Wow! It’s been a quiet few weeks around here! I’ve been grateful for the pause, when the girls are home from school it’s always busier. We are also in the middle of organizing and de-cluttering our home and doing a mini-renovation in the basement.

We are moving from the tiny upstairs 10×10 office/sewing area my husband and I share into a space almost twice as big by re-purposing the basement space we rarely use. But first, we need to move a closet, build a wall, add a door, move another door and paint – all while running our own businesses and being a family. So we should be finished sometime mid-summer?! Ha!

Today I get to start talking about the Christmas gifts I couldn’t share before the holidays. This year I had less time than usual and thankfully Pinterest came through with some quick and easy gifts – less involved than last year’s Cargo Duffles for sure! And I pinned some great gift ideas that I can use another time – Bonus!

Did you make any Christmas gifts this past year?

First up, my mom’s Liberty Clock. This idea came from Vicky Myers Creations and her super-cute DIY Embroidery Hoop Clock tutorial. Our clocks ended up looking very different, but the basic idea is the same. Here are a few things I did differently from Vicky’s tutorial.

• 1 1/2″ squares of Liberty fabric to mark the clock quarters instead of buttons. The edges are finished using an applique stitch on my Skyline S5. Clearly I need to try to end the stitches in the same place next time instead of overlapping them!

• Fusible Fleece instead of thick interfacing. I wanted a more “quilted look”, which would have worked out better had I actually quilted the main fabric!
• Liberal use of Fray Check! I used it on the centre hole for the clock mechanics and the thread ends of the applique

• Extra interfacing around the centre hole. Just to make sure it didn’t fray and the clock mechanics would have plenty of support so the fabric doesn’t droop. (I hope?!)

• Sticky non-sew Velcro to hold the clock mechanics upright.

• All excess fabric behind the hoop. To do this I ran a basting stitch with button thread around the outside of the circle and knotted it to pull in the fabric. (And added more Fray Check!)