Mom's birthday card and gift

My mom just celebrated another birthday, but since she reads my blog, I had to wait to post about the card and gift I made for her (didn't want to spoil the surprise!) Mom is an awesome crafter and I'm so thankful that she taught my sisters and I to use our hands to serve others with our creative talents.

First, I stitched this card:

I first cut out a square out of this pretty fabric using pinking shears. I cut it out a little smaller than 3x3 to fit the card. I used a couple strands of the green embroidery floss and stitched "happy birthday." Finally, I used my sewing machine to stitch tiny zig-zags as a border using a light tan color thread.

I found this sewing craft project at Wal-mart. A yard included the pieces and instructions to make this turkey and a pumpkin (more on that later...). It is a design called Harvest by Patty Reed. I loved the way he turned out and so did Mom!;)

The project was more detailed than I thought, incorporating quilting techniques, which I've never done before. The look at the end is wonderful, but you quilters out there are very patient people--which I am not! Thankfully, I had my sewing machine that helped me sew on the fine details to his wings and back feathers.

With red thread, I hand stitched the details on his face. All in all, it was a wonderful project to make. Mom's birthday is so close to Thanksgiving and on certain years has landed right on the holiday. I knew she would like Mr. Turkey to dress up her Thanksgiving table.

Have you made a project for Thanksgiving this year? Please share and link up!