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

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

Welcome, December : :

Each December, I spend my days busy making things to sell for holiday gift-giving. This year I started with new a Holiday Fox Pillow and Personalized Crown design!









I have a few pillows and crowns still available, if you're interested just leave a comment or email me at maureencracknell@hotmail.com. I'm also having an Etsy Sale (20% off with Coupon Code: Cyber20) and Crown Giveaway HERE, in case you missed it!

We've been slowly decorating the house for the holiday, with various handmade & kid-made garlands hanging from each entryway, placing the decor and traditions we've collected here and there throughout our house. It feels magical and extra special this year. My favorite thing is to listen to the kids, as they pull out each decoration from the boxes, sharing all that they remember about each little thing.







This is and will be a beautiful season full of celebration and the love all around us, of that I am certain!



Wishing you much joy and excitement as this season begins! ♡ Maureen

Holiday Fox Pillow Making : :

In between making Etsy crown orders, I've been busy working on new little fox pillow design with pretty holiday flower crowns to offer in a special sale!

I loved making these Flower Crown Fox pillows last Spring and thought a holiday batch would be something fun to try!



Doesn't she look sweet?



I didn't go too crazy with the holiday theme so these can be enjoyed all year, as a pillow cover or mini quilt!



I'm making a batch of ten in my most-loved color combination of felt choices -- dusty pink, minty aqua blues, teal, buttery yellow, mustard, smoky blue, dark berry, peach and coral!



For the pillow backs I'm using different Wild & Free fabric prints, and for the bindings, just leftover bits from all my quilt projects. I love how this first one turned out!



I'm hoping to finish up the others soon, using a different background color for each, and plan to have a pop-up sale right here or on Instagram soon! If you're interested in one, please feel free to let me know in advance either in the comments or via email. The special holiday sale price will be $38!



Happy sewing!  ♡ Maureen   

Twenty Crowns : :

At the end of last week I spent two days making the twenty crowns for my Summer Princess Crown Sale! A huge thanks to everyone who ordered! This crown is one of my most favorite designs ever and is made in my very favorite color palette. Still, making twenty of anything is a pretty big undertaking, especially during these busy Summer days when sewing time is hard to come by! Is anyone else having this problem?



I broke into my newly stashed Aurifil Aurifloss Set from the Fat Quarter Shop to add my hand-stitched flower details. This beautiful quality 6 strand floss is perfect for hand-embroidery and quilting. I'm so excited to have started a new collection!



Today I'll continue the crown making until I'm all caught up with my Etsy orders! For those of you who missed out on my crown sale this time, I'm hoping to plan another with a new design, for August sometime!



I'll be back soon with something quilty to share! ♡ Maureen

Luminous Field Flowers : :

Today on my table is fun project idea I have for my Quilt Market booth using my GO! Baby fabric cutter, an assortment of Accuquilt's amazing flower dies, and a collection of my wool felt in colors inspired by my Wild & Free Luminous Field print!




I love making felt flowers, and during these busy Quilt Market prep days where I'm behind my sewing machine for hours on end, it's so nice to disrupt the routine with a handcrafted project!



I hope to create several wildflower felt crowns & floral arrangements to have in my booth. For a little bit of picture taking fun & because of the obvious, no watering needed!! Love that! Since felt flowers do last forever, in addition to some of the Wild & Free quilts and pillows I've created, these will make one more perfect keepsake for me to have to remember this first fabric collection experience! 









Since I'm such a fan of my GO! Baby Fabric Cutter, my friends at Accuquilt asked me to share their current sweepstakes! Prizes include their brand new GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter and FIVE GO! Big dies!!

Enter by simply clicking on the image above and filling out the entry form, which includes just your name and email address, before midnight CST on Sunday October 5, 2014. There is no cost to register or enter. The winner will be drawn at random and announced on Monday October 13, 2014!

Good luck & happy sewing! ♥  Maureen

Project Pile Up : :

Last week I had so many projects going on at once, and to give you a good understanding of my situation, I thought I'd share a little project show and tell today! First I should remind you, I've never been one to have just one or two projects going, but after a couple weeks full of many things that kept me more running around in circles and caused much less time for sewing, things got a little busy!













My Diamond & Zigs Zag Minimalista quilt, a new making rows quilt in Rapture, new fox pillows finished with Chromatics Pointelle, pillows to match my flower crowns (more on that this week), last minute Valentine's decorating & crafting. And, that's not all!  Each day on average I have about four Birthday Crowns orders to fill, felt to cut and organize, several new quilt projects in progress awaiting pictures, surprise gifts to make, let's leave out all the computer work, it's endless! Good thing I love sewing so, so much!

So how about you, when it comes to sewing, are you able to stick to just one or two projects at a time, working start to finish? Or, like me, do you sometimes take on too much?

Crowns of Flowers : :

Making all of these hand-rolled and cut flowers is definitely my new favorite non-quilty thing to do! It was a pretty rough week last week, all three of my kiddos had the flu and I've been having a tough time with some health issues of my own. Making these was the perfect curl up under a quilt on the couch project to keep me still feeling productive! Aren't they so pretty?!







It's been a lot of fun, but my supplies have run out. I only have enough of the beautiful, recycled silk twine that I've been using as my tiebacks to make just two more. Any type of ribbon will work just as well, but I had professed from the beginning that once I ran out, I would be done with these for now!

If you would like to make some of your own, I'm a having a felt sale for 20% off with coupon code: FELT20OFF in my etsy shop! Many of you have asked for me to share a tutorial for the flowers I've been making, I wish I could but I just don't have the time right now. If you follow this link to Pinterest you can find so many already available!



Have a great day!  ♥  Maureen

Sewing with ♥ : :

This weekend was another busy one spent making mostly etsy orders during my sewing time, but we did find a little stint both on Saturday and Sunday for some handmade holiday sewing. Valentine's Day has always been a favorite in our house and here on my blog for crafting. My celery stamping project remains in my top ten most popular posts! But really we all just want a reason to keep the house looking festive after the Christmas tree comes down and these slow, cold winter days present lots of time for creating!

First, we made a few Valentine's Day versions of my crown of flowers. I have enough flowers made to offer a few for sale later in the week! If you happen to have a Valentine that you think might like one, feel free to put an order in!



I'm very happy to have decided on a final special use for what's left of these spools of recycled rope I purchased from Anthropologie a couple of years ago. I love how it finishes off these crowns!



There were a few fox pillow orders made as well! I especially like this one with the burgundy bow and Daisy Janie's Tilly Mumsy in Dusk for the backing!





On Sunday Haila and I had a sewing session date, this time she made a quick heart felt garland! My boys and I have made this garland before, first discovered on Betz's wonderful blog two years ago, oh my! You can find her tutorial here on Craftzine, it's so quick & fun! I knew it would make the perfect decor sewing project for a newbie to tackle!



We started with just one 9" x 12" piece of wool blend felt, a spool of red Aurifil, some red & white Divine Twine, and our cutting tools!



Two quick stitches later, a little measuring & cutting, and she had made a dozen hearts!



I love, LOVE this photo! We had some fun with black & white focal editing and I had to share it!



In just a matter of minutes, after carefully threading her hearts onto the twine, she had made her very first strand of garland! Yes!



Making this for yourself or with a little one eager to start sewing, will surely start you're February off right! We highly recommend it!

Happy sewing!  ♥ Maureen