2011 Handmade gifts completed

As I wrote before, I didn't get around to making all of the Christmas gifts I had intended to.  However, I was able to make a few along with an ornament or two just in time to exchange gifts on the 25th.  

The very first gift I made was for Silvia.  I have mentioned her before.  She is my quilting sensai and my JoAnn's shopping buddy!  She likes to crochet as well so I decided to make her a Crochet Hook Roll.  I used my all time favorite fabric which was purchased at JoAnns.  Unfortunately, the name and make of the fabric is unknown since I suck at keeping notes on that stuff.  I promise to make an effort to keep track of those details for you from here on out.  Since she is my quilting mentor, I quilted the outside of the roll.

Isn't the bird and flowers fabric beautiful?  It makes me so happy every time I look at it.  The first time I used this fabric was in the quilt my friend and I made for our sons 2nd grade teacher.  Here is a pic of the quilt.

Imagine how happy I was to see that she has it hung in her classroom this year.  It truly is my favorite quilt to date.

Okay, so back to handmade Christmas gifts.  The next gifts I made were for 3 of my really close friends.  Each of them have certain phrases that they say all the time.  I don't think I have pictures of all 3 but here is a pic of the last one I did.

I know...kind of a weird phrase to have framed huh?  This is something my friend Elly says all the time but she is not the originator of the phrase.  The creator is actually my son.  When he was going through one of his horrible phases, he would get upset with me and say the strangest things like "you hate me - you want me dead".  It was tough to hear him say such a thing to me but when I shared it with Elly, she got such a kick out of it that now we all use the phrase when we are not getting the attention we expect from each other.  Oh and thankfully, my cookie did not make a habit of using the phrase!  :)  

Okay, so back to the gift.  I hand embroidered the saying onto a pretty blue fabric, using my fave fabric for the border.  I wish I had pictures of the other two.  I think they came out better.  I'm not sure exactly why, but I think it has something to do with the frame I used.  They were 5 x 7's instead of an 8 x 10 and I did more hand stitching on those so they weren't so simple.  The phrases used were 1) "It's not safe" and 2)"That's what I said".  I'm happy to report they were huge hits with the girls.  It was so much fun to see their reactions when they opened their presents.  :)  I'll upload pics if I can get them to take one or two for me.

Another gift I made was a stepping stone with mosaics for my father's garden.  Since it was my first mosaic project, my friend/mosaic teacher Wendy suggested keeping the design simple.  Even though I was thinking of putting a bicycle on the stone, who am I to question my teacher?  So I quickly changed the design to simple heart on the top left side of the stone and "DAD" on the lower, center part of the stone.  Boy am I glad that I listened to Wendy and kept the design simple because simple took 4 hours to do!  and that was with Wendy's help.  It probably would have taken twice as long without her.  In the end, it came out beautiful and my Daddy loved it!  Too bad, I didn't take pictures of this handmade gift either or you could have seen for yourself how cute it came out.  I SUCK - so sorry!  Next time I'm at my parents house for a visit, I'll snap a pic for proof that I did it.  :)  I was very proud of myself and really want to do another one.  Maybe even one a little more challenging.  If I don't procrastinate, and give myself plenty of time, I can totally do something really spectacular for my mom.  I'm totally not even close to as good as Wendy is at this (she made the coolest owl ever for her momma) but some things never change and your parents loving handmade gifts from their children is one of them.  My mom will appreciate the effort and the character in its flaws so who better to try a challenging project on?

Man, I can't believe I don't have many pictures to share with you.  

Okay, what else did I make?  Oh I made ornaments using antique spools of thread Wendy's mother gave me.  They came out cute for my first try.  I got the idea from the internet.  Again, I suck at details so I don't have the link handy, but will get it for  you as soon as I can.  

I apologize for the really bad photos.  Something else I plan to work on improving this new year.  The list is growing f.a.s.t!

The last gifts I completed were crocheted hats; two for my nephews and one for Wendy's son.  The ones for my nephews are Jack Skellington skull caps.  Also another present that was a big hit.  The boys unwrapped their hats and did not take them off the entire time they opened up their other gifts.  I was very, very happy especially since these were my very first crocheted hats!

Without ear flaps for my 6 year old nephew

With ear flaps for my 15 year old nephew

Wendy's teenage son is really into owls right now so I volunteered to make him one.  Again, another first timer but I didn't make her any promises that it would actually look like an owl.  :)

Okay, please ignore the pics of me modeling the hats.  I don't have a little mannequin head to display the hats on.  Believe me, as soon as I figure out a way to show them off without wearing them myself, I will do so.  :)  I'm a bit camera shy.  

The last gift didn't get finished sadly.  It's not even half way done yet.  It's for Jeanne and the one I wanted to finish the most.  Unfortunately, it was the project that required the most creativity and effort so it kept getting put aside.  Jeanne, I promise to finish it soon!  I won't let it be like your birthday present that is still in my car waiting to be delivered to the post office.  :(

So there is my run down of handmade Christmas gifts 2011.  My goal this year is to make 1 handmade gift for everyone on my list.  Its a big list so I need to start NOW but I'll put it aside for tomorrow since it is way past my bedtime.  :)

Night.

Maddy =)