My daughter Kate left today, it was a wonderful holiday with her home and went by too quickly! Last year I made her a colorful quilt with her favorite quotes appliqued to the back. She brought it with her to put on the bed and wrap up in the recliner when we sat and chatted, laughed and snacked in the evenings.

Handmade gifts are the ones we cherish, gifts created with time, thoughtfulness and love. I know my darling daughter when we are apart is always kept warm and tucked in with her cozy quilt.

The holidays is a busy time for everyone, lots of parties and gatherings with red being the color of the season I decided to sew up a cape to wear! The last cape I made for myself was in high school I believe, fur was involved and not so sure it was the most flattering.

Along with the red cape, a red surprise awaited me under the tree! My darling daughter Kate gave me a new dressmaker form, I was totally surprised and touched by her most thoughtful and practical gift! She is also the one who when living at home was always my model for my designs. With the CHA tradeshow only a month away I will be using my new gift extensively!

Here is Kate modelling an outfit I made a few years ago, needle felted fleece cape and cuffs, I miss having her around all the time but when I use her special gift I will think of her!

I am very excited to launch a new blog on my site, ohsewpretty. Sewing design is my first love since the age of five beside my Mom with my little sewing machine using her scraps to make doll clothes.

I enjoy many creative pursuits, crafting, mixed media and working with a variety of products, my ceoblog will be devoted to all of those but here at ohsewpretty it will be about all things stitched and pretty! There are many delightful gorgeous blogs out there with the sweetest sewing projects, fabulous fashions and accessories. I will share some of my favorites along with all the sewing projects I am designing.

For the launch of my new blog I am pleased to be reviewing QuiltAlbum a program developed by a couple of avid quilters, Laura and Barbara to document all of their quilts. Although designed for quilters I am reviewing the program with it's ability to be adapted to other uses. I am using it to record my sewing projects. The program also allows for pages to be printed out to fit in a three ring binder and photos can also be made into cards ideal for the holidays. Tips to do this are found on their website.

I am guilty of not keeping complete records of my projects but with QuiltAlbum it is very easy to do so. I found the program very user friendly and it was also simple to adapt it to my needs. I popped in a photo of my apron I had done for the Flip-Pal DCC blog hop last week. I then entered my own categories, details about the materials and product used, fabrics, full instructions, dates, size, inspiration. Upon closing the program is fully backed up. I will continue adding all my projects to QuiltAlbum.

I do recommend this program for keeping complete record of any creative projects. For my followers QuiltAlbum is offering a discount coupon code!