Holiday Gift Ideas - Hand Embroidery

It's that time of year again. Halloween has just past and Christmas is looming on the horizon (and Thanksgiving is just a few days away for my American readers). Don't get me wrong: I love Christmas, but I'm always stitching down to the last minute creating my gifts. To help you avoid this situation, I've included a list of easy projects that are great for giving - and you've still got lots of time to get them done!

If you love hand embroidery, try these quick gifts:

Flourishing Heart Pincushion 

 
Flourishing Heart pattern by Chatterbox Quilts

Flourishing Heart pattern by Chatterbox Quilts

 

This is a FREE pattern from Chatterbox Quilts and can be used to create a pincushion, ornament (add a hanging ribbon), shelf sitter or sachet (add your favourite potpourri). If you'd like to have complete instructions on doing the embroidery stitches in this project and see how to create it, just enrol in my Curious class, Hand Embroidery Essentials. Click here for a 20% discount on the course now.

Snowflake Brrr! is another frosty seasonal design that makes a quick ornament or is great just placed into an embroidery hoop for a quick and fun wall decoration. You can find this FREE Chatterbox Quilts' pattern on our store. 

 
Snowflake Brrr! by Chatterbox Quilts makes a quick wall hanging in an embroidery hoop

Snowflake Brrr! by Chatterbox Quilts makes a quick wall hanging in an embroidery hoop

 

Our Christmas Stitchery Set and Winter Stitchery Set each include three little designs that can be used for a variety of projects. Stitch up all three patterns, add sashing between each of them, border them all and you have the perfect wall hanging. Better yet - buy both sets and then create a small quilt or wall hanging using all six designs.

Christmas Stitchery Set by Chatterbox Quilts includes 3 seasonal designs.

Christmas Stitchery Set by Chatterbox Quilts includes 3 seasonal designs.

 
 
Winter Stitchery Set by Chatterbox Quilts can be made into an ornament or wall hanging.

Winter Stitchery Set by Chatterbox Quilts can be made into an ornament or wall hanging.

If you need a gift for a little one or baby, Screech, Hoot and Whoobie would be perfect. These little stuffed toys use hand embroidery for embellishment, so there aren't any buttons or pieces that might fall off or be a danger to the under 3 year-old group. I just like them because they make cute shelf sitters in my studio.

 
Hoot (the daddy), Screech (the momma) and Whoobie (the baby) by Chatterbox Quilts are adorable toys or cute shelf sitters.

Hoot (the daddy), Screech (the momma) and Whoobie (the baby) by Chatterbox Quilts are adorable toys or cute shelf sitters.

 

Don't know how to hand embroidery? No problem! Enrol in Hand Embroidery Essentials to learn all about the tools you'll need, thread choices and how to create simple embroidery stitches. We'll even create the Flourishing Heart pincushion/ornament together.

 
Enrol in Hand Embroidery Essentials to start stitching today.

Enrol in Hand Embroidery Essentials to start stitching today.

 

Next time I'll have some quilted project ideas that make great gifts. 

Creatively,

 


New FREE Embroidery Pattern from Chatterbox Quilts

Snowflake Brrr by Chatterbox Quilts

Snowflake Brrr by Chatterbox Quilts

We've just posted a new FREE embroidery design to the Chatterbox Quilts website. Snowflake Brrr! is perfect in an embroidery hoop as a wall decoration, but you could also choose to stuff it for a pillow. Add a backing to it and it's an ornament for your Christmas tree. 

Detail of Snowflake Brrr

Detail of Snowflake Brrr

Download Snowflake Brrr! now and have a new wintery decoration for yourself or a friend.

If you need help in creating these stitches, enrol in my on-lline class, Hand Embroidery Essentials, where you'll learn all the basic hand embroidery stitches and create a lovely heart ornament. Another gift for one of your crafty friends :)

Creatively,

 



Banff celebration 2015

It's been a busy fall with school starting (back to work for me), working on blogposts and Youtube videos and personal life. We recently celebrated our wedding anniversary - 31 years! - with a trip to Banff. We are fortunate to live so close to the Rocky Mountains with Banff an hour away by car. 

Even though it was late in October, we had not too cool temperatures and sunny skies. We did some shopping, lots of walking and some eating too (they do have more than one candy shop!).

I managed to fit in a visit to the Sugarpine Quilt Store in Canmore too. It was on the way back to Calgary, after all :)

Here are a few photos from the week-end.

 
Downtown Banff

Downtown Banff

 
 
I love browsing in the Indian Trading Post

I love browsing in the Indian Trading Post

 
 
Some of the varmints in the Indian Trading Post

Some of the varmints in the Indian Trading Post

 
 
View across the Bow River

View across the Bow River

 

We walked from the Banff townsite to Bow Falls, just below the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

 
The back of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

The back of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

 
 
The Bow River - I love this photo!

The Bow River - I love this photo!

 

And no anniversary week-end would be complete without a spectacular dessert - and this one was no exception!

 
Yum!

Yum!

 

And yes, I did eat it all - on my own :)

Telecast Thursday - Quilt Batting Yo-Yos

Welcome to Telecast Thursday. Today I'll show you what to do with quilt batting scraps that seem too small to be worth keeping. Don't throw them out! Use them to create sweet little yo-yos that can be added to your projects for embellishment.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

At Chatterbox Quilts, we create new videos every week. Subscribe to our Youtube channel so you'll receive automatic notifications when a new video is published. If you enjoy our videos, please like and share them with your crafty friends.

Creatively,

 

Telecast Thursday - Tea Dyeing Fabric and Vintage Linens

It's Telecast Thursday and this week it's tea time. I'm not talking about the traditional tea time, I'm talking about using tea to dye fabrics. Join me to see how easy it is to change stained vintage linens into beautiful antique fabrics.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel

New videos are added to my Chatterbox Quilts Youtube channel each week. Subscribe to my Youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted. If you enjoyed this video, please like and share it with your quilty friends.

Creatively,