New Christmas Stockings

One of my really good friend's daughter got married a few weeks ago.  Years ago, when her kids were still little, I made her family some Christmas stockings.  As she added to her family, I added new stockings for each one. 

As her kids have gotten older and gotten married, I've made stockings as part of their wedding presents. 

Her oldest son's stockings are here.

So when I found out her oldest daughter was getting married, I started on the hunt for some new appliqued stocking patterns.  I'm surprised by the lack of patterns around that matched what I wanted.

I ended up making soft muslin stockings with a red velvet cuff with white pom pom's hanging from the cuff.  I've had the stockings made for weeks.  But I was literally paralyzed by the appliques.  I looked, and thought, and searched, and pondered.  I couldn't decide what to do.  I had lots of ideas but I wasn't in love with any of them.

Finally - I was out of time.  I had to do something.  I found these basic patterns and tweaked them to be similar to each other. 

I decided to do initials this time - which I've never done before.  But I was worried about crushing the velvet with the iron.  I actually quite like them this way.

On the Santa, I used a jingle bell for the tip of the hat, and some small red beads on the tree.

And for the angel, there are some tiny red seed beads on the crown. 

I think they turned out pretty darn cute. 

I have some other similar applique patterns by the same designer for future stocking needs.

I hope they love them!

Patchwork Christmas Stockings

I've had these patchwork christmas stockings on my "to do list" for quite a while now.  And since wedding days become hard deadlines, I finally got them finished.  

I saw these stockings over at During Quiet Time's blog a long time ago and have been collecting fabrics from the Blitzen line in anticipation of making some.  

I've made quite a few Christmas stockings through the years - many different patterns and some even created all by myself.  But I wanted something new and different for this set of newlyweds.  Our friend's son and his new wife needed something modern and not too cutesy.  

I added the names - because doesn't every stocking need a name on it?

I just love the Blitzen fabric - snowmen and lots of reds and greens.

 These were really easy to work up.  Love them - and I hope they do too.

Reusable Christmas Bags

Another craft that's been in the "to do pile" for at least a year ~ ~ ~ Done, Check!

So yes, I finished these the late afternoon of Christmas Eve, but that still counts.  I had seen these reusable Christmas Bags over on the Riley Blake blog a year ago and decided I needed one for each of my two boys for their Christmas pajamas.  Honestly, the bags were for me . . . but I did find a really fun Christmas scavenger hunt printable (wish I could remember the source now!).  I set up the super easy hunt with these bags hidden at the end and they loved figuring out all the clues and finding new pajamas at the end. 

The link for the tutorials (bag and fabric name tags) are HERE at the Simple Simon & Co blog.  Super easy sewing.  The hardest part is making the buttonholes for the tags - but my sewing machine makes those quick and easy too.  I used the same Alpine Wonderland fabric as in the tutorial.

The fabric name tags really make it, I think.

 I added a string of pom poms on each bag - because really, pom poms make everything cuter!

And away they go until next Christmas Eve. 

My Christmas Village

Many years ago, I had some energy . . . . and I spent a few long hours hand painting a ceramic Christmas village.  I hadn't put it up since before my boys were born.  And we finally decided to pull it out of the deep recesses of the garage this year and put it up.  We've loved having it on our mantle and I've loved seeing it all again.  It's an animal village with lots of extra animals and trees that I didn't include in the pictures. 

 

Here are the pieces:

#1 - Mr. Squirrel's Pine Tree Inn.  This one is an old pine log that they've made a house out of.

 #2 - Beaver Tree Farm.  This one is an old stump that the beavers chewed down.

 

#3 - the Barn.  This piece isn't actually part of the set, but it was the right size and pretty darn cute, so I included it anyway.

 

#4 - Mrs. Mouse's Bed and Breakfast.  I love this one - a B&B made out of a teapot.

 

#5 - Rabbit Seed Farm.  I also love this one with the water wheel.  The house is an old terracotta plant pot. 

I actually love them all!  I spent so much time on them and it's great to have them up.  The artist who created the molds put lots of wonderful details in to them.

Handmade Christmas Gifts

Now I can finally post some of the items I've been working on for Christmas gifts for this year.  There are always more things that I had hoped to get to, but I'm happy with these - and I hope my friends and family are as well.  I did have one giant handmade gift flop this year, but more to come on that one later (maybe - if I can still pull it out of the flop pile and re-work it).

First - yet another ric rack baby blanket.  This one was for my friend to give to her new grandson expected to arrive in a few weeks.  I just don't seem to tire of making these - they're easy and really adorable. 

This pack-n-play fabric doll (think paper dolls made out of fabric) set was made for another of my friends to give to her granddaughter.  I don't have any little girls in my life - but I was dying to make this.  So she is the lucky winner!  The fabric is from the Happy Ever After line by Riley Blake.  This pattern is included with the large pack-n-play set I hope to make 'en mass' this spring with my sister.  This really is such a cute line of fabric - hard to resist!
Here are all the pieces - dolls, clothes, hats, a crown, and of course, the "pack".

And the pieces all fit inside the little holder.

And it folds up all nice and neat.  Adorable.  Now - looking at this picture, I wish I would have sewn a cute pink button on the outside flap over the velcro stitching.  Oh well.

And this is an eyeglass lanyard for my mom.  I was looking at these trying to find one that I liked to order for her.  Then I slept on it, woke up the next morning and went "duh".  I can make one of these myself.  So there you have it - a long silver chain with a little embellishment and a metal circle at the end for the glasses to slide in.

Everything looks better with a few pearls and a silver bead added to it. 
Simple but just enough detail to "cute-i-fy" it!

And finally - a tote bag for a friend.  I had seen this pattern for a fat quarter tote bag from the Cottage Home and had wanted to make one.  Super easy and really fast to work up - which was good since I waited until the last second to whip it out. 

Here is the inside.  And really, can you ever have too many tote bags?  I say no!

Happy holidays.

My Favorite Crocheted Scarf and a Hat

Handmade gifts are often really the best to receive, especially for so many of us that have so much already. When we asked my brother what his wife might want this year, he said "we already have two of everything". But my sister-in-law did mention how much she enjoyed a handmade scarf and a hat that she had received a few years ago. I decided to pull out my most favorite crocheted scarf pattern - the Curly Q scarf from http://www.patonyarns.com/. I have made this pattern for myself and at least one other that I recall that was a gift. This scarf works up so quickly and it is definitely one of the scarfs that I get the most positive comments on.

I knew that I wanted to add a little hat to go with it - and I couldn't find the last (and probably only) pattern I had for a hat. So I went to Crochet Trend via Etsy and ended up buying a really cute - and super easy - pattern. I added a dark brown to the same oatmeal colored yarn I used for the scarf (you crochet two yarns at once for the hat) and whipped this hat out in less than an hour.
Love it! Hope she does too.

Catching Up and Getting Ahead

By some miracle, I made some time this week to finish up a cute little baby blanket that needs to be sent off. It goes with the "A" monogram taggie I made recently. The theme for this baby was monkeys. I had made this same blanket a year and a half or so ago for my husband's nephew's baby. They loved it and baby D carries it around with him all the time. It took me a long time to find the same fabric but I finally got it ordered and it has been sitting here, staring at me, waiting to be sewn together. So off it goes in the mail this week.

And by another miracle (or an unplanned trip to Hobby Lobby), I whipped up two of the cutest Christmas pillowcases for my boys this week. Yes, I am a little obsessed with these pillowcases. They absolutely love their Halloween pillowcases as well as their Thomas the train and Curious George pillowcases. Why not add Christmas ones? I had been looking for some cute fabric that would be "cute" to them, not just me. I found it as I was buying some frames at Hobby Lobby. These pillowcases stitch up so quickly. A huge thanks to Little Birdie Secrets for her custom pillowcase tutorial. These pillowcases are some of my favorite crafts of all time! Husband has now requested that I find Thanksgiving fabric for the boys, since they are already a little sad knowing that the Halloween pillowcases go away at the end of the month (I have to draw the line somewhere!).

Slowly But Surely . . .

"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley" - ha ha (my favorite Leslie Nielsen line).

My list of craft projects to work on this month are slowly getting accomplished. Unavoidable distractions (good and sad) have added to the slowness but it's all good.

Let's check two items off my list:

1. Christmas Countdown Blocks - my one and only sister came up and spent a week with us while husband was out of town and we enjoyed putting these blocks together from Makia Creations. I love the fact that they put instructional videos on YouTube for you to follow to make their crafts. We had a great time and they turned out really cute. Now that my big quilted handmade advent calendar has been taken over by my boys, this is one that I get to do all by myself.

2. Jewelry - sister and I were trying to whittle down our Christmas shopping list while she was in town and we decided to make a bracelet for someone. I used my imagination and put this beauty together. Sister decided that she liked it so much, we made a very similar one for her.

Of course I had to make myself something new while I had all the jewelry making stuff out. I picked up these pretty blue stone beads a few months ago and finally got them put together in a nice simple but chunky bracelet - love it!

I have a few time sensitive things to get out of the way this week and then I hope to get back to my craft list. I'm itching to get things done!!!!

My Halloween Night Secret

I have a little secret . . . . I'm not necessarily proud of it, but it's true all the same. There's no point in denying it any longer. Every Halloween night (or tonight in this year's case - since we're celebrating on Saturday), after we close down the front door to trick-or-treaters, I turn off all the lights, and sit down on the floor in front of my iTunes library . . . . and I play C H R I S T M A S music. Yes, it's true!!! I love Christmas music and it's all I can do to keep myself from playing it all year round. So my "line in the sand" is Halloween night. That is my FIRM rule - no Christmas music . . . until tonight.

And then, stand back - it's Christmas music 24/7 until around the day after Christmas.

There - I feel much better. It's never good to keep secrets!

Advent Calendars

How can you not love advent calendars? They're everywhere these days, but I think I have some of the cutest ones around.

This Happy Halloween countdown is a new addition for us this year - a great find from one of my local craft fairs. My boys have really enjoyed finding fun little Halloween treats in the pockets every day this month. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've moved things around and added fun new finds into this as the month has progressed. Christmas is, of course, the traditional advent calendar time of year. Nancy Halvorsen at ArttoHeart.com has designed patterns and fabrics for a couple of my most favorite Christmas Advents. As you might guess, I've made more than one or two of these over the years. This is her "Here Comes Santa" advent. It is surprisingly large and we L O V E it! The ornaments are adorable - obviously one ornament gets hung on the advent per day. She includes a matching pattern for a bag to hold the ornaments as well. This one hangs on my wall in December, but my sister and a few friends have been lucky enough (if I do say so myself) to be gifted with the same one through the years.

This advent is another one of Nancy's that I made for my mother and father. This is her "Glad Tidings" advent. If I could force myself to not obsess about a collection, I would definitely be a Nativity collector - I can't even start though because there just isn't enough room in my garage to store another collection. Nancy has also designed some pre-printed panels with pre-printed ornaments that you can buy and put together. These make for really quick gifts with very little sewing. The first one of hers that I found a few years ago is from her Santa Claus is Coming fabric line - my neighbor was gifted with this particular advent calendar a few years back.

I just noticed on the ArttoHeart.com website that Nancy has a new line out this year with another pre-printed advent panel with ornaments. It is called "Good Tidings of Great Joy" and the instructions are available for free on her website. Since I am a fabric "collector" I better run right out and grab a few of these panels to have on hand for future gifts.

Wait until you see all the matching Christmas Stockings Nancy has for all of these advents . . . . and yes, I've made a million of them. That's for a future post.