Another budget-friendly Christmas present. Grandma loves to decorate the dinner table for the holidays so I thought I would freshen up her place cards for this year! We thought we would keep them neutral from any Christmas theme so she can use them year-round.

To kick them up a notch and make them really special, I used an alphabet stamp kit to write out everyone's name and brushed them with an embossing powder, to give them a finished look.

We all stay at Susu's house, which is surrounded by Sassafras trees, so it was easy to choose their leaves as decoration. We weren't sure if a glue stick would keep them from falling off so stitching them down with the machine was helpful in knowing that they would stay and also add a nice decorative element. I love when resourcefulness and neccessity can also be beautiful!

New quilt finished!



This quilt was so fun to make and the long-arm quilting machine is a blast! Think about doodling and then think about being able to doodle using a needle and thread like a pencil. An awesome tool for anyone who loves to draw.

This was my very first quilt, made Fall 2007 at SCAD in the Art Quilt class. After all these years and all the quilts I've made since, I still love this one so much! There are definitely technical errors in the sewing but I still enjoy the design and the fabric choices.

After finishing the class and coming home, my mom quickly announced that 'these were her colors!' and 'did I make it for her?'. I think it's genius how she put it on her all-white guest bed and has made use of it despite its size.

The Little Mermaid fabric came from bedsheets from the thrift store and the figures are raw-edge applique. The back is made up of the sheet as well.

This month, I started working once a week at this amazing, crafty, unique store in Durham called The Scrap Exchange. It's a non-profit that collects industrial waste from around NC -(think unneeded science equipment from Duke or surplus packaging from Burt's Bees)- and resells it for practically nothing, all for the sake of keeping this stuff out of the landfills and accessible for anyone to use in any creative way the choose. It really is the best place to shop for fabric in Durham!

Anyways, it's a good thing I'm only there once a week because I can never leave without finding some sort of totally random thing that I just can't live without! This week it was:

~ 2 doll heads on a stick
~ a Brunswick Stew magnet
~ a shimmery candle

How could I just pass these things up??