Black Friday Weekend Sale!!

Take advantage of a great sale this weekend on Etsy.  I will be offering 15% off one item, and 20% off each item for a purchase of two or more items Friday, November 27th-Sunday, November 29th.  Also take advantage of other Etsy-ians great sales.   Type in "Etsy Holiday sale" in the search tab on the main page of etsy to see what other great sellers are being offered by other etsy sellers.
You can click on the link to my Etsy site on the left, or cut and paste: www.mycreativethreads.etsy.com
The Main Page of Etsy link is: www.etsy.com
Happy Shopping!!

All things Handmade

As we enter into this holiday season, gift buying is on our minds.  The buying frezy begins this Friday, black Friday.  The most insane shoppers wake up at the butt crack of dawn to be the first in the stores.  The seriously insane shoppers camp out at the stores the entire night fervently pounding down the doors until they open, eager to take advantage of killer sales and supreme deals.  I am not really much of a shopper, so the idea of fighting crowds all day, pursuing crazy bargins really doesn't appeal to me.  I would much rather spend the day relaxing and exercising off the carbo-loaded meal from the day before.
Anyway, to get to the point of this post... I want to encourage all my readers to think twice before you spring for that super-great and fabulous made-in-China deal from Walmart.  (No offense to Walmart shoppers, as I am one from time to time).  I want to encourage you to think about purchasing gifts that are Handmade.  There are multitudes of stay-at-home mom's and dad's, and entrepreneurs working hard to create unique items from home.  By buying homemade gifts, you are not only giving wonderfully original gifts, you are also supporting a crafter/ artist who are using their talents to supplement their income and/or provide for their families.   This post is not to promote my own handmade business (although, I will not stop you from clicking on the My Creative Threads logo to the left ), but rather to encourage the support of all things handmade.  A good place to start is by shopping on the website I use for my business, Etsy: www.etsy.com.  This website is a wonderful venue for handmade and vintage items. 
It is definitely much BETTER TO GIVE THEN TO RECEIVE, and I hope that we can all enjoy this season of giving!!
PS.  If you can't find the perfect Handmade gift, try making one yourself.  Nothing says I love you more than something that you took the time to make!!

A mistake turned into quilt

So I was working on blocks for my snowball quilt and I mistakenly trimmed four of those blocks to 6" squares. (They are supossed to be 6 1/2" squares).  OOPS!  Can't use those blocks in the snowball quilt.  So I got to thinking about how to use them, and I decided to make a couple red and cream blocks to incorporate all six into a small table runner.  So I loaded the fire place with wood, moved the sewing machine into the family room, turned on the tv and quilted away last night.  Here is the finished product: (well not quite finished, it still needs to be bound).

I had a hard time deciding which order to lay out the green, red, and cream blocks.  I finally decided I liked this way the best as I would most likely be placing a candle or other decoration in the center.  TADA!

Very Busy

This is a very busy time of the year for my business.  With craft shows, home parties, and custom orders, I feel like all I do is cut, iron, and sew lately.  But I love it!  I have been busy restocking after the last craft show, filling custom orders, and preparing for the next home party later this week.  Here are just a few of my newest creations.  I call them pleated zoid bags.  They are not posted on my Etsy site yet, but they will be by the end of the week if they do not sell at the home party.

And the Challenge Continues

It was another successful day of working on the Snowball quilt challenge with my friend Chris.  We utilized her fabulous felt design boards, which were very handy for quick and orderly piecing. The fabric sticks nicely to the boards which are easily stacked and stored.

Chris's Red and Cream blocks

 

I have received most of my lights from the fabric exchange.  It is just like Christmas when they arrive in the mail.

He can Sew Too!

I came in from the store today to find my dear husband sewing patches on his work jeans. Thanks to his great mechanical abilities, he is very able to use the sewing machine.  (And he was wise to pull out my older model instead of using my new Janome unsupervised...)  The sewing room was temporarily turned upside down, and I was momentarily annoyed until I saw the humor in the situation and was able to applaud him for his ingenuity and creativity in getting the job done.

Yes, those are bungy chords holding down  the machine which is precariously resting on a book to give the neck of the machine some lift... very creative babe!  And yes, that is my pin cushion around his wrist... very cute babe!

The final patch... not bad!  Can you see the black sharpe marking pin line at the top of the patch that he marked for his cutting line?  LOVE IT!
Great job Scott!

Beginning of the Snowball Quilt

Today I began the Snowball quilt for the quilt challenge.  My dear friend Chris and I are both participating in the challenge, so we thought we would take the day for starting our quilts.  Even though we weren't quite as productive as we would have liked to be, it was still a great day of figuring out the pattern, cutting, and creating our first blocks.  I finally decided on my color: GREEN.  Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that green is my favorite color. Over the years I have acquired a lot of green fabric, so it was only natural that I choose to use all the green from my stash in this quilt.  Chris decided to use red, which I think will be stunning.  
My Cut Fabric:

Chris's cut fabric:

My first block:

Chris's first block:

They would make a lovely Christmas quilt if we put them together!

A wonderful day at the Craft Show

Today was the second annual FCC (Faith Community Church) Craft show.  I have been preparing for weeks for the show, restocking previously sold items, and creating new items.  We had a fabulous turnout at the show, and it proved to be even better than last year.  Now back to restocking for the next event.  Got to love this time of year!!