Christmas Sewing

Update from the last post:  A few hours after I blogged about the pillow cases for Sandy Hook, the CT quilt shop sponsoring the drive announced that they had already exceeded their goal of 4000 pillowcases and are encouraging people to donate pillowcases to other worthy causes.  They are going to do the same with their extra pillowcases.  It's so promising that so many participated!

 

On another note, this post is about sewn Christmas gifts I couldn't blog about till now.  The main project I had to keep secret was this little mini quilt I made for my husband.  The pattern is called Lil' Fox and you can buy it here.  I decided to do this project for my husband after I had had so much fun making the little paper pieced matryoshka.  Oddly, I really had a hard time making the orange fox - I had to keep coming back to it over a period of three days.  For the yellow one, the stars aligned and my children took 1.5 hour naps at the same time one day and I got it done right then!  Go figure.  It was not easy to get this done without my husband seeing any part of it given that lately I get most of my sewing done when he's home and watching the kids!

 

The last two projects weren't super secret- they just got completed at the last minute.  I used some oddly but aptly titled "pale flesh" Kona for her skin and other things I had on hand.  The free pattern is "Black Apple Doll" and can be found here.  I gave it to my daughter.

 I also used a large cut of some cute owl fabric to make a pair of pj pants for my sister.  I added an extra detail by putting cuffs around the bottom hems. 

 I am pretty happy with all of the handmade gifts I was able to make this year.  Last year, I didn't even try because I was quite pregnant and downright exhausted.  Everything I made was well received and it gave me a lot of satisfaction to use things I already had to create custom gifts for friends and family.  I still ran out of time to make everything I wanted to - I was almost going to make more on Christmas Eve- but I quickly realized that would make that special family day somewhat unpleasant if I was so focused on sewing, sewing, sewing....  Instead, I made a quick trip to Target - it was well worth it. 

Gregory loves the rocket pillow!

 

 

Santa was good to me in the fabric/sewing department.  Here are some of my favorite Field Study prints that I am so happy to have:

 These are some random and fun prints that I directed my husband to during all those great Black Friday sales. 

 My mom was very generous in getting me several sewing books - I love these!

I hope everyone else has had enjoyable holidays! Thanks for reading!