aaahh! not real monsters...

* no monsters were harmed in the making of these pillows :)
Following my last post, I am fairly certain my grandma never made any monster pillows.

I came up with these guys on my own - using the faux fur as inspiration. I can't figure out which one I like best - though the one with glasses bares a striking resemblance to my husband :)

I'm calling these guys book buddies [at least that's the name I have arrived at for now]. Great for old and young alike, the pocket in the back is the perfect stash for a newspaper, crafty inspiration book, or a favorite Little Golden Book. They are up for grabs in my etsy.

framed...

Continuing on with the parade of Christmas gifts, I made these for the moms - my mom and Derrick's mom. I have really gotten into anything with an adorable little face recently. Kawaii is a Japanese word that means cute - and those little smiles and big eyes certainly are cute! I love this line on the wikipedia page: "In some Asian and western cultures, the Japanese word for cute (kawaii) has joined a number of other Japanese words borrowed by overseas Japanophiles." The term 'Japanophiles' makes kawaii seem like some disease or jailable offense.

I bought some cotton tea towels by Paperchase at Borders that inspired this project. [These towels will never see a dish - I picked them up purely for the fabric :] I continue to stretch my top stitching muscles; I'm so glad that the sketchy look is in.

I have been getting my fill of paper piecing lately [still working on my New York beauty quilt]. This scene is collage of a couple different patterns found in the book Down In the Valley [a REALLY great source of paper pieced templates!] Derrick's mom's style is primitive, so I coffee stained it and baked it in the oven to give it a more distressed look.

I love how the red border gives it the look of being matted - completely coincidental, the finished piece was a little too small when it was completed.

Another little perfect-for-the-holidays project I made was this little headband. I am over the moon for all those little hair flowers that are popping up everywhere. This fascinator was easy enough - a purchased head band, some faux flowers, a feather, glitter, and a couple of buttons. I arranged and hot glued them onto an oval of wool felt. Great [simple!] accessory for a fancy dress party.