As for me and my house . . .

I tried something new. Designing my own embroidery patterns to give as gifts for Christmas. 

I started in May and barely finished for Christmas. A couple of things factored into this. The first was I hadn't thought about how many times a family member was in the area where I sew! Always a pleasure, but I was constantly having to stow my work in a nearby drawer or two!

The base is muslin (Amazon link), and I used Canva's free membership for the basic patterns that would fit in an 8x10 frame.

The second thing that slowed me down was trying out new materials -- like a washable template that flaked all over the place. (no link for this one! It was such a mess!) At the start, I tried to salvage these, but ended up tossing them and starting all over. I was really glad that I got 10 yards of fabric! 

I ended up buying a light box (Amazon link) and pens (Amazon link) with ink that disappears with heat. One more thing that slowed me down was fonts. I tried to use a different font for each piece, but some fonts just aren't as good for stitching. The houses are quilted, and I found some nifty double-sided adhesive (Amazon link) that held the pieces nicely in place for quilting. 

Finding the right frames was also a bit of an issue. I tried several 8x10 frames but ended up with the ones you see in the pictures that were like embroidery hoops (Amazon link). 

As with all things on a first try, there were things that I wish were better. Smoother words. 

I was really happy with the final products (especially the fact that they were finished for Christmas!). Each house is different, and while not an exact match to anyone's house, they are recognizable.