The Sew Must Go On!

Santa's beard is getting fuller. My indication that time....it is a tickin'! What started out as a five o'clock shadow is rapidly being crowded by cotton balls. This is my signal to keep stitching! My handmade holiday agenda is high on sentiment, but perhaps a smidge of a stretch on the practicality scale. (Imagine.) We have school books spread out on one end of the kitchen table and my sewing machine set up on the other. We're going to finish math, grammar, AND a million Christmas gifts this year. I've always been one for ambitious goal setting!

Here's how we stand on this year's handmade holiday so far...

I completed this little snowman stitchery on a whim. I was in the quilt shop a few weeks ago and fell madly in love with this little iron frame. It will be fun to make seasonal blocks to display on it. I started off with this jolly little snowman, which was quick and fun to make. I embellished the block with beads, felt, and a pom pom, all of which I pulled out of the kids' art bucket. Unfortunately, I embellished before I assembled the quilt, so it was rather hard to get together. Lesson learned. Despite a little uneven stitching, I love how it looks on my dining room table, and it is a fun addition to my snowman theme in there. (Nothing like starting a gift agenda with a gift to moi!)

A few things were completed for the Little One's birthday as well. She asked and asked for a purple koala for her birthday this year. I found a koala pattern by Melly and Me and thought it would be perfect. While I was cutting it out, I was worried it was going to be too purple, so I decided to throw in a little green. A mistake, perhaps, as it looks like a purple egg with green flaps sticking out! (Another lesson learned.) I was tempted to take it apart and change the arms and legs out, but the line up of projects on my sewing table waiting for my attention convinced me to just "go green". That's what's cool right now, right? :-) Anyway, I finished this little guy up quickly as she chattered on and on about the purple koala.

When she opened it she took one look and said, "Look at this MOUSE! I love this mouse!"

No. It isn't a mouse. It doesn't have a tail. See the huge nose? It's a koala nose! It's a purple koala! Whatever. This face was enough to convince me that she was pretty pleased, no matter what it was! Ha! There is a companion pattern to make a girl koala, and maybe one day I'll get her put together. With purple feet.

The next gift she ended up getting early. She saw me working on these, and I even let her help me fill them one rainy day. She had a BALL playing in the beans, and the minute I finished them up she wanted to play with them. This toy has been a HUGE hit. They are out every single day. I'd like to make a little drawstring bag for her to keep them in. They were so much fun to make that I even have a second set tucked away in the closet waiting to give as a gift. I showed them to my friend Wendy and she ran with the idea. She made a set that turned out even cuter than mine!

Since reusable grocery bags are all the rage right now, I thought this next pattern would make a good stocking stuffer. These are a great size, and since they are completely washable, they are practical too. I ordered the pattern from Randi at I Have To Say and got great customer service!

I have a girl who is notebook crazy and she was my inspiration for these "Nifty Notes". Yet another lesson learned (I'm getting a little tired of learning so much!!)...I used heavy interfacing because I thought that would help them keep their shape better, but the project is so small that the heavy facing made them too bulky and difficult to construct. So, another batch is in future plans, and this time I will adjust my facing strategy to try to get them smoother and neater.

More grocery bags are cut out, and there's a big project in the works too!! Plenty to keep me busy, busy, busy, and I hope to make lots more progress before it's time to glue another ball on Santa's beard!!

Merry making!