Family Photo Quilt

For the past several months I have been working on a gift for my parents. It was a small quilt that features our family, starting with my parent's wedding date and then listing the birthdays and photos of each child. I've never made a quilt before, and I did all the quilting by hand. I don't think I've ever put so much time and effort into a gift and I could hardly wait to give it. It has been a lot of years since I've been so excited about giving at Christmas and I'm glad that this year turned out to be such a blessed one.

Knit Snowball Ornaments

Every year one of my neighbors hosts an ornament and cookie exchange party. The ornaments are supposed to be hand made, or at least embellished or customized in some way. In the past I've taken the easy route, but this year, I decided to make the ornaments myself. I knit little white tubes, cinched up the ends, and filled them with cotton and jingle bells. Then I used some yarn to stitch a snowflake on the front and a loop by which to hang them. I didn't have a pattern, experimented with a different number of rows, and I eyeballed the stitching of the snowflakes... so they are all different sizes. While they aren't the most lovely things I've ever made I'm proud of myself for the attempt. Luckily, I know the hostess will appreciate the effort more than the result. Best of all, I have discovered that they are perfect for indoor snowball fights!

Plates as frames

My sister gave me a plate hanger some time ago and I have been searching for the perfect plates to display ever since. The challenge was to find something I liked, that also wasn't too heavy for where I wanted to hang it. One day I thought I'd use the hooks to hold pictures instead of plates and that sparked an idea that some of my friends have asked me to share. I found some lightweight plate chargers and painted and crackled them (they were gold and had a hawaiian scene on them before). Then I took some recent family photos and had them enlarged (8x10 was the perfect size) and printed in black and white. I cut them to fit inside the flattest part of the plate and used acid free spray adhesive to stick them on. I didn't put anything over the photos because I didn't want to ruin the finish. I guess Mod Podge would be an option for a different kind of a finish. If you don't look too closely they look pretty good as is, but I would love to hear more ideas.