I Feel Like Santa's Workshop

 
Lately I have been doing a surprising amount of crafting but I can't post pictures of everything because a lot of it may end up as Christmas gifts. The other reason is because I have about 20 projects in progress but very few finished things. Here are a few of the things I actually finished lately.

I decided to try the applique pillows that I have seen everyone making. Overall I think they were a success, they will make great gifts.



Instructions:
1) Use your computer to print the letters that you would like and cut them out so that they can be used at stencils
2) Trace the letters onto the back of your fabric and cut them out (be sure to "mirror" them so that they face the right direction when you are finished)
3) Use permanent fabric glue to glue the letters to the backing of your choice
4) Once the glue is dry stitch around the edges of the letters (typically people use a zigzag stitch but I happen to be a fan of frayed edges so I used a straight stitch and let my edges fray away)
5) Piece the rest of the front of your pillow together as well as a back that is the same size as the front
6) Sew the back and front together (right sides facing each other) and leave a small opening at the bottom of the pillow
7) Trim the corners and turn the pillow inside out
8) Stuff the pillow and then top stitch around the edge of the pillow closing the hole

Tip: I top stitched everywhere that I pieced fabric together and I love how it turned out, I would highly recommend it.

Easy as that...

The other project that I recently fell in love with are these alligator scarves (I used the baby scarf pattern and I think if you just made it a bit longer it would work for an adult too). If you have a young child they may very well end up getting one of these from me for Christmas...





Here is a picture of it on my husband (really it was made for a kid so it looks small but I think it will fit a toddler perfectly).



Here is the second one that I am still finishing up...hopefully there will be a bunch of them soon!



I am now in the process of making a pattern for matching mittens because I love the scarf so much. My first attempt didn't turn out that well because the yarn and needles I used were too big. So I am starting over with sports weight yarn and it is looking much better.