Homemade Gifts

This past Christmas season, I made a few handmade presents for a few close friends and the boys. The boys saw me as I progressed through the process of knitting their warm hats, so it really was not officially a surprise. Plus, I have yet to complete Jared's.

 I started out with knitting a beanie for Dylan. I thought this bright green Andes Wool yarn from my stash would be complementary to his red hair. It turned out pretty cute.

 

I made this hat in Firecracker Heather (also wool) and black stripes. I would have probably done a black beanie with red stripes, but I had more of the later than the former. He loves it anyway. Besides, it unintentionally matches his snow jacket he received for Christmas. Perfect!

 Somehow, I still always make him laugh. Maybe it is because I myself am such a goofball. Yeah, Luke, hold it back....we can't tell you are not trying to crack up here....  ;)

 I decided to make some select friends and mothers some creative necklaces/ornamental decor for the holidays with supplies I already have on hand.

Talk about slacking......some of these I have not given to my friends yet. My goodness!

This gallery of orange pendants on hemp and a matching sunshine painting were given to my dear friend, Shannon, who quite apparently loves the color and sun-shininess itself. I painted this below out of impulse one night. Other than on the table the boys and I made, I have not painted anything for years. Though amateur, it didn't turn out too bad. :)

Love to create! Wish I had more time to do so at this point. But I am enjoying just being much of the time.....being a mother, being a teacher, being a chef, being a woman, being an active human being... 

Catch you later......

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Christmas Creations

I haven't exactly been frequenting my blog much lately. The holiday season and the growing demands of my growing boys has stretched me slightly thin. However, I do now have a moment to share with you a few reflections of Christmas time in our home.

 This wreath was a pain in the neck and I nearly gave up out of frustration as I was making it. We recently had quite a wind storm. So, as a result, there were branches on the ground everywhere. We piled several together and I started overlapping branches and tying countless times until it was long enough and thick enough to compete the circle. 

 Still, once completed, it wasn't holding together as had envisioned to begin with. I then decided to cut some strips of red fabric and tie the fir needles together externally in 5 places. I completed the hanging by doubling the thickness of the fabric strip to strengthen it, as the wreath ended up being very heavy. After hanging it, I trimmed the wreath and added pine cones. Voila!!

This pillow beautifully matches the incomplete quilt that I made (I have been so busy that quilting has been very hard to do, so I am letting go of perfection and accepting the fact that we will have it absolutely ready next Christmas). I love the array of fabrics!

And here is the back of our Christmas throw pillow. As you can see, it is a pillow sham essentially, so the cover can be washed and the pillow itself can have interchangeable covers representing all seasons, holidays, and general decor. I didn't follow a pattern on this one. It was more on a whim. :)

 We simply made this Advent calendar by cutting a rectangular piece of burgundy felt, several olive green triangles suitable for the given squares made by using black permanent marker, and some small rectangles for the month label and for the pocket holding the "Christmas trees". Every day, Jared pulls out the corresponding tree and places it on that day of the month. Ah, the magic of wool felt... It just sticks to itself. Less effort on my part. :)

A while back, when I received all of that fabric and quilting supplies from my aunt, I noticed this "Coca Cola" cool polar bear fabric. Usually, this is not my kinda thang, but it is definitely reminiscent of my father, who passed away almost 10 years ago. He is so special to me and I haven't enough to sufficiently remember him by. So, being that him and my also deceased Grandma were so absolutely into the Coca Cola thing (seriously, they loved it!), I decided to quilt a stocking in their honor. Unfortunately, I used fleece for the inner lining, so for me, it was extremely difficult to sew with. It was another pain in the neck. The other less than fortunate aspect is that it looks to me like a stocking-shaped oven mitt. I guess that is what happens when you try to entirely create your own pattern. Oh well... It has grown on me.

 The boys have been working hard using their hands for the purpose of Christmas, as well. Jared used beeswax to create the big tree shown above and the man. He also helped me with the toboggan. Dylan created the snowman with a little help, as well as the little Christmas tree. Fabulous! I love beeswax!

Jared created this snowman in one of our many homemade play-dough sessions. What detail!

We went to one of my dear friends' houses for a gingerbread house party. How cool is that? So, each of the boys were able to construct their own little gingerbread house with frosting and a variety of candy. Problem was the little ones kept eating the latter! I suppose I wasn't too worried about it. They know they normally do not have access to it, so I am lenient when we go to parties.

 3 Brothers: 1 snacking on a candy cane and expressing his joy with his hands like the little boy with the Italian genes he has been partially given; 1 overseeing the others' work in progress like a concerned parental figure ready to guide the little one on command, standing with arms akimbo; 1 meticulously engineering his architectural masterpiece with intention and gumption.

This train set was a hit for all 3 boys after they completed their gingerbread houses. I was pleased with how well they worked together and helped one another. Fun times!

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A Little More Color

For those of you who get easily creeped out by the supernatural, I would like to lighten the situation with some bright, "lively" colors. Heeheehee.... Here is a glimpse at some of what I have been working on. I will show you more very soon.

These have since become blocks and now a baby quilt top. I still have to make the back and the binding. These were really radiant, fun colors to work with and I love the cute town fabric!!!

These are the unfinished front of my tooth fairy pillows.....

And the backs......

 Here is a larger quilt I am going to frame in grey. It will be a free motion quilting study, whereas each square will have a different experimental threading design.

And here is a glimpse of the first baby quilt top I made for my shop. I love using a little red! Can't wait to complete the entire quilt....

And I thought I would throw in Jared's dinosaur book he made for school. He basically studied the 7 different categories of dinosaurs and how they each differ. As one can see on the cover, he shows them all: pachycephalosaurs, ornithopods, stegasaurs, ankylosaurs, sauropods, ceratopsians, and therapods. The coolest thing about home school is that I am also learning, as well!

Have a great Friday and weekend!!!!

Halloween

Halloween was mellow, as it is every year for us. We usually hit Main St. in town with the kids because it is early, safe, and fun to see the creativity in others' costumes. There are usually some pretty creative ones. My favorite this year had to be a little boy who was maybe 7 years old, dressed up as Edward Scissorhands. The perfection of the wig and the costume, along with his professional-looking makeup job made him look like a movie-quality Mini-me of the original character. Not only was he super cute, but genuine and cool. The other winning costume ended up being my old friend (though I didn't realize it until later) in a homemade-walking-on-her-head costume. She was literally talking to me with her hands in the air, faceless, through a pair of pants, holding shoes as if her feet were above her. She was cracking up as she gave me "crotch hugs". Hee hee hee! Clever, Leslie. You are such a goofball!

This year, for several months, Jared has been talking about being a vampire. I tried to steer him away from that a bit, suggesting a scarecrow or something easy to create with very little. But, No. His unwavering choice was undeniable on my part, and I had to make this happen for him. How could I let him down? We had neither the money for a "frivolous" costume, nor materials and patterns to make one. So, we happened to find some clearance fabric in black and in red. I bought it and came up with a vampiric cape pattern that seemed to come together as I tried it on Jared several times, as if he were a mannequin. We had some black hair spray from last year, we threw in a pair of cheap teeth and makeup, and voila! He loved it and he looked awesome!!! Dylan inherited the monkey costume in their dress-up clothes. Jared wore this costume when he was Dylan's age, too. Nothing wrong with hand-me-downs. Cuteness is timeless and Dylan pulls off the costume with an original cuteness. :)

And here is silly me..... I neither wear makeup nor dresses and skirts. So, Halloween is my excuse to "get girly." I wasn't going to dress up, but I saw this gorgeous skirt in my closet....beautiful, but I just know I will never wear it.... and I found the cape in the very back. So, last minute, I created a Colonial witch...mildly like the characters of Hocus Pocus. It looks better with the hood of my cloak on my head, but it's a decent enough shot. ;)

We just enjoyed the simplicity of the celebration, along with the inevitable entertainment of others clad in their Halloween spirit, and the kids enjoyed the short-lived ability to binge on candy before we returned home.

~ Happy Halloween~

~ Lucy's Baby Quilt ~

Lucy's Baby Quilt was finished on Friday, along with Liv's, just in time for Jenna's baby shower. I hand-sewed the entire binding, which is why I ended up having to use the flash in the dim light of early evening. Using the flash is not my favorite method of photographing quilts because you cannot see the lovely crinkle of the final product once washed and dried as well as when you just use the natural light. Oh well... that is what I get for procrastinating ;). I think this is my favorite quilt yet! All the ladies at the party thought it was pretty cool, too. Best of all, Jenna loved it. Success!

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~ Liv's Baby Quilt ~

I finally finished the last little bit of Liv's binding on Friday! I gave it to my cousin (Liv's mama) and both she and my ex-quilting aunt loved it. My aunt even mentioned that this quilt made her almost want to get back into quilt-making. They made me feel better about my feeling amateur through their lovely compliments. :) By the way, pardon the poor quality in the photos..it was getting later in the day and my clothesline and bedroom had low lighting. Nevertheless, enjoy.

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Starry Night At Home Quilt ~ Part 3

I have had this wall decor finished for a while now, but I haven't made the time to post the final results. It has not yet been washed either, so that may affect the results of it's final look. I last mentioned digging up some solid black in my stash, but I suprisingly have none. However, I found some solid brown that gave me a mellow, woodsy feel. When all was put together, I handstitched the mini-quilt, which was very enjoyable. Besides, there is nothing like a hand-sewn quilt.

When I created this little quilt, the theme I had in mind was a "night time at the most cozy place on Earth... home", type theme. I thought just today, though, that perhaps I could have at least made a green horizontal strip below each house to give the effect of actually sitting on the ground, but I still quite like it the way that it is. I then finished the quilt with two of the four similar fabrics used in the red door theme. It turned out brighter than expected, but I still like the glow it gives off. The finished piece measures at about 27.5" on each side. I decided to use 3 fabrics I had already used in the quilt on the hanging loops at the top. Bamboo or a wooden dowel would have worked more seamlessly, but I instead grabbed an imperfect stick outside, which I think I might like better. It certainly fits nicely in the boys' room, among the other eclectic Waldorf, thrifted, and handmade wall hangings. 

What a fantastic project to practice handsewing and the implementation of my own designs... you know, taking risks and seeing what the results end up being. What a learning experience. For instance, I now know I haven't the patience for such hand stitching on a full-sized quilt, though I truly admire those who do. I also am now quite aware that I thoroughly enjoy creating familiar images with patchwork, like these houses. To me, it is all about the process, even though final results are a wonderful perk.  :)

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Japanese Quilted Decor For a Special Lady

I was so excited about creating these quilted wall decorations for Daniel's mom as a birthday gift. She has been infatuated with Japanese culture far longer than I have known her, collecting silky kimonos, fanciful obis, gorgeous tansus and other antique furniture, assorted decor, and making kimekomi dolls, among several other additions to bringing the culture into her home. I was pleased to see her appreciation, as she opened her gift.

These ended up measuring about 9.5 x 11" and they are intended to be hung from bamboo, which she has plenty of. I truly know very little about Japanese design, but I kept playing with fabric and different asymmetrical ideas. I came up with this, starting with a piece of large patterned fabric somehow hiding in my stash, and to me, it looks pretty darn Japanese. :) This project was not only interesting because I was learning a bit about design along the way, but I also had fun practicing a couple new free motion quilting patterns.

Jared and Dylan made cards for her using what we have, and I wrapped her gifts in tissue paper and an inside-out paper bag. I finished it off with raffia ribbon, and I made a little attached card with matching fabric. It all turned out so lovely.

Daniel tells me I should make wall hangings similar to these and sell them on Etsy. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with life right now and I feel I am too amateur at this point to feel comfortable selling pieces such as these. For now, I will practice and make gifts.

Have a great remainder of your week!

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