Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Home Sweet Home Pillows

When I was first considering buying an embroidery machine I wasn't sure that there were  enough embroidery designers out there that had updated designs. As I did my research I was pleasantly surprised by the fresh downloads available. meringuedesigns.net was one of the companies out there that dazzled me with its modern touch. I bought this wonderful home sweet home design from them a while back and I have loved making these pillows.


This one I made for my daughter in law Jacque. She shares my love for all things red and aqua. 


This is another pillow that came to life in my sewing room. I have made others for gifts for family and friends. I even made one for a white elephant gift exchange at Christmas time. You can see why I love meringue designs. You should click on their link above and see what fun things they help you make. I would like to see some of your creations, e-mail them to me, that would be great.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Project Linus and Kaps for Kendall


I belong to a women's organization at my church called the Relief Society. This is an world wide group of women who try to offer relief to their congregation (ward), to the community, and to those in distant lands, where ever the help is needed. I was  a ring leader for this project. I finally collected the last of the blankets and hats to be given to projectlinus.org and kapsforkendall.com. Many fabric stores take the donations so there is no need to mail anything. Just take them to the nearest drop off place. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my local fabric store took the donations. The blankets were for the project Linus, you know, as in Charles Schulz's Linus character with the beloved blankie. Project Linus tries to get cuddly homemade blankets to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or other wise in need. Our group pulled together 22 blankets of varying sizes. From an infant size to 93"x 93". 


Here they are piled in my family room. 


Some super cute rag quilts.


Aren't these just so cute? the ladies did a good job.



This one, I am really proud of. A friend of mine has been wanting to learn how to machine quilt but has been nervous to try. She made this cute little blue and yellow blanket and made her first attempt to machine quilt. I think she did a great job. What a smart way to practice too, on these little blankets that you know someone will love.


Many years ago, maybe even a decade ago, I had my first go at machine quilting. I am sometimes too hard on myself, so this red and white blanket was stuffed away never to be looked at again. I was too embarrassed to give it as a gift because I just didn't think I did a good enough job. After I saw my friend's first try and how much I liked it, I decided to pull this out and add it to the pile. Really, it wasn't doing any good hiding away at the top of my closet. Now someone somewhere won't judge me on the stitches, but will just cuddle and love this little guy. Why are we so hard on ourselves sometimes?



We collected 48 little caps for our Kaps for Kendall Project. You can give  any type of hat to them, crochet, knit, or sewn, and they deliver them to patients who have lost their  hair from medical treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation. We have one lady in our group who had to  undergo chemotherapy. She said that she loved to wear hats after she lost her hair. Not just because of  her lack of hair, but she told us how cold she would get because her hair was gone. A hat would just keep the warmth in. Here are a few shots of our collection from my thoughtful friends.


There are so many wonderful hats, all different colors and styles.


This is a fun one.


Don't forget the soft baby hats. Unfortunately, these are needed too.


I love this. One lady was really busy but wanted to contribute still.  She bought some hats from a lady with a little company called A Chick with Sticks. This company gives much of their proceeds to a charity. So she actually ended up giving two ways, bought for a charity and then gave it to a charity. The little hats were so cute too. I tried to find this company on line, but I couldn't make a match. I didn't try REALLY hard though, if you wanted to try yourself.