figure out how large my tree would need to be.

ornaments in tree-shape

close-up of the cuties

Based on the size of the ornaments, I cut a Christmas tree shape out of wrapping paper.

tree pattern next to ornaments

My pattern!

tree pattern

I pinned the pattern to my beautiful Jo-Ann Fabric’s material and cut it out.

pin pattern in place

cut out pattern

Now, I should have sewn the buttons on the tree, but I like to make things difficult and appliquéd the two sides of the tree on the music fabric first. :}

I pinned the tree to the background.

tree pinned to background

detail of pinning

This green fabric was really difficult to work with (I have a knack for choosing tricky material). I had to garment hem the edges and then appliqué the tree. The garment hem kept the fabric’s weave from falling apart with the slightest tug. I ended up going around the edges twice when appliquéing.

two sides are appliquéd

detail of appliqué

After I appliquéd the tree, I positioned the buttons and pinned them in place. I ended up using more than 24 so that I can switch up the placement of the ornaments from year to year.

positioned and pinned buttons

detail of pinned buttons

All of the buttons are sewn and make the tree look festive even if it is void of ornaments.

sewn buttons

Next, I stuffed the Christmas tree to give it some body and added interest.

stuffed and appliqued shut

I needed to “quilt” my stuffed tree so that the stuffing wouldn’t settle at the bottom of the tree. I chose really tiny jingle bells and stitched them in alternating rows.

quilted tree with bells

detail of mini-bell

I liked the bells so much, I had to add them to the tips of each branch. They make the cutest jingle sound!

detail of branch bells

The pockets for the ornaments took quite a bit of time and they are the reason my advent calendar couldn’t start on December 1st this year.

I cut out two sets of of rectangles for either side of the tree (ornament pockets). The dimensions are 13″ X 5″; 10.5″ X 5″; and 8″ X 5″. I garment hemmed them all. The final pocket (#25 for the star) is 9.5″ X 5″.

cut and hemmed rectangles

I then pressed them in half (“hotdog” style). The 25 “trunk” of the tree is a “hamburger” fold.

pressed pockets

I used a disappearing ink fabric marker and wrote each number for the pockets. I then embroidered the numbers with bright red floss.

embroidered pockets

detail of embroidery

The pins indicate the pocket size. They are approximately 2.5″ in length. The pockets are pressed so that the backside of the embroidery is covered by a length of fabric and thus protected from ornaments snagging it.

I then pinned the pockets to the music fabric.

pinned pockets

detail of pinned pockets

Next step, appliqué the pockets. Once the pockets are appliquéd, I straight stitched the pockets.

appliqued and stitched pockets

The ornaments are ready to go!

backside of pockets

After all of the pockets were done, I quilted my advent calendar.

qulit sandwich

My backing is green flannel. After pinning the layers, I quilted around the tree and pockets. I then used red binding and added a “sleeve” so that my advent calendar could hang on a curtain rod. I did not include quilting instructions because I am clearly a novice, and there are many wonderful tutorials currently on the web.

finished product!

Since this project took me so long, it’s already the sixth day of advent.

see the ornament loops?

I can’t wait to pull the star out of this pocket.

pocket #25!!!!

Happy countdown!

Love,

Tiff

Gingerbread Houses

I’m not a huge fan of all the yellow, but I’m a sucker for anything gingerbread related. This swatch came from Wal-Mart.

Awesome Plaid

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, but you may recognize it from an earlier post (“Fabric Chain Garland Tutorial“). From Hobby Lobby, I originally bought this fabric for my advent calendar (work in progress), but I went in a different direction. Brendan and I still love it. Any suggestions?

Christmas Music

Also from Hobby Lobby, this Christmas music fabric is beautiful and it’s part of the advent calendar I’m working on right now.

Green and Gold Holly

Gorgeous fabric from Jo-Ann. I love it. I’m using it for my advent calendar. It’s kinda tricky to work with, but I think I’ll manage.

Christmas Cupcakes

My absolute favorite: Christmas cupcakes from Hobby Lobby! This picture does not do it justice. The sweet polka dot background and little touches of blue and pink are perfect. The fabric is even glittery! I think I’ll make an apron out of this.

I spent my Saturday drooling over the Christmas fabric I purchased and fantasizing about the prints that didn’t come home with me. Brendan, on the other hand, went out shooting again.

Brendan

He’s so cute I’ll share another:

Brendan with the SKS and Mossberg

Not present: the CZ (it’s in a bag that I am carrying out to the car). Brendan’s growing arsenal went out to play Saturday afternoon.

Love, Tiff

P.S. Any suggestions for the plaid and gingerbread fabric?

Hobby Lobby has all of its fall items on clearance. I purchased some leaves and a few spools of ribbon. Viola! Ornaments that will remind me of my favorite season:

fall tree

I used a stick from the copse of trees near our apartment and one of my mason jars to display the ornaments for the pictures. I think they look quite pretty against my living room wall. Perfect blue “skies” for my leaves.

Orange Leaf

Green Leaf

The green guy might get lost in a green Christmas tree.

Red!

Not only was Hobby Lobby’s fall stuff on sale, but some Christmas things were too. Brendan said I audibly gasped when I saw the red one:

pretty Christmas ornaments!

silver mule

if only they were a size 9...

Two of my greatest loves: fall and shoes! I have the ornaments sitting on our coffee table so that I can see them and smile every time I walk through the living room.

I’m really excited to trim the tree this year!

Love, Tiff