Saturday, January 3, 2009

New

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It's cold and damp outside but cozy and fresh on the inside - (picture above is not my house!). My husband and daughter are painting her room a pretty blue, and she is full of ideas for curtains and decorations. She tried to convince him to let her paint the trim black - Uh, no .... Thankfully, he did say "no," or I would have had to override that choice. I told her let's go with black fabrics here and there to accessorize but not the trim.
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Coffee Press Cozy
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A very belated set of wedding gifts have been sewn, embroidered, and sent. My nephew and his bride had a coffee press on their gift registry, which I bought immediately with big plans to make a coffee press cozy like I've seen around on the blogs, but I couldn't decide how. The wedding was in May. I finally wrote to the bride and told her my idea but that I was stuck. I also told her I figured they'd bought another press by now, and they could re-gift mine when it finally arrived! In the meantime, sets of towels were embroidered and a monogrammed pillow. I recently purchased a new craft book, and, lo and behold!, a coffee press pattern was printed out for me in the book. Hurrah, and the cozies were quickly sewn with a few of my own improvements. Whew! I beat the first anniversary, and hopefully, the arrival of the items will erase the memory of my delinquency.
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Pretty Journals
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This month, my friend and I have a special project we will be doing together for 40 days, and I ordered these journals from Mary at BittyBooks so that we can keep track of our project. Mary sweetly embellished them as a surprise, and the decorations are right on the spot.
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This is my fourth order from Mary, and I am not disappointed. She made the guest book for my studio and two Sweet-16 journals, one for my daughter and one for my niece, last summer. You'll have to stop by and see her other pretty designs.
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Did you see the handcrafted bird swap button on the upper left of the screen? Creative Kismet is sponsoring this one. I love handcrafted birds, and I think this is a great idea. I'm excited to be on the receiving end of someone's designs. I'm going to make some birds that I have in the past - I can't get too creative, because you know what happens - I get crazy trying to reinvent the wheel, but I did want to participate.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Michele,
Love the cozy and the journals you got are really cute!!
Did you get your 4D software installed ok?

Hope you are having a great weekend.
Cindy

Bittybooks said...

Michele,
So glad you loved your journals! Loved making them a little more personal for you!
You do amazing work with your sewing & all the porjects you create! Know your nephew will love them!

The Blonde Duck said...

I love those embellished bitty books! They're so cute! And I'm sure the newlyweds didn't care. It's like a nice sussy!

Abby and Stephanie said...

Great projects. So many wonderful swaps and challenges going on.

Paula said...

I'm sure they're going to love the cozy you made and the monogrammed towels. I love my handtowel you made!
Off to check out the handcrafted bird swap. Sounds intriguing!
Happy happy 2009!

Shelby said...

Hi Michele, thanks so much for visiting my place this afternoon! Your projects here are scruptuous.. hope your new year is swell s'far.. take care

kristie said...

hi michele, the coffee press cozy is adorable! i'm sure they will love both of them. i'm sorely tempted to participate in the bird exchange...hmmm, is there enough time???