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12.21.2010

Elving

Yesterday we finished all of our Christmas crafting.  (Technically, today at 2:30a for Dan!)  I tried to keep it simple this year because I did not have much time.  J's recovery was long and arduous.  I rarely left his side for 5 days straight.  I fed him popsicles, gave him sips of water, rubbed his feet, cuddled with him.  It was a luxury to be able to do that for him, made possible only because Dan took 3 days off of work + a weekend.  And it is awesome that Jude can breathe through his nose now!  His adenoids were blocking 90% of his nasal passages and were causing him to sleep restlessly, snore and mouth breathe.  That is all so much better already.  This was a last resort for us after trying a lot of other things, and we are so glad it's brought him so much relief already.  But we were left with about a week to get all of our handmade Christmas gifts done.  Thus keeping it simple.

Cloth Napkins -

I made these for the kids' lunch boxes, but I'm sure they'll get used for other meals, too.  They picked out the fabric several months ago.  I was going to finish them with a hem when my friend Heather inspired me to finished them with a rolled edge on the serger instead.  I made these using three needles, removable stitch finger removed, on 4-4-7.  That setting worked great and this was the easiest.gift.ever.  I wish I could make them for everyone I know.  Didn't have the time this year, though.


Crayon Rolls (no crayons added yet) -




These were easy and fun.  I used this tutorial. Indigo's been wanting something from the fish fabric for over a year and a half now, so I hope she likes it.  Jude requested the firetruck fabric.

For my girls -


I bought the shirts on sale and appliqued them with the matryoshkas left over from their hoodie dresses.  I also made one for my Goddaughter, baby Violet.  So easy.

Inspired by these Anthropologie dish towels, I appliqued two dish towels.



I bought the dish towels at a local grocery store.  See, I told you I was keeping it simple!

Using leftover fabric scraps from Amy Butler's lovely Love collection, Dan and I made these magnets.




I bought a bunch of button cover kits in various sizes.  I covered the buttons, then Dan cut off the button shank on the back of each button and epoxy glued a magnet to the back.

I had some of the aforementioned leftover fabric because I made this yoga bag carrier for my dear friend Mindy.


The bag has three pockets to hold water, keys, and the like.



And it's fully lined.

I used this free Amy Butler tutorial and it was a dream to sew.  The only part that got a little tricky was hemming the top of the bag because there were so many layers of fabric.  At the strap there were 12 layers + interfacing (!).  What I did (after several attempts) was increase my stitch length to 4 and at the strap, cut the fabric even with the rest of the hem and finish the strap only with a zigzag stitch versus trying to roll the hem and sew through 12 layers.  It laid nicer that way, too.  I hope she likes it!

I had been eying this napkin/placemat set for my sister.

photo from The Purl Bee (here)

I kept wrestling with how I could possibly make these for her before Christmas being they are all hand sewn.  Then I realized - They are all hand sewn!  She doesn't need a machine.  She could make them for herself.  So instead of making them for her, I put together a kit for her with all the materials needed (fabric, thread, needles, fabric marker, scissors, pins) along with the tutorial so she can make them for herself.  Is that crazy?  In my defense, she has talked about wanting to get into sewing for a long time.  And if she decides she doesn't want to bother with it, I'm going to tell her that I'll make them for her.  I love hand sewing.  

At Jude's school, the kids had a Secret Santa exchange and the only rule was that the gift had to be handmade with the child's help.  Dan and Jude made this bird house for his classmate.  


They made it from cedar.  Jude did some of the sanding and he did the cutting too.  He loved telling his classmates how he got to use Daddy's big saw (with one hand in his pocket and Dan's hand over his other hand). 

Dan made Indigo this dollhouse.



It's so sweet!  He did a great job.

Here are two of my angels.



I was trying to teach them how to make paper snowflakes, but they had their own ideas and decided to make angel wings instead.  They then asked me to pin them to their shirts.  They pretended to be angels for the rest of the afternoon.  Be still my heart!

Merry Christmas!


5 comments:

  1. Oh, so glad I caught this before retiring the bloggy waves for a week or so! :)

    I LOVE it all....do I always say that?? YES, yes, I do...but that doesn't make it any less true!!! :)

    I can't pick a favorite, but the cloth lunch napkins are so eco friendly and the doll house....oh my! AND the matching tees....yes, I could keep going!

    You guys did great! AND I adore the beautiful pic of your 3 angels!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    XOXO Merry Christmas!!

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  2. Oh Rachel, everything turned out beautifully! Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (((HUGS)))

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  3. I love the yoga bag! The fabrics you chose are so perfect.

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  4. LOVE that last picture of the 3 kids, you are blessed! And when are you going to open an Etsy shop?? You are SO unbelievably crafty! And so is Dan! :)

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  5. Ok - so it's been a loooong time since I caught up on your blog and I'm glad I finally did b/c it just made my day! Love seeing pics of the kids and your crafting...I wish I could be more creative!!! You should sell some of your creations - I need a yoga mat bag and I'm willing to pay ;-) hehe. Hope y'all are well and hope to see you more in 2011! Happy New Year!

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