Crafty Christmas

Student teaching, while great in some ways, is not so great on the money front. As in, it doesn't pay anything.

As such, this Christmas is going to be a crafty Christmas! Luckily, I already had my brother and sister-in-law's presents bought (they're hard to make things for). And while my mom would be super happy to get something homemade, I really wanted to get her something specific. I'm not going to mention it here in case she reads, but it's great and she's going to love it.

L, my 1.5 year old nephew, loves cars. His third word, after Mama and Dada, was car. And so, I made him a Matchbox Roll from an old pair of jeans, a fat quarter of Patty Young's Flora & Fauna Dandelion in Lime, and some scraps. The road is black duck cloth from G's curtains, and yellow scraps are from my scrap bag. The tie is a sweatshirt hood string from an old sweatshirt that I don't wear anymore.

My step-sister K is extraordinarily hard to buy for. Her lifestyle is that if there's anything she wants, she'll just buy for herself. She loves entertaining and cooking; she's very modern, though, so most handmade items don't really fit her style. I've been thinking for a long time, and I decided that she'd really enjoy cloth napkins for when she entertains. I had a spare yard of Tula Pink's Hushabye Dragonfly in Aqua lying around, so I cut it into four squares that measured 18" x 18". The finished napkins are about 17" squared with the seam allowance, and it's quite time consuming doing it by hand, but I'm really quite happy with how they're turning out!


You can't really see the hems that well, but I swear they look good.

Spring Break, Update

1. Half done refurbishing that dress. I'm pretty happy with the first side. There's a lot of by hand work, but if Mom's Christmas Quilt has shown me anything, it's that I know how to hand-sew well.

2. I have one curtain done for step-dad's birthday present. I cannot start the other until I know if the measurements for the first are correct, so I'm waiting on him.

3. California Dreamin' quilt is all planned. I think I'm going to start the cutting as soon as I have a proper mat on which to cut them. And a new rotary blade.

4. I have bought all I need for the Buttercup bag. All I need is to print out the pattern, then I can get started with cutting, piecing and sewing.

5. I started a little book for L. More on that later.

L's Crayon Roll

I made this crayon roll for my nephew, L. He is 9 or 10 months old and definitely can't use it yet, but I couldn't resist! Sorry for the bad picture; dorm rooms aren't exactly famous for their excellent lighting. I used a tutorial from Skip to My Lou, but I modified it to make it smaller, and so each crayon could have a special colored slot.

I think I'm going to try to wait to give it to him for his birthday in May; we'll see if I can hold out.