Christmas Gifts I Made 2011

So I shared back in October that I was making a lot of Christmas presents this year. And I didn't get to share much else because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for those getting the gift. So, now that Christmas is over and the gifts have been given I wanted to show pics of them.

Here's the run down of what I made:
3 quilts
3 purses
skirt
baby leggings
6 heat packs


Quilts
I made one for my bff "Mrs. K". I picked out fabrics in colors I knew she liked and opted for a simple design to keep it modern and more her style. It was probably the easiest quilt I've made so far and I love how it turned out. But most importantly she loves it too! I've named it Grey Poupon.

Trey's quilt, the Dr. Suess Quilt was by far the hardest and most time consuming quilt I've ever done and I won't be repeating this design any time soon. I posted about the process here.

David's quilt I decided on in November. I'd been thinking about it but didn't want to commit till I knew I could complete it. I finished the other 2 first, then started on his. He wanted a quilt but when we looked at fabric locally we couldn't find any masculine fabric. So I found a fabric bundle that was perfect for him online. I kept his a simple design as well, I really like the more modern quilt designs so that's what I made and will continue to do. His is extra long so he can cover his toes and pull it up to his neck, which is something he likes in blankets. I'm very happy with it and he LOVES it! We are calling it the Guitar Quilt, for obvious reasons.

I already shared about the baby leggings so I won't go into that again.

I didn't take a pic of the skirt, which I made for a little girl. It was pretty straight forward though and didn't take too long.

After seeing some heat packs at a craft fair, we decided to make some for ourselves. They were so easy to make so I made a bunch as gifts. Just a rectangle of fabric and some feed wheat or feed corn. I used the corn for my FIL and my dad's bags. Then used the wheat for my MIL, mom, "Mrs. K", and David's. I liked the wheat better because it was softer, but I don't know how durable it is long term.

And I've made 2 for myself as well. One as a foot warmer for my bed, made with quilting cotton. The other as a regular heat pack (for my back or neck or such) made with flannel. And OH MY GOSH, (sorry not trying to yell, just empasize) if you ever make one use flannel! SO soft and warm.

All the heat packs I made using scraps of fabric I already had so these were very inexpensive gifts as I just had to buy the insides. But everyone seems to be loving them, and we use ours daily.

I forgot to take pics of 2 of the purses which went to my mother-in-law. I made one for my mom which is the one in the pic. The purses take a few hours each to make. My mom's was pretty simple, since that's more her style. Both moms expressed a desire to have a purse after I showed them the one I made a few months ago.

All in all I had a blast making so many handmade items for Christmas. I'm really glad I started working on them in October because I made my last item days before Christmas. And I had to take a sewing break for a few weeks to recover. But I loved it and I'm pretty sure most enjoyed their gifts.

Did you make anything to give as gifts? What did you make? I'd love to hear about it!

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Merry Christmas!

I know that Christmas is less than a week away but I'm going to take a small break. David is off work until the new year and we will be spending lots of time together as a family.

I wanted to share a few random tidbits about me and Christmas.

* David and I have only had a real tree once or twice since getting married. We were given a fake by my grandparents after getting married. Then a few years ago we purchased one with the lights attached and I gotta say it's hard to beat.

* We don't have a "theme" for our tree and never have. We always have random ornaments that we've collected over the years and I love it! Maybe someday we might if we have enough room to have 2 trees.

* We usually celebrate Christmas with David's side a week before Christmas due to his brother's work schedule. We actually really like doing it this way because we get to spread out the fun rather than having it all smooshed into 2 days.

*David and I don't like the traditional Christmas food fare. My side will do the traditional food, but when we celebrate with friends or his side it's always something non-traditional. This year it will be sandwiches with his side and street tacos with the friends and vodka pasta for us.

* We celebrate Christmas with our besties "the K's" every year. We take turns hosting the celebration and we girls get excited because we know that we get to use our china at least every other year!

* David and I actually like going to the mall on Christmas Eve. We are never there to shop (we're always done before then) but we love to go and watch people and just take in the Christmas spirit. We try to do it every year.

* When David and I were engaged he wanted to start a new tradition and picked going to a movie on Christmas Eve. We included my sisters and kept it up until Trey came along. We'd like to restart it again in the future when Trey is old enough to enjoy the movie.

* David and I exchange gifts and stockings with each other as well as with Trey. David loves doing stockings.

* We love Christmas music. Our favs are: anything by Bing Crosby, Oh Holy Night, I'll be Home for Christmas and the Chipmunks.

*Our favorite  Christmas movies are: White Christmas, Christmas Carol and a Christmas Story.

* We go to a Christmas Eve service every year. This year we'll be going to LifeChurch's service.

* This year we'll be celebrating just the 3 of us on Christmas Eve and my side on Christmas Day.

* Every year David and I open our gifts to each other Christmas morning (with Trey now of course). He usually fixes cinnamon rolls the day before and then we bake them when we wake up. We start a fire and turn on some music and then exchange gifts. This year we'll be fixing something different for breakfast, something with a lot less sugar!

* My side of the family is big on traditions, David's isn't at all. With my side we read the Night Before Christmas and then the Christmas story from the Bible before we exchange gifts.

 Thank you for taking time to read my words, it means a lot to me! I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's.

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Christmas Pillow Covers

Last year I saw some pillow covers on Etsy that I loved. But I didn't love the price especially since I thought I could make them myself. I never got around to it before Christmas last year, so it was on my list for this year.

Here's my version.

I have 2 throw pillows on my couch with removable covers and that's where I wanted my new covers.

I found some scrap fabric in the remnant pile at the store. I think it's a soft burlapy kind of fabric. I had enough to make 2 covers and whipped those up pretty quick. Then they sat on my desk for a long time.

I knew I wanted to use my cricut to make some stencils and then use fabric paint. I used some freezer paper to cut the stencil and then used my iron, without steam, to get it stick to the fabric temporarily. I'd never used the freezer paper as a stencil before but it worked really well. I guess since I ironed it down it kept paint from seeping under it.

I didn't have the exact color green I wanted so I just mixed 2 together to get what I wanted. After painting the words I just peeled the paper off easily.

All done!

Here's a couple of other views.

I really like how they turned out. I wanted them to add a little Christmas without being busy and they look great! And very inexpensive to make since I only bought the fabric and it was super cheap. Yeah!

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Christmas Decor '11

Ok, here's my Christmas decor for this year. I have to say I'm enjoying it much more this year. I've parred down and added simple items. I used a lot of pine cones and some Christmas tree branches cut from my sister's tree for most areas.

First our bedroom. The white is salt, used for making ice cream, in a glass bowl that was my grandmother's. I did buy a couple of packages of glass balls in the turquoise and teal. The bowl is sitting on a very old reprint of The Night Before Christmas and a copy of I Believe (it actually was a botched print as there are 3 copies of the story bound in one book).

Just a simple set up which brings a bit of Christmas to our room without making it cluttered and heavy. Glass balls, pine cones, tree branches and this lovely little sign.

This set up is in our master bathroom. I really love how this looks with some tree branches, a vase I found this summer at a garage sale, a canvas I painted last year and a clearance glass ball. So simple, light and natural. LOVE it!

This is in Trey's room. The house was given to me by my grandmother my first Christmas. It's suppose to plug in and be a sort of nightlight and a music box that winds in the back. It has pics of Santa and elves and reindeer on it. Over the years the cord has been damaged and so it won't light up but the music box part still works. One day I want to get the cord fixed. I had the pics of me receiving the Santa house framed years ago, so I always set them up together. And of course it seems fitting to put it in Trey's room.

We put our tree by the fireplace this year. Since we don't have any furniture right there usually I liked the idea of not moving something out. I like it there by the fireplace especially when we light a fire.

My glass nativity set on a china plate with greenery and my coffee table basket with left over glass balls in a bowl from my great aunt with greenery.

Our piano. The green frame is up all year long, I just found a Christmas printable on Pinterest and stuck it in there. The silver vase I bought last year and just stuck some fake branches in it along with some more greenery. The candlesticks were glass that I spray painted to look like mercury (I'll share about that some other time). I used some extra glass balls on a china plate under a small cake dome. The sign in the back is hard to see even in real life, it's a canvas I painted last year, it says Believe.

This is not a very clear/good pic but I still wanted to throw it in. The bottom shelf is another free printable from Pinterest, with my nativity snow globe. The next shelf just pine cones, glass and greenery. The picture is the original print of one of the pictures from David's book. The artist we hired was so kind in sending us all his original works for the book. I wanted to use some of them around the house since they are special to us and I love that they are black and white so they fit in easily.

The top shelf. I just stuck a bunch of greenery in the vase that's usually up there, a clearish Santa sign leaning on the books, a large Santa ornament and another book illustration. The next shelf is the stacking dolls my parents got while in Germany. It's sitting on a red plate with some antique glass ornaments from my grandmother.

And last but not least my mantle. It looks SO much better since last year! I was so excited to decorate it this year since I redid it in May I used an apothecary jar from last year and used some more salt in the bottom then added pine cones and 2 shades of green glass balls. A pine smelling candle with some greenery. The 3 glass jars are mason jars from my stash that have more salt with a votive on top. I got this idea from Pinterest as well and it looks great at night when they are lit with the glass and the mirror reflection. And it was cheap and simple. The joy canvas is one I painted last year as well and one of my favorites.

Overall I'm very pleased with how things have turned out. I've mostly achieved my goal of a simple, natural Christmas. I wanted to bring in Christmas without it being busy and cluttered. I wanted to have light fresh colors, greens, whites, turq/teal, silver and then the rustic browns of nature.

Love it!

I have one more thing that I want to put up, that's in the works, I'm hoping to be able to share before Christmas! I'll be sure and let you know!

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Christmas Table Scape

 In years past I'd decorate every surface with tons of "Christmasy" decor. It would be so overwhelming and cluttered and claustrophobic and I couldn't wait till Christmas was over to get my house back. Over the past couple of years I've been downsizing our Christmas decor, getting rid of stuff I didn't love. This year I'm really trying to decorate with natural items, soft colors and use my china and glassware.

So this is what I came up with for my dinning table. Trey and I have been picking pine cones around the neighborhood for a couple of months so I had tons to decorate with. I found the white platter at Target and the glass balls at Hobby Lobby on sale. Then I made a table runner with some burlap from Hancocks.

I love the way it looks and I love the way it fits in with the way the room is already decorated. And best of all it doesn't feel cluttered!
Ok here's a few other pics of it.

 
I'll show off more Christmas decor pics soon, as soon as I can get some decent pics.

I'd love to see your pics of your Christmas table. Share a link or post a pic.

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Have you Read this Book?!

For those that don't know, my hubby, David wrote a Christmas book a few years ago. It's a story about believing.

We have a blog called I Believe in Christmas that talks all about Christmas. You can find chapters of the book in the archives or you can order a paper copy. And we hope to have a free audio version available soon as well!

We'd love for you to go check out the blog all season long for fun facts, stories and Christmas spirit!
Merry Christmas!

Craft: Baby Leggins

I've seen these a few places and thought that they were so cute and functional. And I've wanted to make them for a while but I don't have a baby to put them on. So, I'm making them for my friend's baby for Christmas.

Here's how I made these:

I bought 4 pair of knee socks at Target 2/$5 but one pair was on clearance for $1.75.

Then I kept both socks together and cut the heel off the leg part.

Then I cut the heel off the foot part.

Then I cut the toes off the foot part. Giving me 2 pieces: the leg and the foot

Then you take the small piece, the cuff, and fold half inside itself. Sorry kind of hard to explain here's the pic. Make sure the part you want to show is on the inside.

Then feed the leg part through the hole of the cuff and line up the raw edges.

After all the pieces are lined up and you are happy with it start sewing. You can pin this if you want, I just sewed slowly so I could keep everything lined up the way I wanted it. I also used a zig-zag stitch.

Turn the cuff up and your done! The cuff part goes on the baby's upper thigh.

I think they are so adorable! Now go find a cute baby to put these on!

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Wedding Week

Friday night one of my sisters got married. And I think we all survived! I haven't been posting as much lately for 2 reasons and this is one of those reasons. I wasn't in the wedding party but I did have a lot to do as well.

Flowers left over from wedding

Last month I (with the help of my other 2 sisters) threw the bride a wedding shower. So of course there was lots of planning and creating. Then, it was time to get ready for the wedding. I was in charge of her hair and makeup, so I had to practice. And make some decorative items for the reception and help go shopping and help decorate.

So as you can see I've been a bit busy with all of that! She had an evening wedding so by the time all was done it was late and we were all exhausted! However Trey did great, he sat quietly through the ceremony and cooperated for the few pics he needed to be in. We were so proud of him.

The other reason I've been random lately is I've been furiously sewing away at Christmas presents! I started out a couple of months ago with all these ideas of things I could make for most on my Christmas buy list. Then when I started picking up most of my supplies I started getting overwhelmed. I was worried that I'd bitten off more than I could sew in time for Christmas.

So, I've been sewing like a crazy woman and completed 3 gifts so far (2 of them for one person). I still have 5 more things to make and I can't reveal what I've done as I don't want to ruin the surprise for them. I will be taking pics of completed items and sharing those the week after Christmas because I can't wait to share!

I can see the light at the end of the quilting tunnel as far as Trey's quilt goes. I'll share more on that in another post when it's done. But let's just say it's taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R! I should have it done this week sometime.

Because of all of this, I haven't really had a chance to do anything creative for myself. But I plan on working on that soon, but we'll see how the Christmas sew-a-thon is going. And I haven't read or done anything new in the health/natural front either.

I will try to be a bit more regular again, but if I'm not it's because I'm buried under fabric. I am having a lot of fun making all these gifts and can't wait to give them.

I hope you have a great weekend!

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I'm Planning a Homemade Christmas

Since getting my sewing machine last Christmas and spending the year sewing tons of stuff, reading lots of creative blogs, seeing tons of great tutorials and searching Pinterest I'm in the mood to create homemade gifts.

I want to share all of them with you but unfortunately or fortunately some of the people I'm making gifts for read this blog. So, I'll share what I can and show off the rest after Christmas.

I know I'm getting an early start but I'm a planner and I try to at least plan what I'm giving months in advance so I can be ready to buy/make when I can. And this year I need lots of time because I'm making quite a few items.

One that I can share is for Trey. I'm making him a quilt. The boy loves Dr. Seuss and when I found Dr. Seuss fabric I knew I had to get some to make him something. Last year he had some Cat in the Hat winter jammies that he still requests even though it was 110 degrees outside (wish I was exaggerating...) and he outgrew them.

I first thought about making him some new jammies with the fabric but he'd just out grow them again. I wanted him to have something with that fabric for a while. So a quilt it is!

I decided on a more relaxed design for his. I'm going to do 8 rows with 7 & 6 circles in each row. Meaning I'll be staggering the circles instead of all straight. At least that's my plan.

I bought 4 different Dr. Seuss fabrics and I then 3 fabrics from my stash that I wanted to use. So 7 different fabrics. I traced a plate onto a piece of cardboard to make my circle template and on all but 1 fabric I cut through 2 layers to speed up the cutting process. The green Dr. Seuss fabric I "fussy cut" to get the most out of it.

I have some yellow cotton as my background to the circles and a tealish flannel for the back. I'm not sure yet if I want to add something on the back with scraps of pattern fabric. And not exactly sure which fabric will be the binding. I'm playing this one by ear to see how I like it as I go. It's going to be bright and colorful and fun!

I'm going to be stitching each circle on the fabric at the same time I'm quilting. This will result in a rough edge circle which is something I want. I don't want this quilt to look perfect, it's for a little boy!

I'm very excited to get sewing on this quilt and of course the best part of giving it to him! He's already seen the fabrics and loves them, although he doesn't know what I'm doing or that it's for him. I'm going to have to save sewing time for nap time!

Are you making things for Christmas gifts? I'd love to hear!

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