Joy Pocket Card

The woman who does the billing for Michael's company (we contract it out, but it's just one woman who does it) has done an amazing job for us this past year. She really worked hard and helped streamline the billing process, helped us to know how to maximize our profits. I wanted to do something nice for her for Christmas. We couldn't really afford to give her a real bonus, so we just got her a couple of gift cards -- one to Coldwater Creek and one to a nice restaurant around here.

Of course, I had to make a special pocket card that would house the gift cards and look nice. Here is what I came up with.

Front.

First pocket page. Insert gift card.

Second pocket page.

Back.

Finished product.

Michael said she raved about the card more so than about the gift cards. She just couldn't believe "your wife made this for me!" I tell you, a beautiful package makes everything better. It was a fun and easy card to make, although it wasn't particularly quick. It was like making four cards -- or three and a half at least. I'll probably post some more paper projects here (Christmas ones too, I'm sure). I just don't think I can maintain a papercrafting blog as well as this one. Mixed media -- that's what it will be.

Fall-inspired Mini Quilt

I was in Quilting Gallery's Fall-Inspired Mini Swap. Of course, it started in the fall, but the deadline wasn't until January. So I made it in January after all the holiday hubbub was over.

I wanted a fall-looking tree, but I wanted the brighter colors, since I'm all about the brighter colors these days for some reason. With these mini quilts I always try to make them from scraps. They're so small, that there's no reason to go buy something specific (especially given the size of my stash and scrap basket).

I feel like the quilting interfered with the look I wanted to achieve with the back. I should have put the squares along the side so the brown quilting didn't overlap on them. You can't see too well in this picture. It doesn't look too bad from far away, I guess. Ashley has been doing these little squares on her quilts, and I just love the look, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I may have mentioned how I love Kellie's stuff. Once or twice on the blog. All the time when talking to people. Anyway, this was my own pattern but inspired by her. I wasn't brave enough to do all the quilting swirls she does. Plus, I was pressed for time since I saved it until the last minute (what? gasps), so I defaulted to stippling the background. The applique pieces were attached with Heat N Bond and then stitched with a straight stitch two or three times around for a raw-edge applique.

I LOVE how this turned out. My kids were sad to see it go. I hope my partner likes it too. Her etsy shop had a tree with a bird in it for her logo, so that was part of what inspired this as well.

So now I'll start a list for finished quilts of 2010. For Jacquie's Joy in the New Year challenge, I did end up finishing the binding on one more just past the deadline (12:12 a.m.), so I didn't count it. I haven't posted it yet, because I decided it needed some more quilting in some blank spaces. I haven't done it yet, because people are having babies by the truckload in my neck of the woods, and I have to get caught up on that situation. They're all boys too, and I really don't have a lot of boyish things ready to go. Oh, no! I have to start new quilts. Fun, but defeats my whole finishing-up-WIPs goal. 2010 is my year to catch up. I hope. How are you all doing in the new year project-wise? I'm afraid I started a number of new quilts already.

You also may have noticed that my list of current projects expanded. I decided that in the interest of full disclosure I would list every quilt that is under construction in my house (not the garage yet). I kept going back and forth about whether to put things that were just awaiting quilting or only quilts I was actively working on. It seemed inaccurate the way I was doing it, so I just went to my sewing room and found them all, wrote them all down, and gave them pseudo-names (which may be changed at any future point, some of them). All right. It has been a while since I blogged, so apparently I had a lot to say. Hoping to have more to show on a regular basis. Have a great day!

P.S. I cannot get blogger to allow paragraph breaks. I have no idea how to adjust my settings to fix this. If anyone knows, I would appreciate the help. It's obnoxious to have this huge pile of paragraphs together. Thanks!

Friday Night Sew-In

A virtual get-together, an appointment to sew. Do you ever need an appointment to sew? Sometimes I do. Feb 19th, let's all get together (sort of), and then on Saturday the 20th, blog about it. I think there's even a giveaway involved. Heidi over at Handmade by Heidi is sponsoring, so go check it out, sign up, get in on the fun. This is a once a month thing, so if you miss February, there's always March. Hope you can join in!