crafts I made for Christmas

For Christmas this year, I hand made a bunch of our Christmas gifts. I love making gifts! I was so excited about these I decided I needed to photograph them and share them with the masses (well, at least the four of you who still check out my blog, who by this time have probably already seen these projects in real life).

For my MIL and my mom I made pillows with the girls' names and hand prints. I loved the idea and dived right in ... and then it turned out to be a bit more work than I'd anticipated. However, I was thrilled with the end result. Since I'm writing this post 10 days before Christmas, I'm only hoping our moms like the pillows ... but I'm fairly confident they'll be happy.

Tracing these names with the sewing machine was a pain in the NECK. But I think they turned out well.

I made this bag for Caleb's SIL Christie. It's reversible! Christie loves cherries, too, so I feel like the fabric was PERFECT. I hope she thinks (thought) so too. I covered the button myself, and put one on each side, so she can use whichever side she wants and still close the top!

The pillow I made for my mom.

What I loved about these two pillows was I got a chance to try the applique stitch on my sewing machine. I have some fun ideas for some future projects.

Amy wanted a flower pillow in gray and yellow. I think she'll like it!

On all my projects this year I added these tags I had made several years ago.

On Julie's pillow I used fabric that looks like an old-time map of Paris. Julie loves France, so I thought this was perfect!

I'm hoping Rachel enjoys this new pillow for her new home ... wherever that might be next!

I love this leafy blue fabric! Outdoorsy, but in a non-outdoorsy color. I hope Rachel likes it.

my first quilts

Last summer, after all the baby gifts had come in, I found myself with eight coordinating flannel receiving blankets. One baby does not need all those little blankets, so I decided it was time to learn to quilt, and turn those eight adorable blankets into three adorable quilts. The only problem was ... I'd never made a quilt before. So I talked my mom into teaching me, which didn't take a lot of convincing. I've spent the last six months learning as I go along, and I've finally finished two quilts. I've given one to my new niece Rory and one to Josie. The third I will save to sell. The other quilt you'll see here is for my new nephew Dominic. And now, of course, I've completely caught the quilting bug! (Like I need a new hobby ...)

Receiving blankets cut into 9" squares.

I cut 9" squares, 4 1/2" squares and 3" squares to piece together.



Do you see how Josephine loves it already? I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with myself.

I backed it with this super-cute bird flannel I found at JoAnn's Fabrics. Rory's is backed with a super-cute pink flower flannel.

The future Vanna White.

Close-up of the backing.

Dominic's quilt top (I still need to actually quilt it, add the batting and the backing and the binding, which honestly isn't as hard as I thought it would be).

I love the fabrics for this quilt! And as Dominic grows he can learn about the animals from his own blanket.



When my mom, sister, Josie and I were at a quilt show several weeks ago, I bought a pattern to make a bag, which I'll use as a diaper bag, and these fabrics. I just LOVE these happy kids!

Now I just have to decide how to piece them together. More pictures when it's finished!