holiday memory lane

Well here it is December already, and I am still wondering what happened to October!

My family did most of our Christmas decorating last weekend. Digging out all that treasure once a year brings back such memories. I thought I would share with you some of my favorite handmade decorations...

This is a door hanging banner that I made a couple of years ago from a Patrick Lose pattern appropriately named "Merry". All the pieces are secured with fusible web and then machine blanket top-stitched. I just love this door hanging :) This was early in my "bright and bold colors" phase. I call it a phase because there are just too many colors in the world, and I am too fickle to stay in love with any one color scheme for long. You may recognize the gifts under the tree - I repeated those patterns in this Christmas block I did earlier in the year for one of my Fresh Modern Bee members, Janice.

This is a counted cross-stitch on linen piece that I made in 1995. Clearly this is from a different color/design era of mine, but I still love seeing it every year. My Aunt Karen (Elsie's daughter) was a very crafty lady who actually owned a cross-stitch and framing shop in my hometown. She taught me to cross-stitch before I had children, and I used it as a way to relax on my very long train ride to and from Chicago every work day. I have always thought of cross-stitching as a sort of grown-up version of coloring... and I LOVE coloring.

NOTE: excuse the poor lighting in these photos. It's a very dark and gloomy day here... [sigh]...

These Santa pieces are some of the very first cross-stitching I did. The patterns came from my Aunt's shop, and she framed them for me. I think I still have about six more patterns from this line that I never started... [sigh]...

And finally we have Snoopy and Woodstock. This piece is all 1970's felt and sequins. It's in remarkably great condition considering that I made it almost 35 years ago. I can still vividly remember sitting on my bedroom floor meticulously threading sequins onto my sewing needle. Back then I was much more into the whole completion thing, and didn't have more than one project going at a time, so I finished it in record time.

In retrospect it was most likely the project that began my life-long love of making handmade treasures.

Thanks Mom... for buying the kit for me, for putting up with me locking myself in my room to finish it, for keeping it safe all these many years, and for starting me on this wonderful road I'm riding on :)

What's the first thing you can remember making??