I can't think of a title for this post.

This year, Christmas gifts need to be simple, because we've got our hands full with two little ones. But I still don't like to show up to someone's house empty-handed, so I have made a few things to gift when we go visiting.

A bottle of wine is an easy gift, but it's nice to dress it up a little. These were once the sleeves of a sweater I no longer wear...after a little embroidery, they're much more festive!

I'm linking up at

Another Wedding Gift and Some Big News!

I have been terrible about updating! I have lots of projects to share, but I simply haven't had time...because my girls are here!

Fiona and Riley were born September 8th at 33 weeks 4 days. Because they were so early, they are still in the hospital, but doing great - they are breathing on their own, regulating their own temperature, and working on getting enough food to grow big and strong so we can bring them home. Keith and I are spending lots of time at the hospital. I might be biased, but I am pretty sure these are the most beautiful babies in the entire world :)

So, that's my excuse for not updating. I think it's a pretty good one. However, I will share a little project I worked on over the summer for some wonderful friends who got married at the beginning of September.

I found this embroidery pattern here, and there are lots more to choose from - I thought this one was perfect for a wedding!

Congratulations, Andrew and Mairead!

Kitties...

Since I've been spending more time sitting still than usual thanks to my expanding belly, I've also been doing some embroidery. I have a few wedding presents in the works, which I won't share quite yet, but I've also done a few smaller bits just for fun. Someday, I'm sure they'll work their way into a larger project, but for now, it's just entertainment.

These kitties come from here and here. Cute, huh?

Christmas Recap, Part 1

My brother is in the process of becoming an adult. This year, he bought his first condo...and the first time I visited, I felt like it was missing something. It was lacking a certain sophistication. And people were drinking wine out of coffee mugs.

So, of course, I bought him wine glasses for Christmas. But I felt like he needed something to go with them - cocktail napkins!

But of course, plain white wouldn't do. So I sought out this tutorial for a basic napkin, and then looked for some embroidery patterns to spice them up. I found the perfect patterns here.

And, voila!

Grownup (because they are cloth napkins) and still ridiculous. Perfect for my brother.

I love the way these turned out. I will definitely make more!

Zipper Pouches!

I like to organize things, so I think zippered pouches are great. For cosmetics, or hair elastics, or pencils...anything, really! So, I made a few.

 I always need help remembering how to do zippers, so I referred to this tutorial at SewHappyGeek as a reference, although I clearly didn't do the paper piecing part.

 These kinds of pouches are also great for carrying around the bits of smaller projects...for the past few weeks I have been doing some embroidery projects, which are very portable.

Like this one!

The free embroidery pattern for the little owley is from here. Adorable! And fun to stuff as a Christmas gift!

I-Spy Baby Goodness

Two lovely ladies in my department are having babies this fall, and so I wanted to stretch my quilting skills and try a few baby quilts. I have liked the idea for awhile of doing an "I-spy" quilt, but finding all those fabrics and cutting them into tiny squares would be waaaaaay too taxing for me...so I bought some from Sew Together on etsy. They're adorable! I got a set of doubles, so I could make each quilt like a matching game (I'm a teacher, so of course everything has to be educational...)

My first quilt ever was a disappearing nine patch, and I used the same pattern here, based on a tutorial by Obsessively Stitching. (The same blog guided me through my first quilt ever!) Aren't they cute?

Since I've been reading about it so much lately in the bloggy world, I decided to sign them. It was quite tricky, but I figured out a method that worked for me.

It has become somewhat of a tradition in my department that I always knit little animals for my co-workers when they have babies, and I didn't want to disappoint on that front...but I went in a slightly different direction. For the past few months I have been obsessed with this book:

So I made some monster friends:

My mom gave this one as a gift to a friend's son who is welcoming a baby sister. This is my favorite.

After all, what could be snugglier than a giant monster? She's big enough to double as a pillow.

Knitting has been my go-to craft this month because hubby and I have been moving - we are staying with my parents for awhile while we finalize the sale on our (hooray!) new house. I just broke out the sewing machine today, so hopefully I'll have some new projects to share soon!

The end of WIPs

Having a few weeks between Middlebury and school starting, I worked on finishing up some old projects, including some embroidery. I think I finished this one in college, and finally got around to washing it and putting it in a frame.

This one too! I did this forever ago.

This one I just finished. Keith's mum gave me a kit for Christmas. There are matching pillowcases, but I haven't gotten to work on those yet.

~a tablerunner!~

And on an unrelated note...

~Rufio's favorite hideout...~

I have a bunch more finished projects to show off...but I'm waiting for a sunny day to take more pictures. We haven't had much good weather lately!