Christmas Bazaar Crafting -- Patchwork Ornament

Last night's project for the Christmas Bazaar Crafting Group:  a "Quilted Christmas Ornament."

I love that this is a no-sew project!  It is tricky to get the hang of making these, and they are a bit time-consuming, but the results are so satisfying!  I hope we can make a handful to sell.  

Full tutorial can be found at Pot Holders and Panty Hose.

 

Reduce, reuse, regift, recycle

This Christmas I was inspired by Soulemama to save some trees and make reusable fabric gift bags.

It was such fun making them! At least the first few...  I did them with the suggested French seams until I realized that Santa would never get his gifts delivered on time at that rate, then switched to regular seams and pinking shears (next year, I'll start earlier...)  And I improvised a method of attaching the ribbon by folding it and stitching it down in a box that seemed a bit more natural to me for tying the gifts.  By 2am, after Midnight Mass, I had given in and was using last year's leftover paper gift bags -- cause that's still recycling, right?  And since K woke up at 3, I was glad I did. 

 Aside from the ecological benefits of wrapping packages this way, I now have the bonus of being able to give any gift in attractive packaging, without hunting for the Scotch tape.  What could be better?  Plus, I had the opportunity to make use of some of the gorgeous vintage fabrics that have been languishing in my stash waiting for a worthy project.  

Want to try one?  My favorite is the bag near the middle, the one with the orange, green and navy flowers.  It started out as an extremely worn, extremely dated vintage blouse that I had been holding on to with no idea what I was going to do with it.  Of course I could turn it into a bag!  If you don't have one of these in your closet (and I bet you do), it's easy to find them on half price day at the Goodwill. 

The easiest way is to turn the shirt inside out, cut the collar and sleeves off just below the underarms, and sew closed, but if you need to you could narrow the sides and sew them closed as well.  Either way, for my friends who are afraid of their sewing machines, it is just straight seams.  Leave the bottom hem intact (it is now the top of the bag) and sew a ribbon to the center.  Done.  You've spent less than 10 minutes sewing, which is 3 minutes more than you would have spent wrapping, but your friend will think you slaved all day.  And you saved a tree.  Go you.

The loving house

How did it take me so long to think of this? K's easel has been sitting in the great room being an eyesore for years now, and I've been afraid to slip it out the back door and down the highway to the Goodwill lest I incur her wrath, but now it is a thing of beauty and purpose.

What has changed? Well, that big remnant of white polyester felt that I bought against my better judgement some months ago has finally come into service. I clipped it to the top of the easel and voila! Flannel board! Way cooler than writing on a white board that's been stained with permanent marker, or a black board that's been marred with waxy crayons. K and I (well, mostly I) immediately began cutting shapes out of scrap felt to put up on the board.

The story on the flannel board at the moment is that there is a"loving house" -- because Valentine's Day is coming up, and anyway the scraps are pink and red -- that is guarded by two knights (they look like upended fish to me, but whatever.) I'm not certain what comes next, but that's part of the fun. I will try to find the time to cut out some "surprise" shapes for K when she's not looking today.

Isn't it amazing -- the beautiful dollhouse she got for Christmas, with the fancy expensive dolls and furniture and even tiny clay food, and she wants to play with felt scraps. I'm not saying this in an ironic or bitter way, I'm honestly fascinated at the way children gravitate toward the simplest toys. Even the day after Christmas, she was sailing in a cardboard box boat. Amazing.

A blessed Christmas

Infant holy, infant lowly,
For his bed a cattle stall;
Oxen lowing, little knowing
Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging Angels singing,
Nowells ringing, Tidings bringing
Christ the Babe is Lord of all.

Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping
Vigil till the morning new;
Saw the glory, heard the story,
Tidings of a gospel true.
Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow,
Praises voicing, greet the morrow,
Chist the Babe was born for you!

Tr. Edith M. Reed -- Polish Carol

Wrapping it up

Tonight I'm working on my last present, the second of a pair of simple scarves for my mother in her favorite colors. I think she'll like them. I spent the early evening wrapping gifts for K, and was pleased with the work I had done. I think she'll like her gifts, too.

For my dad, I ended up making an entirely new blanket in a festive and velvety red plaid flannel, which D liked enough to want to keep for himself! I told him I'd make us one after the holidays.


This morning I bought a book on home decor and some heavy-duty ticking-striped fabric on heavy-duty clearance sale. I'm looking forward to trying something fresh and new with my new-found free time.

Advent 4

Tonight we had a tree-trimming party with the in-laws and the out-laws. D's two sisters and brother-in-law were able to be here along with his parents and my mother and grandmother, so it was a full house. K was completely beside herself with excitement and has gone off the deep end; she's upstairs crying it off right now. We read the Advent 4 collect and sang the blessing as usual, but had pizza again instead of soup, and I think that not having a homemade meal really takes away from the prayerful feeling of the Advent dinners. I will try harder next year to be on the ball with the meal preparations.

Below are some gingerbread people K made this morning with the help of my parents. I think they're pretty awesome!

Buchanan Plaid

Last May on Burlington Day, I was walking through the quilt show with my family when I spied an unusual sight -- the orange-and-navy tartan that belongs to my father-in-law's family in some mysterious way only he can explain.

Now, the Buchanan plaid has grown on me over the 14 years I've known my husband, and I no longer find it repulsive. In fact, I think the blanket I made from the (wool and polyester blend?) fabric that I found there on Broad Street is downright handsome.

Granted, you can't see the awkward joining I did where the ends of the blanket binding meet. I'm still trying to think of a way to cover that up. But I took a practice-nap underneath it and it stood the test admirably. And it's a bona fide cat magnet to boot. I think my FIL will be pleased.

Overboard and more

I lost track of the number of morsbags I was making and it got out of hand. When I stopped to count yesterday, thinking I had done about 13, the tally came to a walloping 20! There is something to be said for producing in bulk, but there is a time to cease and desist.

The annual "mix" CD is called "Lullaby" this year and needs no explanation. I put it together in honor of the many little ones born to friends and family recently and am looking forward to sending it out. Unfortunately, production has come to a halt as my DVD drive is mysteriously stuck shut and my techie-guy is sound asleep and is likely to stay that way for several hours.

The unadorned cookie tins I ordered arrived yesterday and it turns out they are not cookie tins at all. I totally underestimated the size and wound up with small round canisters that will hold about the same volume as a box of animal crackers. I'm looking around on the web for ideas as to what K and I might fill them with after we decorate them -- spiced nuts, perhaps? I have a nice recipe for cream cheese mints, but they're not the sort of thing one puts in tins. Hard candy would work, but I don't know how to make that. I suppose I could buy some, but that sort of defeats the purpose of giving homemade.

Tins or no tins, it's time to get to work on cookies. Three kinds: Chocolate chip, because my dad specifically requested them; Gingerbread men, because K is dying to make them; and sugar cookie cutouts, because it isn't Christmas without them. Technically we should start on these today.

Also in the must-get-done category: make Josh's hooded towel/blanket; bind David's blanket; finish all of the journals; wrap and mail the presents that need to go out TODAY!!!; and whatever else I've forgotten. Where are the elves when I need them?

Working hard

Not much to report today. I don't want to give too many details about what I'm working on in case someone I'm making for is actually reading this. Pictures and more after Christmas, I guess. I'm feeling driven to produce because of deadlines and high personal expectations, which is leading to more stressful feelings than I'd like. I really need to stop and smell the lavender.

Chugging along

Continuing to produce at high volume, but with love. Finished all of the rice bags I am going to do, at least for now -- there are more than 20 small ones and a number of large ones, so I think I'm good to go. I saw some for sale at the fancy-crafts-store when K and I stopped after school yesterday, but I neglected to note the price, and I am curious. I may have to go back and check, and possibly pick up the child-sized broom with which K became enamored while we were browsing.

We were in the store to pick up some more wool roving, so we could felt some more rocks. What are felted rocks, you ask? They are rocks that have been covered with wool roving (that's the candy-floss fluffy stuff you see in the picture below) and agitated with soap solution ("felted") until they are literally covered in felt.
I found the idea for making them in my favorite sewing book and immediately had to try it -- they just looked like so much fun to hold and play with. And they're functional, too -- as both paperweights and pincushions. I'm not sure who I'll give them to, besides K (who thinks they're as cool as I do,) but they sure are fun to make.
K finished the first of her two picture frames, with a little support from Mama. I think it's awfully cute! I tried to get her to draw a holiday-themed picture to put inside, but she doesn't do art-on-demand so it'll have to be her school picture. We took this project from Christmas Crafting With Kids by Catherine Woram.
This morning I spent a delightfully short time making a truly adorable and amazingly simple and sturdy tote bag for K. More on this when I finish sewing in the lining.

Busy Busy Busy

Lots of work to do, starting new projects and continuing old ones:

• Rice bags -- started making some in longer lengths, bought 30 lbs of rice and lots more dried lavender; these will be a "staple" gift this year.
• Wool/cotton crocheted scarf
• Painted picture frames with K to hold her school pictures for the grandparents
• "Felted rocks" -- great fun. More on these later.

Gave a receiving blanket and matching hats to a friend who recently became a grandmother. I almost didn't, because they were not perfect, but she loved them and kept exclaiming on how soft and beautiful they were.

I think one of the benefits, to me, personally, of giving away what I make, is that it helps me to be less critical of my self and my abilities. People appreciate handmade and often don't see or even recognize the flaws that would keep me from giving the gifts in the first place.

A visit from Saint Nick

K woke up on December 6th at what she would, in another age, have referred to as "the cracker dawn," to discover her hot-pink Crocs full of caramel creams and peppermints outside her bedroom door, oh joy! Underneath the shoes were a gaily wrapped matching game and a new book, oh joy, oh joy! We read the book, ate the candy and fiddled with the game and were done before 6:30, while Daddy snored on.

I thought a little bit about how ironic it was that St. Nicholas had never visited me as a child even one time on his special day, while D had encountered him every year as a young boy on this particular feast day. Then I popped in the Schoolhouse Rock video and kicked back with my crocheting.



When the show was over, K and I headed to the kitchen to use up the last of the forlorn bananas. She's really becoming quite proficient at the muffin recipe; I think that she will do fine with some simple Christmas cookies, so I will start to plan for that. Yesterday I let her fill the muffin cups with the quarter-cup measure, which I had not done before. She performed admirably and may hereafter do this job independently.

We took the muffins with some orange juice and woke D up with our "good morning" song and a big smile. He took it like a man. I was impressed.

Last evening with D's help I finished the second and third wool scarves and put on the fringe -- they're ready for gifting. Two down, a zillion more to go.

Sick day

D stayed home today to take care of K while I slept off what I can only conclude was the tail-end of the flu. I'd been up all night coughing and doing other unpleasant things, and spent most of the day sleeping or staring into space.

I did manage to spend a few hours experimenting with doing some patchwork on the covers of some Moleskine cahier notebooks, ruining four of them and producing one "giftable" one, with another in the works. The idea for these came from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson and Anna Williams, which has been providing me with creative fodder for the last month or two. It's so satisfying to work with scrap fabric, both for it's "green" appeal and for the pleasure of rooting through the past and visiting old, beloved projects and the people I made them for.

In the middle of finishing up the first notebook, K came home from school and wanted something to do. Having had no responsibilities all day, I was feeling pretty benevolent, so I sat her down with a book of Christmas crafts and suggested she come up with some ideas.

"But I might need help!" she complained.

"But you might have some," I suggested.

She thought about this and started turning pages. She got pretty grandiose about it, and I had to gently redirect her to things we could reasonably do right now. We ended up making pomanders out of clementines and cloves -- which is exactly what I had intended for us to do when I handed her the book. She thoroughly enjoyed herself for about a quarter of a clementine, declaring that this could be our "Mom-and-kid" Christmas tradition. My heart swelled. Of course, about a minute later, she was done. I've saved out the materials so we can work on it again after school today though; I think as long as I'm sitting with her she'll enjoy fiddling with it for fifteen minutes or so.

Not bad for a so-called "day off."