Holiday Princess Flower Crowns : :

I took some time this week to design a pretty new Holiday Flower Crown to offer a limited amount of in one last special sale here and on Instagram this weekend! These colors are some of my very favorites -- sweet peachy pink, garnet, dusty rose, teal, blues and buttery yellows to name a few!



Slightly different than the made-to-order personalized themed crowns you can find year-round in my Etsy shop, I've created a limited amount of this style that can be customized with a full name or initial of your choosing!



All crowns ordered today will ship next Friday, December 15th. They are $26 a piece plus shipping. International friends are welcome to these crowns, as well, shipping price will be $10 for a first class international envelope. You can visit me on my Instagram, email me at maureencracknell@hotmail.com or order right here by leaving a comment with your Paypal email address to claim, along with the name or the initial you'd like added to the crown. These crowns are such a wonderful handmade, personalized/custom, special gift/stocking stuffer for the little princesses in your life!! They are very adjustable and fit ages newborn to 9/10 years old so they can be worn year after year for dress-up play and birthdays. If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment!



♥ Maureen

Little Town + Les Petits Stockings : :

When it came time to begin my holiday sewing I had to include my friend Amy Sinibaldi's beautiful winter themed collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Little Town, an adorable collection that captures so perfectly the joy and beauty of the season!



Isn't this such a sweet collection for holiday sewing?! Right when these fabrics arrived I envisioned using Little Town & Amy's Les Petits collection of blenders that she designed to coordinate effortlessly with her lines, to make a set of new stockings and I'm so glad that I made time to stitch a few up!



I couple of years ago I created my go-to stocking pattern by tracing an x-large stocking that I had purchased before I began sewing. The shape and generous size of this style of stocking is by far my favorite that I've seen. I don't mind one bit using the same pattern over and over again, year after year because the fun comes from the different patchwork that I use for each. For these Little Town stockings I used the new Friendship Braid qayg that I've been experimenting with lately. I really love how these turned out!



For each stocking I made one of my flower cluster ornaments using Amy's fabrics, wool blend felt, AGF linen, ric rac and handmade fabric twine. These extra embellishments take some time to make, but I love the way the look hanging from each stocking loop!





I ended up making four more of these Little Town + Les Petits stockings and this morning added them to my Etsy shop. I'm so glad I wasted no time to begin my holiday sewing this year, because now I have time to make lots more of these pretty stockings!



Now through December 5th I'm offering free shipping on all domestic orders in my Etsy shop with coupon code: FREESHIP! This includes these new holiday stockings, handmade pillows & quilts, 1yd scrap bundles, birthday crowns, etc.. I plan to add new items daily throughout the sale, I hope you'll stop by!

xo Maureen 

Handmade Buffalo Check : :

Happy December 1st! I'm having the most fun sewing at my new studio these days! You may have noticed that I've been keeping pretty busy stitching items to sell this holiday season. While I've been sewing I've spent so much time thinking about what I plan to offer at my new studio, once I'm able to open the doors to invite people in. Local shopping, lessons and sewing get-togethers are all at the top of my list, but lately I'm feeling most excited about this new opportunity to sell the things I make. I enjoy so much making and selling in my Etsy shop, as well as having the occasional Instagram or special sale right here. Now that my work space is so much larger, for the first time I'm able to offer large batches of each new item I stich up and it's really exciting! I'm hoping to continue this new assembly line sewing trend I'm in to completely stock my new studio with as many gift items as I can for once I'm ready to open. But for now, my focus is on sewing for this holiday and I'm in love with today's new item up for sale!



These Handmade Buffalo Check Zipper bags were completely inspired by the holiday stockings that I made last year this time, using Art Gallery Fabrics Solid Textured Denim in Scarlet Brick, a heavy weight cotton denim, paired with AGF Pure Elements Caviar and Aurora Red!



So much of our house becomes covered with red and black plaid during the winter months. From kitchen towels to bed sheets, it's the Cracknell's favorite print this time of year!

To make my own to turn into bags I cut 2" strips of both the denim and the solid cottons to make my patchwork and then I used qayg to quilt them to a layer of cotton batting. The combination of the heavy weight denim with the layer of batting on both sides, make these bags nice and sturdy. And for the lining I used my brand new Love Story Daring Tribal Noir print that goes perfectly!



These bags reverse to the same handmade buffalo plaid on both sides and they're each finished with a cherry red felted wool ball zipper pull!





I shared a peek of these in my Instagram stories last night and already sold a bunch, hooray! I have just eight remaining for $25 each. They measure 8" x 8" and have a bottom with boxed corners making them perfect for gift-giving and roomy enough for makeup, travel, art supplies, epp & knitting projects, etc... and I can see my boys and husband using these for their travel needs, as well!

If you're interest in placing an order you can leave your Paypal email in the comments or you can email me at maureencracknell@hotmail.com anytime!

So how about you, are you busy sewing anything to gift or sell this holiday season?

xo Maureen 

Denim Patchwork Stockings : :

Making holiday stockings are right up there with my favorite things to make! I LOVE patchwork and unique, dreamy, homey décor with a bohemian feel is without a doubt my style for decorating each room in our home, so why not make holiday stockings with the same feel for holiday decorating!



This week on my Instagram I shared a little peek of the denim patchwork I've spent the last couple of days making, and today I'm so excited to share this new handmade holiday item with all of you!









I started my own stocking assembly line using the pattern I created last year by tracing one of my favorite extra-large sized stockings purchased several years ago before I had learned to sew, to use as my template. I pulled out my collection of AGF Denim Studio solid smooth and printed denims, first I sewed together strips and then added my patchwork using my Quick Quilt As you Go method to create these double-sided stockings that can be hung whichever direction you choose!



Each stocking is lined with my navy & white Wild and Free Woven Path quilting cotton and the hanging loops are made with a thick & sturdy heavyweight AGF denim!



With each stocking comes a beautiful denim + fabric + felt flower cluster with handmade denim twine that I made, as well. I had so much fun making these and love how they turned out! Each is finished with a vintage ricrac loop so they can be easily removed to double as a pretty ornament, as well!









You can find these new quilted denim patchwork holiday stockings and my other handmade gift items in my Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/listing/492775063/quilted-denim-patchwork-stocking

I hope you love them as much as I do!!  XO Maureen

Love Story for Holiday : :

I promise that I'm not one to skip over Fall & Thanksgiving decorating and celebrating, but in an effort to get a jump on my holiday sewing, I dove right into my list just as soon as I flipped our calendar to November! I mentioned last week that when I unpacked my rolls of Love Story I realized right away just how perfect this collection will be to add to my holiday sewing. I've never been one to stick to using just the traditional red and green color scheme, always adding in lots of minty blue, aqua, teal, blue, black and metallics to the mix. Since I love patchwork and home décor with a bohemian feel is without a doubt my go-to style, I decided to test out Love Story for holiday on a set of extra large, scrappy quick quilt as you go stockings and I LOVE the results!



I spent both Friday and Saturday's studio sewing time strip piecing, cutting patchwork and quilt as you going my assembly line of Love Story stockings, snapping photos to share along the way. Creating at the new studio has been an adjustment, it all feels so new & different after being in the same home studio space for the past several years. But already the extra space has made making more a possibility and now my children join me with their own creating at the same big table once again, which is so nice!





While working on my stockings I think I fell in love with one Love Story print in particular, Soulmate Blooms. Inspired by my appreciation for flash art and ink drawn florals, this print amongst the mix of patchwork squares kept catching my eye! I love the way the leaves and flowers look to be growing right out of the seams no matter how it was cut and pieced, it's so pretty!



It's been dark and pouring rain here for days, so finished photos of my first little collection of Love Story stockings will have to wait a bit. Plus I think I'll add a floral embellishment to each just as I did to last year's stockings. (You can see those here!) I'm certainly biased, but I do believe that Love Story is adding some high-style to my handmade holiday plans!



Today I'm beginning a new quick quilt as you go quilt pattern that I came up with while making pillows for my Flower Child Booth! I'll be back soon to share these new blocks and finished stockings just as soon as this weather decides to cooperate. Happy Sewing!

xx Maureen

Handmade in Buffalo Plaid : :

For me, the most festive holiday fabric has to be the red and black Buffalo Check! I have loved this particular plaid since I was a young teenager working at a local shop that carried mostly Woolrich, the company who created and trademarked The Original Buffalo Check in the mid 1800's. Late last week I decided to make my own modern version of this print for a new holiday stocking to hang and I LOVE how it turned out!



Using a combination of AGF's heavyweight Scarlet Brick Texture Denim with Pure Element solids in Caviar and London Red I made just enough patchwork to finish this Quick Quilt As You Go Stocking!



For the lining I used a lighter weight AGF Denim in Wicked Sky, and my hanger is made out of felted red wool. I'm not sure I'd use the wool again and much prefer a denim loop for hanging, like I added to my previous stockings. I will absolutely be making several more of these, using the same fabrics as soon as they arrive, just with different embellishments.



This was my first attempt at using the very popular Buck Forest print for an ornament to adorn my stocking with. It's not without flaws but what a perfect pair!



This holiday I have enjoyed making all of these new handmade stockings the most of all!

How about you, have you been making handmade to decorate or to gift these past few weeks? I always love reading what you're up to!

♡ Maureen 

Reusable Gift Bags in Garden Dreamer : :

When I started making drawstring bags over the Summer, inspired by this tutorial by Svetlana of s.o.t.a.k. handmade, I decided right away they'd be my go-to bag for gift-giving. After all, it takes less time to make one than it does to run out to the store to purchase one. Plus, they just look so special and can be used again and again and again, I love that! So when Garden Dreamer arrived I decided to whip up a couple to both highlight a few prints in this new collection to share here on the blog, and to use for packaging up a couple of Haila's smaller gifts for her birthday next week! I like to quilt my bags, making use of all my batting scraps and so they're guaranteed to last for years to come.

First up is a combo of Garden Dreamer Bumble Beez and Twinklestar Berry to fill with new nail polishes, one of my girl's most favorite things!





These new nail polishes were included in my last month's PINCHme Box, a monthly subscription for receiving product samples to try out. It's a great way to discover new, amazing beauty products and these nail polish colors just happened to go perfectly with these Garden Dreamer prints!







The second bag is a little larger, made to fit a new pair of pretty earrings from Applepear Handcrafted Jewelry! Haila's going to love these Rain Stud Earrings and their pretty packaging inspired this selection of Garden Dreamer prints -- Flower Dance + Terra Firma Humid paired with a little AGF Linen & Denim!







I really fell in love with making these bags and the options are endless! I'm excited to grow a collection of them and I know they'll be lovely to give. I'll be back soon to share one more addition to the Garden Dreamer gift-bag stash!

♡ Maureen  

Custom Princess Crowns : :

These colors are some of my very favorites -- peachy pink, dusty rose, smoky blue, and buttery yellow to name a few! These sweet floral motifs were inspired by some of my favorite things -- pressed flowers from Summer, pocket journals, craft supplies, and my washi tape collection. Together they made one of my most popular crown designs and today I'm excited to take Pre-Sale orders for these crowns once again!





Slightly different than the made-to-order personalized crowns you can find year-round in my Etsy shop, each holiday season I love to create a limited amount of a new style that can be customized with an initial or a name of your choosing!





All crowns ordered today will ship by Saturday, December 10th. They are $25 a piece plus shipping. International friends are welcome to these crowns, as well, shipping price will be for a flat rate envelope so the package is track-able. Join me on my Instagram at noon EST today to order by leaving a comment with your Paypal email address to claim, along with the initial or full name you'd like added to the crown. The first twenty to do so will receive a pretty custom crown for their little princess!! If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment. If you don't have Instagram and would love to order a crown, leave me a comment including the initial or name and your paypal email right here!



♥ Maureen