1st Holy Communion Hankies

What do you give a kid when they receive their 1st Holy Communion?  I remember getting gold crosses and believe it or not statues!  Money is always nice, but I thought hankies would be a good alternative and can still carry some sentiment and you can always use them.  I have a collection of hankies for all over the world and they hold up great.

These were such a bargain for me.  I bought a six pack of men's handkerchiefs at Target for $4.99, which was perfect because I had six kids I wanted to give these to.  It came to a whopping .83 each (ok, I didn't figure out taxes, so let's say a buck each).  These are hard to see because they are white material with white thread, but hopefully you can make it out.  Maybe if you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can see the detail.

 For the boys, I used the handkerchief as is and just embroidered their name, the Eucharist and their date of their Communion.

 Here is the design on the machine.

For the girls, I used the scallop stitch on my machine (I starched the hankie first), then I carefully cut out the scallop.

I really love how these turned out.  Now I have a new gift idea for future 1st Holy Communions!

How to fix a snagged towel

When I made my Batman Gift,  I accidentally snagged the towel.  Oh Man!!  I have to admit, I was so worried, how could I give this as a gift.  Could it be fixed?  Then I had a brainstorm...

 How did I do it, you ask?  With this...

My handy dandy felting tool.  I guess desperation is the mother of invention.  It only took a few up and downs with this and it was fixed.  If you are not familiar with how to felt, get a piece of thick foam (the kind for bench seats), lay the towel over the foam, place on a hard, flat surface and use the felting tool on the towel by pushing up and down a couple of times-that's it!

Batman Gift

While my computer was down, I had a few birthday parties and baby showers to attend.  Here is one gift for a dear friend of my son's that just love, love, loves Batman.

I made a large bath towel and hand towel with the batman logo and his name, then I made a luggage tag with the batman logo and his name on the other side.  I found this cute pail at the Target $1 spot for $2.50 that seemed to go great with the color scheme.  Finally, I created an iron-on using the heatbond, that I taped to the pail.

He loved it.

Kinder Quilt

I was asked by my son's Kindergarten teacher to make a quilt for our school auction.  Each child had a square that they decorated and I embroidered their name on the square and then pieced all of them together.  It was not my design, but I did get to pick the colors and I was happy with the primary colors.  I do not consider myself a quilter and I was a little worried about completing a project that so many people would see and maybe bid for, but I was fortunate enough to bounce some ideas off my neighbor who is a real quilter and she gave me direction on the quilting and binding parts.  I love how it turned out.  I was even pleased with the quilting, which I have traditionally had problems with on applique quilts. 

 Here it is laying flat on my work table.

 A close up of some of the appliques

 I loved the red binding!

 Close up of the quilting

  Here it is in the classroom, hanging! 

 I hope it brings in some money, but since it is so specific to our class I have a feeling that it will just be me bidding on it.  I would love to see it in a good home, but I don't mind that home being mine!

As time passes

My computer was down almost 3 full weeks, which was enough time for my tree to come into bloom.

 Week 1

 Week 2

Week 3

Can it be? I think I'm back online

I am hoping this is for good!!!  I have been so frustrated from this computer experience, but hopefully I am back for good now.  However, if I get a blue screen one more time, I need a new hard drive.  I probably should have just put one in and saved myself a lot of time.  Oh well, hopefully I will post something of interest soon to make up for lost time!

Computer Frustrations!!!

Hi All,
I can't believe how long it's been since I have been able to post and it looks like it will be a little longer!  After 3 weeks of fighting some horrid computer virus,  I got the blue screen today on my computer.  I guess I need a new hard drive!  I managed to reboot and post this, but I guess it will be awhile longer before I can actually put something up!  Thanks for checking back in!