Happy Mother's Day!

here are the finished mother's day presents for my mother and my mother-in-law. i decided to frame them, as you can see. i don't know if this was the best idea, but i was running out of time and i didn't know what else to do. i do like how they look, but i'm not sure if it was the best way to display the embroidery. well, it is my first time doing embroidery and i can say that i learned a few things along the way. none that i care to talk about since i'm sure there are more experienced embroiderers with more informative tutorials. and since i still need to learn a lot more and i really want to continue with embroidery, i'm going to search for those tutorials. i've seen so many wonderful examples of embroidery and i hope to one day make work that is half as good as what i've seen!

one other thing i'm making for the mom's in my life is a pavlova! i've made pavlovas maybe twice and my mom has missed out on it both times, and i've been promising to make her one since then. so, i thought this would be the right time, if any, to make her this special treat. i'll try to get a picture of one before we dig into it!

i don't think i'll be doing much this mother's day. well, that's wrong. actually i'll probably spend it cleaning up my messy house since i've neglected a lot of my housework. i let the dishes pile up and i think we might be all out of clean clothes. and my craft/sewing area is a total mess. it's all work that i let build up cause i was so busy making things. i don't mind, really, cause i was able to make some nice things for people who i think deserved it. i can have my mother's day any time i want. my husband is really nice to me and is very supportive, and my girls are so wonderful! i feel very lucky! and so i hope all the moms out there who don't have it so easy but still deserve a day of pampering and being appreciated, do get to spend mother's day with their loved ones and get to do something special. my mom is one of those unfortunate mothers who isn't appreciated enough (IMHO) by family members she lives with, so i plan to bring her over to my house and i'm going to try to make it a special day for her. happy mother's day!

Three Bags and a Moopy

well, it's been a long time, but i've been pretty busy crafting! i'm still working on the embroidery projects, mother's day presents for my mom and my MIL. i'm done with the embroidery part and i added a border. now i just need to find a frame for them. maybe i'll add some batting on the back, but i'm not sure, yet. i've never done embroidery before, so i don't really know how to put the work in a frame. since i started, i have seen examples of similar projects, and i think most have some batting to the back of the embroidery. well, i hope to find some frames soon so that i can complete the presents and post some pictures!

speaking of mother's day presents, i had been wanting to make myself a new bag ever since last xmas. i had put it off long enough when i realized that mother's day was coming up. i decided to finally make some time and got it done!

i have to admit that another thing that helped me finally get around to making myself a bag was that i needed to make one for a friend. it took me a long time to get the bag done for her, but i'm so glad to say that i finished! and i think it looks pretty nice!

i also made a tote bag for her older daughter, as i had already made one for her younger daughter's birthday.

finally i added a mini moopy softie to match the one i made for her younger daughter. although this is the first time i've posted about making a mini moopy, it's the 7th one i've made. this is the first time i actually took a picture of one. i made one for each of my daughters, my nieces, my nephew, and my friends' daughters, all as birthday presents. it's one of my favorite patterns and they've been a hit with all the children that have received one.

one day i hope to make my own patters for soft toys and either make and sell them on etsy or sell the patterns. but i realize right now that my time is still very limited because my girls need so much of my attention.

it's kind of frustrating, but at least i have more time to be creative now than when i first started making things. when my oldest daughter, C, was still a baby i just didn't know how to manage my time. i know i've learned to be more efficient with my time and how to ask my husband for help with the girls on weekends. it helps that the loved ones who receive my hand made gifts really appreciate it, and that means a lot. if i miss the chance to start a business selling my crafts, then so be it, as long as i still get to be creative and share in the creative process with my daughters!

Mother's Day Gifts WIP

Since Mother's Day is coming up next, I started thinking about what I could make for my Mom and for my Mother-in-Law, and for myself. I decided to make them something decorative; something I'm sure they will treasure. So, again, I decided to include my girls in the gift making and giving by using some of my favorite drawings that they have made and use a combination of embroidery and appliqué to "re-do" the drawings.

Since I don't think either of them read my blog, I decided to show my progress here.
So basically, I took two drawings that my daughter, C, drew and combined them. I traced them onto plain white fabric with a water soluble ink pen. And if you click on the picture you can see a closer view and see the little circles I added. These are the tiny little circles that my little girl, M, has been drawing lately. It wouldn't be fair not to include some of M's creativity. She usually draws in pencil so I'm still not sure what color to embroider them. Maybe I'll just stick to gray, like her pencil drawings.

And if you haven't noticed the drawings C made are of the two dolls I made for my girls! The love and inspiration just keeps on going! They inspire me, I inspire them, and they inspire me, again! So as you can see, I tried to use some of the scraps from the fabric I used to make their dolls so that they look as much as possible like those dolls. This embroidery is going to my Mom. I have another drawing picked out to make a similar embroidery for my MIL, so I'll try to post some pics of that when I do more work on it. As for my present to myself, I still haven't decided. There are so many ideas in my head and ones I've seen in other craft blogs. I've been needing to make myself a new bag, so maybe I'll just do that. I would also like my own embroidery of my girls' art, too! And I've been wanting to make silhouettes of my girls' profiles, either in paper or fabric. I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm done with the two embroidery projects I've already started and see how much time I have left for my own Mother's Day present.