Embellishing Purchased Gifts...

 On one of my shopping trips I was able to purchase some lovely velvet and satin scarves.  Then I decided that they could be embellished with just the right touch of trim.  So me and my scarves went shopping again and searched near and far for the perfect embellishments.  Oh dear the decisions.  Well, as you can see in this photo above I bought lots more lace and trims than I needed for just the scarves.  What can I say?  I love all of it.  I don't think one can ever have too much in their creative stash of possibilities.  You might feel the same if you love to make lots of different things.  How do you plead?

Not being the professional photographer my colors are a bit off.  These three photos are of the same scarf and it is lovely shades of purple.  The photo below shows the colors more accurately.  For this scarf I selected a braided trim which adds a wonderful touch of elegance.  I did bring my necessary pins, thread, needles, scissors and ruler, however I did not bring a thimble and my fingers are a mess from the needle and how thick the trim is to sew through.

I think I was pretty clever to de-stitch the side seams just enough to fit my ruler in so I could have a base to stitch against and not catch the opposite side in my stitching.  Also this allowed me to wrap the trim into the side seam and make it a much smoother finish.  

This velvet and satin is very slippery and not fun to work with.  However I am quite pleased with my end result and will be proud to add it to my gift cupboard...awaiting the recipient I kept in mind when selecting and stitching.  

Here is another work in progress.  This lace trim is actually a wonderfully soft chenille and feels fabulous.  It was much nicer to stitch and didn't require the use of my newest thimble I ran out and purchased after the pain of the purple trim stitching.
Even with my time and traveling being so helter-skelter I can feel good about finishing two projects to put away for this year's Christmas gifts.  Being productive feels so good.
I know some of you are working ahead on holiday gifts to avoid the stress of the busy hectic Christmas season.  I am happy to be included now in that plan ahead group.  If I just get at least one major gift done every month I would be able to enjoy the season and that would be a real blessing.
Are you working ahead on birthday or Christmas gifts?  I tend to do birthday gifts closer to the date instead of way ahead of time.  At least birthdays are spaced throughout the year.
Now I shall work on the next project...
We finally had rain and some snow.  It was only about 3 inches of snow overnight but it has lasted three days so far.  Winter might just get here after all.  Our weather is certainly cold enough for winter.
Note:  I am not one to do well with changes and have no technical skills when it comes to computers so I am  not certain what will happen when Windows Internet Explorer no longer supports Blogger as I read will be March 1st.  I have switched to Google Chrome for being able to create a post for my blog.  Today I was able to add a new "Follow Me" on my sidebar for Linky Followers and I invite you to follow me on Linky.  I have just followed a couple of my very favorite blogs with Linky as they suggested.  We shall see what all this will come to be.  In the meantime I certainly hope the fright of "Y2K" and the millenium is going to be as benign as this newest blog commotion should be.
May you be blissfully creative...