Christmas Cross-stitch Sampler

Someone in one of my FB cross-stitch groups posted about a free tiny Christmas stitch-along early in December, and I thought it sounded like fun.  It began with the Christmas tree in the center, and then each day added to that. The patterns were sent daily, and they were designed to take half an hour to an hour at most.  The idea was to help get you in the mood for Christmas.

I kept up for awhile, but then had to abandon the stitch-along in favor of finishing Christmas gifts.  The week after Christmas, I picked it back up and got back to work.  And I finished it only a week "late," so I'm pretty happy!  I've got an embroidery hoop to frame this - just in the midst of painting it red right now.

New blankets!

 As previously mentioned, my double-layer fleece blankets are popular, whether around this house or as gifts.  And sometimes both!  (As an aside, now that I look at previous posts, I see that I haven't made any new fleece blankets for my house since 3 years ago!  All of those are holding up very well and in heavy rotation, so that's a good thing.)

Thing 2 loves Angry Birds, so when I was walking through HF last month and spotted this fabric, I immediately thought of making him a blanket!  Of course, I'm also frugal, so I had to think on it for a few days and crunch the sale price before I went back to get it.  But in the end, it was under $7.50/yd, so who could pass that up?!?  This one is backed with a solid black (on a great sale at JAF - $2.99/yd) and then bound with the red fleece that I already had on hand, wound onto a "wheel."

And of course, if one gets a new blanket, the other will want a new one!  So I started looking for a good fleece print for Thing  1.  I really liked this Agent P fleece that I found, and I knew that he would, as well.  It is backed with a solid blue in the same shade as the background (also at that great JAF sale), and bound with black fleece that I already had prepared for binding.  I think it turned out great!

My boys were thrilled with their new blankets and immediately wanted to put them on their beds.  :)  And I have two more blankets that I want to make for general house use - the prints are both from long-time stash, though I did buy the backings at the big JAF sale.  Hopefully I'll be able to blog about them soon.

Another set of pillowcases

As previously shown, I love making pillowcases as gifts.  They're quick, easy, practical, and fun.  Even if someone's decor doesn't lend itself to fun spurts of color, a pillowcase reflecting their favorite colors or interests is usually welcome.

I found this winter print while searching my stash for something else.  It has snowmen talking about quilts, so it's more winter than just Christmas.  My grandmother used to quilt a lot - not sure if she still does - so I thought she'd enjoy this.  I have no idea how long I've had this or why I bought it, but it's got to be at least four or five years ago.  The green contrast was a cotton I purchased a few years ago with the intent to make it into a shirt for my husband, but he didn't like the feel, so there it sat.  And then I added red piping for interest - mainly because I had some on hand and didn't want to have to go out to get anything else for a contrast - and I got to use my new piping foot for the first time!  I like the way this turned out, and hopefully my grandma will love it.

Some stockings....

Remember my awesome tree skirt, 6 years in the making?  Well, each pre-quilted panel came with two pre-quilted stocking pieces.  And when you use 4 panels to make two tree skirts, you end up with enough for 4 stockings.  I've been ignoring these stocking pieces for years, because as gorgeous as I think the print is, I just didn't need them.  (I made us our own awesome stockings two years ago!)  However, I'm trying to be mindful of not wasting things, and sewing down my stash, etc.....so I decided that I would go ahead and make up these stockings, and then I could find recipients to fit them.  

I used my Three Kings cotton print as lining, just because I could. ;)  And I used different bias tape to trim the tops, so they can be easily distinguished.  The blue, skinnier bias tape is the commercial stuff I used on my aunt's tree skirt.  The navy is actually made from the Three Kings print - I had thought about using it on my tree skirt, but decided against it.  And the gold swirls is left over from my tree skirt.  My aunt is getting one of the gold swirls, even though it won't exactly match her tree skirt.  I just think it's super cool-looking.  I'm glad I finished these.

Christmas tree skirt - 6 years in the making!

So way back when we got married (cough - fifteen years ago - cough), I crocheted a tree skirt for us to use under our new tree.  In the spirit of marital harmony, I even let DH pick out which pattern he preferred from the book.  I don't think I have any pictures anywhere, but it was simple and pretty.  It was crocheted all in one piece, but it looked like squares joined together, with tree images made from front and back post stitches.  The skirt itself was ecru, and the trim was a beautiful hunter green.  As I recall, I found a matching plaid ribbon to run through the outer spaces and kind of tie it all together (no pun intended).  Anyway, it took a long time to crochet, but it turned out great, and we used it happily for years.  Then about eight years into it, we bought a new artificial tree (I'm allergic to real ones), and DH was thrilled to burn the old one.  Since then, we've been unable to find the tree skirt, and we suspect that it was packed in the box with the old tree.  (DH burned the tree in the box.)  :(

I bought prequilted tree skirt panels from Wal-Mart before Christmas in 2006 and made them into a tree skirt for my aunt's Christmas present that year.  And I liked the finished tree skirt so much that I bought the same prequilted panels for myself - but on clearance in January. :)  Well, every year I plan to work on my tree skirt, and every year I get bogged down in Christmas gifts and other things that jump ahead in priority.  So after years of a naked tree, I finally decided to work on the tree skirt immediately (or close enough) after Christmas.  And here it is!

I lined the tree skirt with a coordinating Three Kings print (also purchased on clearance from WM that year).  I knew it was unnecessary, but I wanted it to be really pretty, especially after all this time. And I went a step further and cut the lining in four quarter circles so that the print was always oriented correctly.  (My aunt's was lined with a simple white flannel sheet, but I've had six years to think about this.)

And I agonized over the binding fabric, too.  When I made my aunt's tree skirt, I used a purchased blue bias tape that went pretty well with the light blue in the tree skirt.  And I had enough of the same bias tape to make this one, but when I asked DH for his opinion, he wasn't thrilled with it.  SO I asked for opinions in my online sewing group, and I got some good advice, including some that I had no intention of taking (to find a gold that matched).  I made trips to both local chain fabric stores without any luck, so then I took the tree skirt to the fairly local quilt store.  I came up with three options, including this gold fabric with metallic swirls in it, and I took them all up to the cutting table and asked the women working there.  It was unanimous - the gold carried the day!  So I used my trusty bias tape makers to make bias tape from the gold fabric, and I have to admit that it turned out beautiful.

There are two pictures that are repeated around the tree skirt.  This is the Nativity scene, with the three kings worshipping the Christ child.

And this is the picture of the kings on their journey (which is very similar to the picture repeated in the print that lines the skirt).

I'm so very happy with how this turned out, and I am thrilled to finally have it done and ready for next Christmas.  Obviously it was time to make my own stuff a priority!  (Also, there's 7.5 yards of fabric in this thing, between 2 panels, the lining which had to be cut unidirectionally, and the bias tape - I needed that to be in my "out" column of my spreadsheet!)

Each panel also included a Christmas stocking, so I have four of those to make up.  I'm thinking about lining them with the Three Kings print and giving them out at Christmas....we'll see....

Christmas Stockings!

I enjoyed the stockings I made last year so much that I decided to make more!  Well, sort of. :)  My niece was born just before Christmas last year, and I knew that in all the rush of welcoming their daughter, my brother and sister-in-law hadn't gotten family stockings then.  So a couple of months ago, I checked with my brother regarding the current state of stockings.  He confirmed that they did not have any yet, and he also looked at the pictures of our family stockings and approved the snowmen.  So I made three new stockings from a lighter linen blend this time and used their favorite colors for the cuffs and accents.  (My niece obviously hasn't indicated a preference yet, but her nursery is purple.)  The pattern is again the StudioCherie Burlap Christmas Stocking (which is currently available for $2.50 - trust me, it's a steal!), and the appliques are from the snowman wall hanging in McCall's Quick Quilts (Dec/Jan 2012).  One of these days, I really will make myself the wall hanging!

The only thing I did differently this year was to make my own piping.  There are a myriad of tutorials out there, and I don't remember which particular one I used.  I tried using kitchen cotton yarn as the cording for the piping, and I don't recommend it.  Unfortunately, I didn't give myself enough time to correct that error and get something stiffer.  Don't make my mistake!  These came out looking more like flat piping, but fortunately, it still looks cute!  Next time I'll just cut loose with some change and buy cording....

I'm told that these are hanging by the mantel. :)  And I was especially pleased that they were in the mail by Dec. 1st.  Go, me!

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

We support Samaritan's Purse with the Operation Christmas Child shoebox drive every year, and this year was no exception.  Because Things 1 and 2 are 9 and 6, we chose to make one shoebox for a 5-9-year-old boy for each of them, and because I read that the older boys are underrepresented in the donated boxes, we also made two shoeboxes for 10-14-year-old boys.

I'm listing what we put into our shoeboxes, even though I don't have pictures of the finished boxes, because I want to have a record of ideas for next year.  Well, and also because I got a lot of good ideas from other blogs, and I want to return the favor for anyone looking for ideas!

5-9 year old: hygiene items (toothpaste, 2 toothbrushes, comb, bar of soap in a terrycloth pouch), clothing items (drawstring pants, socks, stretchy hat, stretchy gloves), toys (2 Hot Wheels cars, 25 marbles in a fleece drawstring pouch, small yoyo), school supplies (4 regular pencils in a fleece drawstring pouch, 1 dozen colored pencils, mini notepad, small sketchbook, eraser, 2 manual pencil sharpeners), and a flashlight with 3 sets of batteries.

10-14 year old: the same hygiene and clothing items, toys (25 marbles in a fleece drawstring pouch, small yoyo, small slinky), school supplies (4 regular pencils in a fleece drawstring pouch, 1 dozen colored pencils, small sketchbook, large notebook, eraser, 2 manual pencil sharpeners), and a flashlight with 3 sets of batteries.

The drawstring pants were all made using thrifted striped sheets.  I look for sheets in good condition - figure they've been washed repeatedly and held up well, and they're soft.  The smaller pairs are KS3042 size M - that should cover all the sizes in the 5-9 age range, with rolled up legs; and the larger pairs are B6887 size M.

We used the cardboard box from Samaritan's Purse for the 2 younger boys' boxes, but we bought Sterlite clear plastic shoeboxes for the older boys' boxes.  I saw a blog posting that suggested doing this, as then the boxes could also be used to carry water for the families afterward.  I'll be doing that again next year.  (I found the plastic boxes at Target for under $2 each.)  And another idea I saw, but didn't have time to implement, was to include a lightweight tote bag or drawstring back pack big enough to carry the shoebox, as many children have to walk a great distance to get their shoeboxes.  I'll try to get that done next year.  Bags made from broadcloth and lined in muslin are usually lightweight and easily compressed into a small space, but they are fairly sturdy.

This year we paid our shipping online and were able to get tracking labels.  I just heard from the organization - our boxes have been sent to Suriname!

Angry Bird Ornaments

I was looking online for Angry Bird ideas a few months ago, and one of the blogs I found has a lot of Angry Birds tutorials!  Obsessively Stitching has made everything from blanket appliques to plushies (I made one but forgot to take a picture before we gave it as a gift - but I'm going to make more, so you'll see them then.) to ornaments!  And these ornaments are billed as a Dollar Store Craft.  The ornaments can be found at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, a dollar.  The paints are cheap - I actually had to buy a small tube of black paint, because apparently despite all of our weird color combinations for painting ornaments, we've never used black.  You need one sheet of red felt and one of white, and some white pom-poms for the Santa hats.

And voila!

I have admittedly no artistic skill, but I think these are still recognizable.  And quite hilarious!  I bought a tube of plastic Christmas ornaments, and I think there were fifteen in it, so I have five sets in progress.  We're definitely sharing these with friends!

Going green....

I have a cousin who is expecting a baby in the next month or so, and I have another diaper clutch in progress for her (I cut both out at the same time - good thing it turned out so successfully!).  But I also know that she switched to cloth diapers when her older child was around 2 years, and she plans to cloth diaper this baby from the start.  Not sure if it's more a financial or environmental decisions, but either way, go her!  In any event, because I know she's committed to cloth diapering, I decided that cloth baby wipes would be a nice gift!

There are 90 or so in these stacks, mainly because I was having fun cutting up flannel that was in the "huh?  What was I thinking?" category, as well as flannel that was leftover from other things but I just wasn't sure what to do with the leftover pieces.  And also because it was strangely fun and addicting.  These are all 8x8, with slightly rounded corners to make serging easier.  They are double-layer flannel, because I didn't have a stash of terrycloth or anything else for the backing, and I decided that I wanted this to be stash-busting instead of a reason to go shopping.  The apple, diaper pins, and beach flannel on the right and the penguin in the middle were all leftover pieces.  The Sesame Street on the upper left was purchased for making crib sheets for the local pregnancy center years ago, but obviously I never got around to using that particular flannel.  And the fall leaves on the left and polka dots on the top are both flannel sheets from the thrift store.  They were purchased to become PJ pants, but that hadn't happened yet, so I sacrificed them for this.

Now it turns out I have another pregnant cousin who is thinking about cloth diapering, so I'll send her some of these.  Maybe 2 dozen.  But Cousin #1 gets the rest, because I know that she'll cloth diaper. ;)

And since I was on a roll, I also cut the fall sheet into cloth napkins for an early Christmas present for another friend.  I decided that the casual fabric should mean a casual finish, so these are also serged with slightly rounded corners.  I got ten napkins out of the queen sized sheet, plus a half dozen or so cloth wipes.  Not bad!  Hooray for stash-busting!

Stockings!

It's time to be decorating for Christmas - some would say past time! - and I had the sudden realization that we'll be at our own home this Christmas, and that stockings should be hung over the fireplace. And then I remembered that my boys do not have their own Christmas stockings! Fortunately, I had requested the Burlap Christmas Stocking pattern from StudioCherie as my prize for entering the ThinkPink contest at PatternReview. So I got to work on new stockings for the entire family!

The pattern, as you may have guessed, calls for the front to be made from burlap. The "cuff" on the front, as well as the entire back, is made from the fashion fabric, and the lining is from a broadcloth to match the burlap. I want to be able to wash these through the years (we live with a cat and a dog), so I chose a linen blend instead of the burlap. And I ended up with a tan muslin instead of broadcloth, just because it coordinated better and was on sale. And I love the results!

The pattern describes how to do appliques on the stocking fronts, though it doesn't contain any applique patterns. The ornaments on the stocking on the far right are from the fabric used for the cuff and back. The two snowmen are from a wall hanging pattern in McCalls Quick Quilts (Dec/Jan 2012). And the penguin on the left was adapted from the fashion fabric - I scanned the fabric in, cropped out the penguin, and then blew up the image large enough for my purposes. My boys are going to be very excited when they see these!

Mostly final Christmas presents....

Yep, definitely the year of the pillowcases!
Top left: singleton for my good friend (the nurse) - only a singleton because she has another gift, shown at the end of the post. I had enough of the music notes left for one pillowcase and one corn bag cover. I paired this with a mottled red flannel that came from my very first Black Friday at JAF.

Top right: Another Black Friday purchase from a few years back - my son loves penguins, so I finally used some to make him one. (It went over very well!)

Bottom left: A Black Friday purchase from this year, also paired with the mottled red (I have a lot of it left). I made two of these - one for Thing 2, and one for a nephew.

Bottom right: A Black Friday purchase this year, again paired with mottled red. This is a set of two, for my friend from vet school. I have enough of the paw print left for matching PJ pants, though she will have to wait until next year....


Both Black Friday purchases this year, paired with stashed white flannel. The snowflake pattern is a set of two, for my aunt. There's enough left for PJ pants - I just ran out of time. Next year....The hearts/stars is a singleton, because the print is directional, and I would not have enough for matching PJ pants (birthday gift) otherwise.

And I know that I said this was the year of the pillowcases, but not everyone needs pillowcases. Besides, this has been nearly done for ages. All I had to do was finally find the right ribbing for the cuffs. Fortunately, I got this done and mailed out before the movers came and packed it!

I still have a few gifts to go, but time ran out, and hey! We were moving! Cut me some slack! I have two more kid PJ pants and two adult PJ pants and we'll be officially done with Christmas. Oh, wait - and a "housecoat" for a greyhound - which is combo birthday present/"Thanks for dogsitting for me" present. There will be pictures forthcoming....

Now I just have to find where my pattern weights got packed, along with the PJ flannels....

The Christmas of the Pillowcase

We are moving the week of Christmas, so as you can imagine, things have been a little crazy here. Partly due to that, I decided to keep the gifts simple this year. Fun yet practical. This is the first installment of Christmas pillowcases! (Well, really the second....the first ones were here.)
This is all flannel from JAF on Black Friday. There is a matching pillowcase for the penguins in the front, and there are two more of the music notes with white trim. It pretty much became that adults are getting a matching set of pillowcases, and kids are getting single cases. Pillowcases are also a great way to wrap awkward gifts! (Or just any gift, especially if you are semi-wrapping-impaired....) The white and red tie-dye flannels are from my stash from my very first Black Friday flannel haul, and the black was in my stash from a recent purchase....or maybe last year's Black Friday? I can't remember.

Anyway, there are at least 3 more sets of pillowcases and at least five more single pillowcases to make. I'm cutting most of those tonight, although it is not crucial that they be done before Christmas. I tend to mail things a bit late....oops!

I am also making more corn bags and flannel covers. I'll have to finally put up some pictures when I finish these. The bags are long rectangles made of muslin, with serged edges, filled with dried feed corn. The flannel covers are simply long envelope style covers. You heat them up in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, then enjoy warmth on your feet/shoulders/whatever. I also made a few square ones with separate channels to fill with corn, which may be more useful for trying to do heat therapy on specific body parts, like knees. Not sure how those will compare....

Halloween costumes and more!

Things 1&2 gave me no help on Halloween planning until literally a week before Halloween. Argh! And then, they totally wouldn't fall in with my "Thing 1/Thing 2" costume idea. Bummer! Instead, Thing 1 wanted to be a penguin....again....but this year he definitely needed a new size. And Thing 2 decided he would be Batman. Obviously, I already had the penguin costume (S3639). I checked my records, and since I had made size child XS the last time, I decided to make size M this time. But since the hood runs small (or my child's head runs big), I made that a size L. Since I've made the costume before, there were really no surprises here. Although, looking at the picture, I'm not sure that he'll be able to wear this again next year, should he still be in love with penguins....

For Thing 2, I found S3595. He is 4, but the size 3 seemed to run big enough (except that the shirt was quite tight - maybe his potbelly is bigger than I thought, or maybe the fleece wasn't stretchy enough). I made a few changes - I didn't like the applique on it, so I substituted the Batman applique from Make Them Yourself's Reversible Cape. Much better! I also changed the mask to be a full face mask - it made it easier for me to get the effect my DH liked. For the cape, I added two small tabs with heavy duty magnets to fasten the cape, but it didn't work too well. I think the cape was just too long and heavy for the magnets, despite being such a thin interlock. I'll change it out for snaps later.

I also used scraps from a previous blanket to make a cat mat. This is simply two layers of fleece with two layers of batting sandwiched between, then bound with black fleece. We'll see if this is as popular with the kitties as simply curling up on the blankets tends to be!

And in the spirit of getting stuff out of the sewing room and making room on the shelves to get all my fabric off the floor, I made another fleece blanket as a Christmas present. I found this Bugs Bunny fleece on a clearance table and thought it'd be perfect for a friend whose husband loves Looney Tunes. (The backing is black, just like the binding.) Since the fleece is bulky, I took the time to make the blanket now. It's long enough to cover a twin bed with a few inches to spare, and it's the full width of the fleece. Great for snuggling under! Now it's in the gift closet, waiting for a trip in that direction.

Next up: November birthday presents....

What's coming up next

I haven't really been sewing in the last couple of days. My son went back to school after over a week of being in the hospital and at home due to pneumonia, so I went back to work. And now I'm starting to come down with something. It never rains but it pours! However, what's hanging out by my sewing machine is a stack of cloth napkins that just needs the final edgestitching. I have a friend who decided that for environmental and financial reasons, she wanted to try to get her family using cloth napkins. I cut a bunch out of a flannel sheet set last winter but never finished them. So during my time at home, I worked on them. Now the stack just needs to be edgestitched, and they'll be done!

I've also been prewashing fabric and cutting patterns! There are several birthdays coming up this fall, as well as of course Christmas! My siblings are getting PJ pants, and I've had the flannel for months or more. So I cut three pairs of PJ pants. And I've had flannel for more PJ pants for me for months, as well, so I prewashed that and hope to cut them out this weekend. I also prewashed flannel for three pairs of little boy PJ pants - those are going to be gifts for the sons of two friends. And two of those fabrics are long-time stash. :)

A woman at church just had a baby girl, and my cousin is expecting a baby girl this winter. So I pulled out some cute, girly flannel that's been in the stash forever ($1/yd at WM - I got it for crib sheets for the crisis pregnancy center but never got around to making them) and cut enough for 2 double-layer flannel blankets. I will bind these in complementary fleece. And my older son needs some more blankets that are relatively light but a little longer. I had found a pirate flannel on clearance at JAF this summer and paired it with a tie-dyed red flannel from my stash (Black Friday deals!). Unfortunately, I didn't have red fleece to bind it, so that one is waiting until I get to the fabric store. ;)

I think that about sums up my current sewing queue.

Some UFOs finally done!

Thing 1 loves sharks. He has been obsessed for the last two years - ever since we watched an old (we're talking 20 years or so) National Geographic special on sharks. So when I saw this fabric at JAF last summer, I thought it would be perfect for him for some pants and shorts. I bought it in June and cut the pieces out in October, I think. (It may have been even earlier!) Well, this past weekend, I finally sewed them up. How embarrassing! But Thing 1 is thrilled and has worn the pants twice now - which also means that they need to be washed. :) I did not insert the waist elastic into the shorts. I'm waiting on those until we hit late spring/summer, and I can evaluate 1). whether they'll still fit Thing 1 and 2). what length elastic he'll need. In the meantime, I'm still counting them both as done!

I also painted more Christmas ornaments, but they aren't dry yet, so no pictures. Thing 1 got very excited when he saw me get the paints out - he left his toys and ran right over to "help." :) I do think that, despite the unique color combinations, people like them even better when I tell them that Thing 1 did them with me.

Also working on another UFO - this one from August - an Amy Butler swing bag. I hope to post a picture by this weekend. I serge-finished all the pieces except the straps - figured that might be too bulky. Now I need to start putting the lining and outer pieces together. I don't think it'll take too long once I get to it, but I keep getting emergency calls.

My newest gift idea....

Okay, so it's not really a new idea. It's not even new to me! It is, however, my current addiction. I have enjoyed making bibs from washcloths and crocheting edgings on them, but I ran out of prepared ones to edge and I haven't cut new ones yet. Instead, I found some baby socks that I bought last year specifically for adding lace edgings. Instant gratification! I was watching some TV this weekend and edged two pairs of baby socks in about an hour.

Well, of course it can't stop there! I finished all the baby socks I had, so I bought a 10-pack at the store this weekend. This is the 0-6 month size, and I'm planning to get the 6-18 month size next. I just have to finish this size so that I can keep them separate.

I've also done these in "big girl" sizes before. I made a set for a friend's daughter when she was probably 8 or 10. Those socks are still around (she's now 15), and her younger sisters (8-10) are working on wearing them out. So I bought a 10-pack of "big girl" socks as well, and I'm going to make these as their Christmas presents. After conferring with my friend, I've decided to make each one a set of three pairs, but each set will be identical - to head off any problems of all three girls wanting to wear the same pair that day. The larger sock in the picture is the first of these sets. I also plan to make a pair of pink ones and a pair of purple/white variegated ones for each. In starting these the other night, I found that I can edge a pair of large socks like these in about an hour. Not bad!

Christmas is coming....

....which means that I need more tree ornaments! My friend was in town this weekend, and we love to paint ornaments, so consequently, Hobby Lobby got more of our money. (The ornaments were 40% off, too!) This time, we got some of the frosted and iridescent ones to try. The top picture (mini size - comes 20 in a box) are the iridescent finish. I wasn't sure about those, but I really like how they turned out. I do think that the more pastel or muted colors look best in these, however.

This picture shows the frosted finish (regular size). I wasn't sure about these, either, but I think they look nice. The frosted finish makes the colors look more muted. However, I'd say that this is probably my least favorite of the three. There's just something about glossy glass ornaments that seems "correct."
And then the usual - regular size, clear glass.

We tried out some shades of brown in these batches, and I have to say that I really like it. The brown seems to go well with greens and yellows/oranges. Very cool! I think that by the time we're done, we'll probably have tried out all the colors available! (Except maybe the bright pinks....I'm not big on pink, especially not on my tree...)

Thing 1 loves to "help" with these - he'll pick out the ornament to be painted next, and he'll pick out colors to try together. He gets more excited than we do about painting the ornaments! This is good, though, as I foresee sets of ornaments working well as teacher presents. Not only are these just cool in and of themselves, I think that they'll be even more special for the teachers when he says that he helped make them. Guess I'll have to find some pretty boxes or bags to package them.

More Christmas in April!

I think that these turned out rather nice! The top picture shows the large ornaments, and the bottom one shows the mini ornaments. We had a lot of fun painting these, and we plan to do more the next time my friend comes to visit. (The mini ornament that is second from the right in the bottom row was Thing 1's doing - but the color combination really grew on me.) The tutorial at StacySews is very good, and I would only offer a couple of additions to it. The first is that after cleaning out the ornaments with vinegar, you can make sure that they are dry by putting them in the oven at 180 or 200 F for about 10-15 minutes before getting ready to paint. (Even after I've had them draining for a day or two, I sometimes still have a drop or so of moisture inside. This takes care of it.) The second can be inferred by the photos - use muffin tins to hold your ornaments! My mini ornaments fit great in mini muffin tins, and the large one fit great in the regular muffin tins. I set them in these to bake out the moisture as mentioned above and also when I think they're about done drying after painting (I'll leave them like this for a few days before I put the tops back on).

Christmas in April?

I have a friend in town for the weekend, and we are having fun painting Christmas ornaments. (Talk about ridiculously early, I know!) I was inspired around New Year's by StacySews, and I made these at the time:




This weekend we're having fun experimenting with more non-traditional colors, like shades of blue, purple, and yellow. But we're still having fun! And we'll display these proudly on our trees. Thing 1 enjoys helping, too - he chooses colors for each ornament and provides the proper "oohs" and "ahhs" - always important, right?

I'll post pictures of the new ornaments when they're dry.