Handmade Christmas 2010

Continuing the annual tradition, I made most of our Christmas gifts again this year and wanted to showcase them here.
First up, my baby boy. I decided to make a quilt for each of our kids for their first Christmas. I tried quilting my son's but it didn't turn out the way I would have liked, so I'm ripping out the quilting and starting over. Here is the top, though.
Our 2 1/2-year-old daughter is very into mommy-ing. We saw the doll bed that I posted about here, and had to make it for her. My husband and I made the bed, and I made a bedding to complete it for her.
For my nieces, one in college and one in high school, I made ruched scarves.

For my sister-in-law and her family, a "Table Talk" jar filled with dinner time conversation starters. For my 4 1/2-year-old nephew, a drawstring bag with a tic-tac-toe quilt and bean bags to use in place of the x's and o's.For my almost 2-year-old nephew, a bucket filled with magnetic fish and a fishing pole.For my oldest nephew (9-years-old), I made a magnetic bag and pencil/pen holder with a composition notebook and a fun daily writing prompt book inside.

For my 7-year-old nephew, we made a spy kit with all of the necessities for spying.There is a caution tape and twine dispenser:

A notebook for collecting clues and a secret envelope with papers to create secret spy codes:
A couple of bags with fingerprinting tools and evidence collecting necessities (tweezers, tape measure, etc.):

As always, it was a ton of fun to put everything together and to gather ideas for all of the kids. Each year I start earlier and earlier, and I'm already putting together some ideas for next Christmas. =)

One of my favorite projects ever!

One of my very best friends is preparing for the arrival of her second sweet son. I saw a similar quilt somewhere (can't find it now to give credit where credit is due!), and I knew it would be perfect for her. I immediately got to work, finished this quilt weeks ago, and couldn't wait to give it to her this morning at her shower. I love, love, love how this turned out! It was so much fun to make too!

What I'm up to

Loving this quilt for one of my favorite boys!

Stroller Accessories

The double stroller we just got for our expanding family is awesome. We love everything about it except for the price of accessories - through the roof! It doesn't have a 'parent tray' or a place to hang the diaper bag, so I set about solving that problem. I made an all-in-one diaper changing station that folds up easily to hang. I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and I'll definitely be making more of these. I'll promise to, at some point, make a pattern available here (for free, of course!).

Here it is folded. There's a pocket on the front for diapers.

And here it is open. The two white rectangles are pockets that velcro closed for wipes, diaper rash cream, hand sanitizer, etc.

Those pockets fold out to the side leaving plenty of room (25" x 16") to use as a changing pad. It's quilted with batting in the middle, so it's comfy too!And here it is hanging on the stroller.Here's the stroller satchel I made. It's got two large pockets (for wallet, keys, etc.) and one small outer pocket for my cell phone. Simple, yet practical.

Twin Quilt Top Finished!!

We're plugging away on my almost 2-year-old's big girl room making preparations in the nursery for all things blue. I've been hard at work making my very first bed-sized quilt. I LOVED this pattern. It's so easy. And I'm finally finished with the top. Next comes quilting and binding. Then it will be ready for my big girl to cuddle under. Such fun!

Diving In

I can't stand to throw things away that might become useful later. I try to keep this to a minimum because we live in a house with very little storage. But the one exception I've had is with fabric. I cannot get rid of it! It's my weakness. I keep everything, including old dresses and sweaters. And I use a lot of it. So a year or so ago I saw a spiderweb quilt on Sew, Mama, Sew and fell in love with it. It was way more advanced than I felt I could tackle, but it was a goal of mine. I had been saving fabric scraps for years and years, so I had tons of little crumbs that needed a purpose. I had lots of fabric samples from projects of old, extra fabric left over from quilts, etc. I had saved them in cardboard banker's boxes, and I had two that were overflowing. It's been a bit intimidating, but I decided to tackle them last night while we caught up on DVR'd shows. I brought the boxes in the family room, pulled everything out, and cut it all into strips (varying in width from probably around 1' to 3' wide). Then I sorted out all of the tiny pieces that were less than 2'x2' squares. I sorted all of the strips by color. This morning I dove in. I'm using a taupe cotton for the center, and I'm using every color and pattern in my stash for the circles. If you are contemplating a more advanced craft/recipe/sewing project than you're used to, won't you dive in with me?