Sew sew sew / ho ho ho

Happy Holidays!!  Sew sew sew [said like the way Santa says ho ho ho]. 

I'm in a festive mood.  It felt like November yesterday due to the weather so it was easy to slip into the festive spirit!  What did I make?  I made a Smiling Snowman Notebook/Journal cover. 

It was another quick project (I LOVE quick projects) so I had that instant gratification feeling again.  In my head I say 'Yay for me, another completed project!', which makes me feel good!!  I decided to make it because I wanted to test-run a tutorial before I made the real thing for the Super Swaps Notebook/journal swap that I am in.  I think I will go ahead and use this tutorial again but I will modify it slightly for the fussy-cut fabric I am using. 


Anyways, back to winter stuff!  The yummy holiday fabric that I used was from a mini charm pack that I got at Fat Quarterly Retreat -- Moda 'Blitzen' by Basic Grey.  The squares only measures 2.5" each and there are 40 of them in each pack.  These are the perfect size for so many things (including some Great Granny Square blocks...wink wink).

I chose a few of the squares and paired them with some Essex Linen in putty and wah-la, a gorgeous notebook/journal cover!  I used a tutorial from a blog called Bloom [EDIT: correct link now attached! Sorry for that!].  The instructions were great until the spot where the lining fabric piece is added.  I would recommend placing the 9"x9" piece of fabric wrong side facing up over top of the journal cover with the pinned sides facing upwards.  You will only be sewing the top and bottom of the lining which means the other two sides of the 9" square stay unsewn and open, which is what allows you to turn it the right way out and have finished edges everywhere  :)    I ended up using my trusty ol' seam ripper TWICE to figure that bit out!  The picture wasn't clear to me what to do so I had to figure it out the hard way!  If I took the time off that it took to rip and re-sew, rip and re-sew again and I would have probably had this done in about and hour or so. 

My holiday and Christmas inspiration is currently coming from the Sew Festive Handmade "Christmas in July" event.  There are two other festive events going on as well (and more coming up!) so I hope to make a few more things before the end of the month (fingers crossed!) which will put me ahead of myself come October/November when I normally scramble to get things made and posted to Canada!  Question - when do you start your holiday sewing?  

And one last thing, please be sure to check out Week 8 of Plum & June's 'Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop' - here is a link to follow which also has a giveaway - yay! 

Linking to:

• Can I get a Whoop Whoop
• Little Quilt Monday
• Show off Friday
• TGIFF
• July Finishes
  
   

  

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