beautiful gift from Isa

I was so amazed to find this surprise in the mail - a gorgeous gift from Isa, a Flickr friend. I am always inspired by her gorgeous pictures of nature and her amazing quilts. I was so completely honored to receive this small hand-made quilt from her:



She also sent the most delicious dark chocolate I've ever had. I can't wait to finish the little gift I started crafting for her!

4 things you might not know about me...

Thanks for tagging me, Ellia - here are my answers, and I'd like to invite anybody who reads this to try it, too! :)

Four Jobs I’ve Had:
cashier at a Dollar Store
unfortunate person who opens the Thrift Store donation bags (ugh - SO many people donate pitt-stained tee-shirts it's disgusting!)
page at a Rare Book and Manuscript Library
salesperson at a School Uniform Store

Four Movies I Could Watch Over & Over:
Bleu
Dirty Dancing (sigh, I am so ashamed, but I love this movie)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Amelie

Four Places I Have Lived:
San Antonio, Texas
Austin, Texas
New York (sorry, guys, but that's it!) :)

Four TV Shows I Love:
King of Queens
That 70's Show
Dexter
any Mexican telenovela :)

Four Places I Have Been For a Vacation:
Big Sur, California
Dublin, Ireland
Munich, Germany
St. Maarten

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
Flickr
Rotten Tomatoes
Blogger
Yahoo mail

Four Favourite Foods:
spicy salmon tempura roll from my favorite Sushi restaurant
bean and cheese tacos from any hole in the wall in Texas
spicy shrimp, bulgogi and bi bin bap from my favorite Korean restaurant
spicy Thai panang curry

Four Favourite Desserts:
crepe with banana and nutella
cinnamon ice cream (mmmm!)
tiramisu
baklava

Four Places I Would Rather Be:
in a quiet forest, filled with bird sounds
in a green field, under a blue sky
anywhere that I can see trees and a mountain
eating dinner with my family

Four Women Who Inspire Me: (I added this one)
Frida Kahlo
Georgia O'Keeffe
Julia Margaret Cameron
my mom

Four People I’m Tagging:
everybody who reads this! :)

Holiday Swap goodies from Ellia

I was so amazed as I opened up the Holiday swap goodies from Ellia, holding each handmade object close to my eyes to appreciate all the incredible detail. Really, the pictures hardly do it justice - like a great work of art, you need to see it for yourself to fully appreciate it.



It makes me so happy when things are wrapped lovingly - it reminds me of the way I wrap each Christmas, setting aside a little happy, quiet time to try to make each package perfect. And being completely rewarded when just one person notices the effort you took and lights up... :)



There were so many goodies - gift tags, a book of ornament ideas, angels, and a big fabric template to make a cute little stuffed moose (Can't wait to start on that one!) Thank you Ellia, for putting together such a beautiful package, and for being such a wonderful artist. You can find her work for sale on Etsy: www.greenbeanbaby.etsy.com.

lost in a forest

So here is the girl I stitched up for Ellia. I used the tutorial on her blog as inspiration - cutting the head, body and hair according to the directions, and making up the little red dress from my imagination. I did a lot of brainstorming at first, mostly while sipping a little wine and listening to jazz during dinner the first night. :) After a few sketches, what I wanted to do came to me pretty clearly:



All the pieces were cut from felt, and the skinniest were the hardest. Just the slightest tug on those tiny pieces and they came apart! I used Crazy glue to hold the pieces down a bit, then stitched over a few corners here and there. My favorite elements are the red and white dress/ cape I made (thinking of dresses I used to wear as a kid) and the tall skinny trees that recede a little in the distance. I think this is definitely one of my favorite creations all year.



Lastly, I was thinking the entire time of how much I love forests, the idea of being lost in a forest, and "A Forest", by the Cure...

the Handmade Holiday swap

I had such fun putting together the swap I sent to Ellia of greenbeanbaby... um, such fun that it ended up going out a couple of days late! I hope she's as excited about the little things I cooked up for her - I was so inspired by her cut paper work that I had to make something unique and individual for her. Here's a tiny peek:



I'll reveal the details as soon as she gets it - hopefully soon! :)

Christmas ornament #3

Here's ornament #3: the cute baby in a green snowsuit. I originally sewed this up in a very boring way that looked lumpy and dull, so I yanked it apart and started again. I used pinking shears to get the cute rick-racky edge on the blue felt, and used a chain stitch in a shiny rayon floss to stitch both sides together. I made the ornament for greenbeanbaby as part of a swap, so I added her name to the back:



And, as promised, here is a freebie from the vintage Holiday patterns I've been using. Eren asked if there was a little boy, so here he is, the cutest of the lot! :)

Christmas ornament #2

So, this little ornament is all finished...I changed my mind about having it say "Happy Holiday" underneath so I added a white felt border. Something about the scalloped edge reminds me of the glass ornments we hung on the tree when I was a kid. :) I especially love the blue bow on the little puppy, and the reds and blues I chose. This is all from the same loose sheet of vintage transfers I got on Ebay...