New year - "post-view"

I spend a lot of time visiting blogland.  A lot.  When I started my blog I had only been to a few soap making blogs.  Then I meandered around and started visiting papercraft  blogs which inspired me to get back into makings cards and the like.  Which I did, avidly, from about November until January of last year.  Here are a few examples of the paper-y things I made:

I did a huge about face in my crafting when I bought a new sewing / embroidery machine last winter.  My poor craft room has been abandoned and is now a dumping ground for things I just don't feel like dealing with and the guest bedroom has become - ta da! - the sewing room.  I have become obsessed with my new machine.  Which, I will just shout to the heavens, is a fine Brother Innov-is 2800D.  I love it.  I'm going to go kiss it. 

OK, I'm back. I should say that it is very intimidating to see all the women and men who have crafty blogs that are true artists.  I don't pretend to do that with my blog and I really don't think I'll keep up with posting - although it is a vague New Year's resolution to be more involved in the blogosphere on a personal level.  I am mainly doing this post so I can stop being ashamed for not posting anything in a year AND just in case my family and friends ask me what I've been up to I can direct them here.  In closing, here are a few pictures of what I've done with my new machine.  If some pictures look washed out and dinky, well, they are.  They were taken with my Blackberry that has no flash but I wanted to document the projects before I sent them off to the giftee.

The above is from the dish towel challenge my mother issued to me.  Three dishtowels using at least one of the same fabrics in each one.  I sort of wimped out and used the white in each.

The 3 pictures above show gift sets I made for family. The middle picture shows a tube-like thing that is actually a trash bag dispenser.  Very handy.  I made a few of these guys.

Here is another one that I made for myself.  The embroidery design is so cute in real life.  It is from Embroidery Library and is from the Bluebird of Happiness set.

 

  A sandwich bag I made for my fella.

And, finally, a couple of stockings to hang.  We don't have a hearth so the t.v. cabinet had to suffice.  Santa still got the picture though. 

So, there you have it.  I really want to TRY to post a little more and if the stars line up correctly I might even make a tutorial if I can come up with a good project.  Thanks for looking!