Have Yourself A Fandom Little Christmas

So, I got a little carried away with this post.

Someday, I will have one tree dedicated to fandom (let’s face it, mostly Harry Potter!) themed Christmas ornaments. The ones pictured here are just some of my favorites.

A small disclaimer: I did not make most of these. They were gifts from fandom friends, all of whom are very talented!

There are FOUR snitches!

As you can see, I’ve been extraordinarily gifted by my very talented friends over the years. I love pulling out these extra special handmade ornaments each year and taking a moment to reflect on how lucky I am to have so many wonderful people in my life!

Stop back by every day between now and Christmas as I share crafts and ornaments that are special to me and my family.

I’d love to hear about your special decorations, too!

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A Very Special Gift

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Once upon a time, I was a Girl Scout.

It was, oh, 1984 or 1985 when the troop I belonged to made these gift ornaments.

This particular one was made by me for my parent’s Christmas tree.

So yeah, this little guy is close to 30 years old.

Many years later, when I had my own family, my mom let me take ornaments that were special to me for our tree and it became part of my family’s collection.

This little gift has always been extra special, not just because I made it when I was a child, but because I remember very clearly understanding what the poem meant.

Giving a handmade, heartfelt gift was a very potent and powerful thing because it was something I could do, a gift I could give without spending money or being able to drive or having a job or any of those other “grown up” things. This has remained so for me during my entire life.

The love inside that tiny parcel is absolutely and completely real.

Want to make your own very special gift ornament? Wrap up a tiny parcel and include this poem:

This is a very special gift
That you can never see.
The reason it’s so special is
It’s just for you from me.

Whenever you are lonely,
Or even feeling blue,
You only have to hold this gift
And know I think of you.

You never can unwrap it.
Please leave the ribbon tied.
Just hold the box close to your heart.
It’s filled with love inside.
~Author Unknown

Stop back by every day between now and Christmas as I share crafts and ornaments that are special to me and my family.

Do you have special ornaments or decorations that bring back memories for you? I’d love to see: feel free to leave photo and blog links in comments!

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Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half-price during December!

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Two Little Reindeer

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Once upon a time, I had two little reindeer.

This is a photo I’ve had on my fridge for about 13 years. The little reindeer are teenagers now, but still just as close as they look in this photo.

The reindeer antlers were made with my daughter’s class. I will take credit for this one because I was the room mom at the time and several moms mentioned how much they liked crafts that incorporated their kiddos handprints.

The antlers were made by tracing and cutting how the kids handprints from craft foam. These were decorated and put on a band (also craft foam) that we’d made ahead of time. It had about a 3″ piece of elastic in the back so it would fit any of the kids.

Thirteen years later, and these guys are a little worse for wear. Each year, we put them on a shelf as part of our Christmas decorations and remember when we had our own little reindeer!

If I were to make these again, I think I would make the band out of fabric or felt and the antlers out of stiffened felt or possibly even make antlers that could be stuffed.

Made as a class activity with the effort of several helpful moms, hindsight and lots of years of room-momming experience now behind me, I’d say this is a craft best saved for home or small groups!

Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half-price during December!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

Stop back by every day between now and Christmas as I share crafts and ornaments that are special to my family.

Do you have special ornaments or decorations that bring back memories for you? I’d love to see: feel free to leave photo and blog links in comments!

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Learn to Paper Piece Sweet Skating Sue, just $3!

TTMT #241 – Done & Done

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In this video:

Harry Potter title font alphabet patterns here on Sewhooked & and on Fandom In Stitches.

Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half-price during December!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

Stop by every day over the next week as I share fun Christmas ornaments and crafts made by my family over the years!

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Learn to Paper Piece Sweet Skating Sue, just $3!

Some Friday Things.

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It’s awfully hard to share crafty goodness this time of year.

Among my usual drafting and scheming for future projects, I’ve been working on some gifts for people in my life. Obviously, I can’t show you that, so I thought a quick tour through some of my Instragram photos might be fun!

The Coke bottles you see above are part of a bottle organ created by my son and and his friends. Among other things, they played the Tetris theme song. Who says kids are only interested in video games? 😉

No idea what I’m talking about? Check out The Bottle Boys on YouTube. You’ll be entertained, I promise!

During the course of this past week, I worked on the binding for my Harry Potter alphabet quilt. I started with scrappy binding after a discussion with my trusty bee friends. Sadly, the awesome swirly purple didn’t make it in, but the rest of the lovely fabrics did!

I worked on the quilt a little each night this week while hanging out with my husband and son, or as I call them around here, “my boys.”

Here it is, binding all done! I finished up last night while I caught up on Big Bang Theory.

Look for photos of the quilt itself when it stops raining or on Talk To Me Tuesday…whichever comes first!

Wait, what’s that in the background? Yep, the bottle organ is still on my kitchen table!

Also this week, I mended the buttons on my favorite coat. This is a lovely double breasted jacket I found in a consignment shop years ago. The buttons were just looking sad, so I searched my thread for the perfect color and, wallah, good as new!

Did you miss my holiday crafts recap? You can find some of my favorites right here.

Still haven’t found the perfect present for the crafter in your life? Stuff their stockings with fabric and yarn from Craftsy! From Friday, December 13 – Monday, December 16, designer yarn is on sale up to 80% off and designer fabric is up to 65% off. Order by 12/16 to guarantee delivery by 12/24…sorry, this is only for US residents. Hurry over to Craftsy! This sale expires on 12/16 at midnight MT.

Craftsy 80% Off Yarn Flash Sale through 12/16
Craftsy 65% Off Fabric Flash Sale through 12/16

Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half-price during December!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

Don’t forget to shop with small businesses and independent artists for the holiday season: Use coupon SHOPSMALL now through Dec. 15 in my Etsy Shop for 15% off your total purchase. Etsy is the only place you can find handmade items by yours truly!

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Featured Pattern: Tree Trimming, $8 on Craftsy!

TTMT #240 – Binding!

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Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half price during December!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

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Learn to Paper Piece Sweet Skating Sue, just $3!

Bid for a Treasure!

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In a continuing effort to help my kiddo with her college expenses, I’m selling some of my treasures.

One super special treasure is this vintage fan quilt. It’s hand pieced and hand quilted and estimated to have been made in the 1930s. It fell into my hands by chance and I’ve had it on display in my home ever since.

Because I could not decide on an asking price, it’s up for auction on ebay. The minimum bid is the absolute lowest I can take for it.

Bidding ends in just over 2 hours and I would love, love, love this to go to a good home with someone that would appreciate it!

It does have some age damage. If you’re interested, make sure you have a good look at all the photos in the listing before bidding.

Reminder! Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is now live!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

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Featured Pattern: Tree Trimming, $8 on Craftsy!

Holiday Favorites

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It’s actually cold in Austin today. We had ice, which is so rare, I can’t even tell you!

Today seems like a great day to share some of my favorite things to make for Christmas.

Above, we’ve got Smiling Santa Gift Bag. I’ve been making some variation of this bag since my daughter was in kindergarten. She’s a college freshman now!

Click on the photo above or right here for the tutorial.

Candy Cups were shared with me YEARS ago by my aunt. These are wonderful gifts for teachers or anyone else you’d like to give something extra special to.

Tutorial!

These gift tags made from recycled cereal boxes weren’t originally a Christmas craft, but I’ve used them for Christmas many times over the years. This is a fun craft for kiddos, too. Make sure you use non-toxic stamps when working with little ones.

Tutorial

This is a little stocking ornament I came up with to teach my kids to blanket stitch. There are several of these on my tree. It’s an easy craft to make and share and no special tools are needed!

Tutorial & pattern

You can find more crafts and tutorials right here.

Reminder! Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is now live!

Have a wonderful, crafty weekend!

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Featured Pattern: Tree Trimming, $8 on Craftsy!

TTMT #239 – A Little Excited

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Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is $6, half-price, through Dec. 31!
Paper Piecing Vintage (PPV) Facebook Group
Easy Crochet Stocking Ornament – free pattern
Fandom In Stitches – As You Wish, the Princess Bride Quilt & Stitch Along begins in January!

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Featured Pattern: Tree Trimming, $8 on Craftsy!

PPV Pre-Registration is live!

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Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is now live!

Today through December 31, registration is half-price, just $6!

Each pattern comes in 6″ and 12″. The 6″ patterns are full color and the 12″ patterns are grayscale to help save on ink.

That’s six bucks for 24 patterns plus layout instructions!’

The pre-registration download for Paper Piecing Vintage includes fabric amounts for both block sizes and how to get your update on January 1.

Want more information? Everything you need to know is on the listing on Craftsy!

Who’s excited? I’m excited!

Click here to grab the html for these fun badges

or copy and paste the images directly to your blog!

We have TWO winners for a free copy of the January pattern! Our winners will receive the actual January 2014 block of the month document, a preview of what’s to come. Congratulations and thanks to you both for commenting!

Our winners!

Do you Facebook? Join our spiffy new group for Paper Piecing Vintage and quilt with friends during 2014! I will be posting exclusing content to the group, including alternative color schemes!

See you later today for TTMT!

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