Christmas Crafts

Here is the round-up of all the handmade presents.

First up are the very easy to make totes/reusable shopping bags.  I made it using this classic tote tutorial.  This was very easy, theres no lining or unfinished edges.  I ended up making 3 for the holidays and I bought a couple yards of fabric for me and can't wait to make mine!

 I know you've seen this picture before but this ended up being a placemat.  I made 8 of them and the main fabric is the blue flower fabric and I did 2 yellow accent stripes.

  A simple table runner I made for fellow quilter.  I used the zebra print fabric for the back as well and loved the way it came out.  It was a little hard to part with this!

 This is a lined bread bag that I made for Alexis (at Full of Knit).  She makes her own bread so I thought a pretty (and reusable) bread bag would be appreciated.  I plan to make a couple for myself but first I need to figure out an easier way because this turned out to be a major pain in the butt!  I think I may just make a basic drawstring bag instead, I just need to figure out how large to make the bag to fit the loaf.  When I figure out a better way I'll make a tutorial. 

 The last 2 are crowns I made Alexis' little girls.  I also sent tutus to go with them.  I made a matching purple one and then a blue one since I know that they already have an orange one to match the orange/red crown.

I also made a simple garter stitch scarf to match a hat I made a friend of mine a while ago.  I also was volunteered to make a memory quilt for my Mom's friends daughter.  I meant to take a picture of the finished quilt but I forgot.  It turned out very nice and they loved it!  That ended up taking up some of the time I was going to use to make some other projects but that's ok, there are always birthdays.

Currently in the works are a wet bag and a Nook cover.  Pictures to come as soon as they are finished!

HALLELUJAH!!!

It's a Christmas miracle!! 

You see I had this brilliant idea to make an advent calender on Black Friday! 

I wanted to make one last year but never got around to it, I then had the intention of making it after Christmas to be all set to go for this year.  YEAH RIGHT!  Well on Black Friday I was doing a bit of shopping and ended up at JoAnn Fabrics where they were having a crazy sale.  While there I picked up some felt and some Christmas fabric and decided to make an advent calendar.

I must have been out of my mind!  This left me just 4 days to complete this project in time to use it.  Add in the fact that I wanted to decorate and we decided it was a good time to clear out the crawl space meaning hours of sorting and re-organizing.  Well I didn't actually get started on this until Monday! 

I had always wondered why people would pay $8-10 just for the pattern.  I can now tell you why, it's a huge pain in the butt!  I spent a couple hours Sunday night making the tree and figuring out measurements.  How tall to make the rows, how far apart, how much space on each side, how wide to make each pocket....AAHHH!  Way more involved than I though it would be but then again I was only going to make a simple one without the tree...you see what happened.

Well it is finally 100% done, most of it was finished last night but I added a few more bells and some loops today.  I can say that I'm pleased with how it turned out and my son is now obsessed with "the calendar" so I guess this can be deemed a success.  Never again, though, will I have this "brilliant idea" 4 days before it is needed!!

Here is a close up of the pockets.  There are numbers on them but they blend in a lot and are hard to see.  At first I was quite bummed about it but now I don't mind it since it doesn't deter from the cute fabric I picked.  When your close they are obvious enough to see.

 The tree.

 And finally an action shot!  Sorry it's so dark but it was nighttime (obviously).

I'm A Happy Girl!

So lately I have been thinking about Christmas.  Mainly because I like to make stuff and do a semi-homemade Christmas.  This leads to me thinking of all these grand ideas, not starting until December and then being so flustered the week before Christmas that I don't enjoy any of it!

This year I am trying really hard for that to not be the case.  In fact I have already found gifts for my brother and my dad, major kudos to me since they are difficult to shop for.  My mom I have absolutely no idea of what to get or make or anything!  More pondering has to be done on that subject (Mom if your reading this and have any suggestions throw them my way please!).

My friends are typically the ones I make for, it's always fun making things and I can usually think of something.  Now trying not to repeat previous Christmas' stress induced crazy I have started browsing, finding patterns and gathering ideas.  I am slowly putting together a master list of people and presents and hope to start making them real soon!

This is where I become a happy girl.  I just placed an order with fabric.com for 2 of their 3 pound cotton assortment packages.  I wasn't intending to get 2 but when I saw free shipping over $35 I decided to get 2 (and some tulle to get me over $35) to take advantage of the free shipping since it would have been 7 bucks anyway.  I also found a coupon code so I only paid $29 and I can't wait to see what comes!!  It's a surprise and how many of those do you get in adult life?

Alexis over at Full of Knit enlightened me to these little 3 pound remnant gems and considering they say you get roughly 9 yards of fabric for $17 I would say that's a pretty good deal.  I think it'll be perfect for me since I am looking at making things like coasters, napkins and the like.  I can hardly contain my excitement for what I may find when I open that little brown box.  I want it to get here now!

Hopefully once this arrives I will be able to get crackin' on these gifts and be able to keep on track for my goal of not being all stressed out right before Christmas!  Wouldn't it be nice to actually enjoy the holiday?!