Awesome Holiday Tutorials Feature!

With our fun Holiday Guest Tutorials it was too hard to resist asking Jenelle from Echinops and Aster to share about her holiday how-to series.  She's going to give you the short version on her awesome series so make sure to check out the whole thing for yourself!  Thanks so much Jenelle, we love your tutorials...I especially love that garland!

I am so excited to be joining in the fun today at Quilt Story and to have the chance to share my tutorials from the Holiday How-to Series with you! Thanks so much to Heather and Megan for inviting me over and for organizing their own great holiday series. With so many amazing ideas, I am quickly adding to my holiday sewing "must make" list.

I organized the Holiday How-to Series to be a month-long crafty celebration of the upcoming holiday season. During this November, I have been posting an original holiday-inspired tutorial each Friday that shares some of my favorite handmade ideas and techniques for the season. This week is the final week of the series and we'll be sending it off in style with a great gift-related tutorial (in case you'd rather skip the crowds this Black Friday). Plus, there will be an awesome giveaway from Sew Lux Fabrics! I hope you'll have the chance to swing by to check it out, but in the meantime, I thought I would share some pics and a little bit about the other tutorials in the series.

I always find that when I make holiday decorations and gifts, it helps me to get into more of a festive spirit as I look forward to getting together with family and friends to open gifts, feast, and have fun! Each week I have tried to bring a little of that spirit into the tutorials, focusing on different ways to deck the halls or make a truly unique gift. During week one, I introduced the Merry Mushroom Felt Ornament pattern. This easy to sew ornament has a lot of personality and is really fun to customize using simple embroidery. As I have been making my mushrooms this year to give as gifts, I have been thoroughly enjoying adding little flourishes and choosing specific colors for each of the people on my list.

During week two, I shared my tutorial to make the Embroidered Snowflake Table Runner. This is a really great project for anyone wanting to jump into quilting or embroidery for the first time or for those wanting to make a festive project that isn't a huge time commitment. I had so much choosing the fabrics for this project and really wanted to make mine more winter-themed so that I could continue to use it well past Christmas (although I am dying to see this made up using some of the great Christmas fabric that has come out this year!).

Finally, during week three, I introduced a project that would be amazing to make collaboratively with your favorite people this holiday season. The Homespun Holiday Garlands are designed to introduce some new craft skills into the mix (needle felting anyone?) while also making it possible for crafting pros and beginners alike to work together to make a beautiful finished product. This is also great scrap busting project that can be made using stray yarn and left-over strips of fabric, which means more money for your gift-giving or crafting budget, which we all like. :)

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing some of the projects I have been working on and posting tutorials for this November. Please feel free to stop by to check out the last tutorial in the Holiday How-to Series this Friday and to get all the details on each project shown here. Have a wonderful (and crafty) Holiday Season!