Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

So I was messing around with my blog header to make it a bit more sew-y and came up with this



But in the process messed up did something not according to plan, so I had to revert to a text only header. Oh well! In the mean time, I was thinking I'd offer up a hand-made good! I'm Jennifer and I love to sew, quilt, swap and make.

And I've been making a hoop pocket sewing kit and making sure it's extra cute with a little embroidery



I'm not sure that this will end up being a hoop for the person I'm giving it to as they have one already and I have some other ideas I can use. (A-if you see this, don't worry, there are still surprises for you :) )

*Giveaway Now Closed*
Would you like one too? I'd like to make you your own. Let me know in the comments what color or colors you like and I'll make you one if you win! The only caveat is that I'm not sure a hoop would survive a trip overseas in an envelope. So if you win and you're overseas you have the choice of risking it or having me make you a non-hoop sewing kit. Your choice :)

Now if you'd like to become a new follower that'd be lovely but it's not required. If you do, make sure to come back Sunday and I'll do a giveaway just for you. Sew Mama Sew giveaway link here.

*Giveaway Now Closed*
Giveaway ends May 16th at 12 a.m. MST (That's 12 midnight). Winner will be notified within three days. Winner picked by Random Number Generator and will be notified here and by email. Winning will be sent within 30 days. If winner does not respond within 24 hours a new winner will be randomly selected as per above.

*I've already had a few no-reply bloggers enter.  I can't contact you if you're no-reply, so you won't be able to win. If you are a no-reply blogger I will re-draw, sorry.  It's safer to leave your email in your answer like this: coolestpersonname {at} gmail [dot] com. Duplicate comments will be deleted or not-counted. One comment per person. 

Would you all just believe that I super love that you've come all the way over to my blog and I heart you! I'll try and keep up with giveaway day comments but it's a lot! I'm also giving away some Heather Ross in the supplies SMS giveaway here. *Giveaway now closed*

Thank You Elephants

Some perfectly lovely strangers let me stay with them in Denver whilst I visited. I want to say thank you in a tangible way, which in this case means elephants.

My dear friend was childhood friends with their son and he considers them a second family. They were so wonderful and offered to let me stay with them. I think that kind of generosity and kindness is stellar. Before I went, I tried to find out what the lady of the house likes. I discovered she collects elephants. I knew my local quilt shop had this elephant print so off I went and purchased some coordinating bits. 

They obviously needed more embroidery so I took the floss, needle and clippers on the plane hoping to get them done before I left Denver. That didn't happen, so they came all the way home with me to get finished. The family's last name starts with "S".

They are pieced and quilted. The stitching shows up well on the insulbright and I'm always happy when the spaces turn out evenly without measuring. 

While there I found out that she used to cross stitch a lot. Hurray! So there will be favorite elephants and little x's made by me and printed on the Baby Jane fabric. 

 I'm hoping to get these done and mailed off this week. After all, there are still swap makes to make, a tote to finish and hopefully a skirt and top to sew before Sewing Summit. 

I Spanked the French Knots

I'm working on some embroidery. I learned how to do the basics in a summer school class my grade school offered. Haven't done much since then. I picked it up again a few years ago to work on a pillow cushion. And I'm still working on the same one :) Here's the thing, it's a graphic design that is repetitive and done in only satin stitch. So it takes a long time. Well it mostly takes a long time since I can only so one small section without getting bored. Or my hands getting tired from my death grip on the hoop.
I've moved on to work on other things and I bring That One out occasionally. This one is fairly small, it'll end up probably about 4"x5" or so. I sketched out lots of designs until I got to this. Yes, this also has satin stitches, but! they don't have to be uniform which makes all the difference.

While I was brushing up on embroidery I looked at a lot of pics and sites online. I was surprised at how many people are scared of French Knots. I thought, hmm, maybe I should be scared of them, it's been a while since I've done them. So I looked at a few tutorials, each assuring us to "not be scared" they're "not that horrible", "only loose a couple fingers", "or an eye". Kidding. But it just all made me more nervous. Until I told myself to just calm down. If I could do these at about 9 or 10 years old they really can't be that hard. They totally aren't, they're just as easy as all the other stitches.

I French Knotted to my hearts content. And then decided I didn't quite like the colors I'd used so I got out my small embroidery Ginghers (they are small, my fingers are not gigantic I promise). It made me sad to see the knot carnage. It'll look better in the end.