Handmade Holiday Challege Finishes!

Today is the wrap up for my Handmade Holiday Challenge. Thanks for checking on my progress and keeping me accountable for finishing my 5 gifts. I ended up with a car cozy for my son, some wooden princesses for my daughter, 3 rice bags for the fathers, and a baby quilt for my nephew. I also have 2 great bags that I haven't used yet. I'm leaning towards keeping the big one for my holiday tote. It will be great for holding all of our stocking stuffers from my mom's house. She keeps our stockings to reuse and we always have to figure out how to get the contents home!
I hope that you have also been inspired to make some handmade gifts. If you got your 5 made, leave me a comment. You will need to link to something showing your gifts...your blog, Flickr, Facebook. You also need to be a follower. I will randomly pick a winner on January 3rd for a $25 gift certificate to Connecting Threads. I can't wait to see what you have made!
I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas!

The stockings were hung...

My Sunday night project was these stockings for my sister. I used the tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. I have never made stockings before and I really like how they turned out. These are not my particular taste in Christmas colors, but they match my sister's decorations perfectly! I'm definitely not going to have time to get them made for Christmas this year, I think I'm going to make new ones for my little family. I have a Nutcracker embroidery pattern from Wild Olive that would make cute stockings for the kids.

The only project I have left before Christmas is a whole quilt to finish piecing and then quilt and then bind! I have given myself permission to not finish if I get too busy. Hopefully my next post will be a finish, though!

Giveaway Day winner

#93 Heather won the giveaway.  Heather, I've already emailed you! 

Also, just another reminder to make sure you have your email listed in your blogger profile.  The first comment that Random.com picked was a no-reply blogger.  Too bad for her!

Handmade Holiday Challenge Week 5 & 6

Sorry I missed last week.  I switched my work schedule up a little and it threw me off!  I didn't anything finished last week, but I made some progress on the quilt I'm hoping to finish.  The big gift that I did finish was this:

Every year for the past several years, my friend Heather and I have made Christmas candy.  I give mine as my Christmas gift for the people in my office.  We made 4 kinds of fudge, white chocolate pretzels, chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter balls and christmas shapes (this Reese's Trees).  I think it was our most productive year.  We still have candy at home and at the office. 

Now for my week 6 gift I made these super cute princesses from Lil Boo Blue.   

I had made a set for a birthday present, and Lily wanted some of her own.  She kept asking me about them.  The princess next to Cinderella is Princess Lily.  I don't feel like I have very much skill as far as painting is concerned, and I thought they were easy to make.  I have a box for them, but I think I may make her a small drawstring bag to keep them in. 

That's all 5 of my gifts!  I may have a number 6 for next week, but it's ok if I don't.  It's getting close to Christmas and I've busy enjoying my family!  If you haven't finished your 5, you still have a week to finish.  I'll make a post to link up to next Friday.  If you need a refreshed on the challenge, here's the original post!

Giveaway Day!

Sew, Mama, Sew! hosts Giveaway Day. It is one of the best days (now weeks) of the year. I love visiting all of the great blogs and seeing all of the great things other people make! Some of my favorite blogs have been found by clicking on the Giveaway day links. If you are visiting from clicking today, thanks for coming by. Let me tell you about myself. I'm a wife and a mom to a 6 year old daughter and 20 month old son. I work full time and sew in my free time. I quilt and sew and craft and embroider. I learned how to knit last year, but I haven't spent much time doing it. I originally started this blog to keep track of everything I've made. In blogging, I like to think that I've inspired my friends to start sewing too, and once a month, I've been hosting my friends for a sewing day. That inspired me to issue a Handmade Holiday Challenge. Be sure to check it out while you are here. Maybe you'll want to come back next week to win another prize!
Now for my Giveaway Day giveaway. This time I'm giving away a great lined drawstring bag.

I used Kona Plumberry and some Wonderland by Momo for the outside. The inside is Connecting Threads Butter. I love this Wonderland print because of the sewing things hidden in. The green irons are my favorite on this side and I love the scissors on the other side.

I used the great Lined Drawstring Tutorial from In Color Order. This is the second bag I've made with this tutorial and it's great.
To enter this giveaway, leave me a comment. I'd like to know what your favorite tutorial is lately. I learn so much from other bloggers and I'd like to know who you get inspired by. If you don't have any (ridiculous!), tell me what you are working on. For another entry, follow me and let me know you are a follower! I'll randomly pick a winner.  I hope you'll find something that interests you while you are here and that you'll come back! Now I'm off to click those giveaway links!!!

WIP Wednesday

I didn't get a lot of sewing done this week, but I did get our Christmas tree put up and was in a Christmas parade!  I've been super busy, even if it wasn't at the sewing machine!

I finally sat down to finish my neglected Birdie Stitches blocks.  Up until October, I had been faithfully finishing one each month.  I think because the end was in sight, I just waited to finish the last 3 all at once.  Hopefully this is going to become a Christmas gift for my husband's aunt.

December.  I love the little Santa bird.

October.  The spiders look very cute in person.

I couldn't find the print out of the November block last night, so I just did December instead.  November will get done during my TV time tonight. 

If you don't follow them, Sew Mama Sew is hosting Giveaway Day again.  It's one of my favorite blog holidays!  I've discovered the best blogs that way.  I'm not sure what I'm going to giveaway, but I'm definitely going to participate!  Even if you don't blog, you should definitely check out some of the great giveaways and visit some new blogs.  Check back on Monday to see what I decided to giveaway!



Handmade Holiday Challenge Week 4

Week 4 already!  I got this week's project finished on Sunday, so I've been waiting all week to post it!  I've posted about car cozies before, so this is nothing new.  I finally have one that's going to stay at home.  My little boy is 19 months old and he loves cars!  Couple that with a great sale on Matchbox and Hot Wheels and how could I not make one for him?!? 

Since he's still little, I thought a straight road and a gas station would be enough.  I used fabric paint for the numbers.  I like that it's feely, adding another element for distraction!  I didn't do a great job with centering the letters, so I added the dots to fill the space a little, and I really like them.  They offer something tangible to count to go along with the numbers. 

I added a little loop to the gas pump to tuck the spout? into.  This turned out to be quite helpful for keeping it out of the way when I was sewing it!

Complete with a car that looks kinda like Grandma's.  I think he will love it!

Last year, I decided that I want to make something special for my kids each Christmas.  Last year I made them hooded towels which they still use.  I'm going to start on my daughter's gift this weekend, I hope.  She's 6, so it's a little harder to surprise her.  She's too curious!

How about you?  If you've kept up with me, you only have one more gift to make to be entered to with the $25 gift certificate from Connecting Threads! 



Counting till Christmas

This year we have decided to do a book advent "calendar." We have a regular one that is a little house, but it never seems that fun for everyone. I thought this year, we'd try books. Every night we get to unwrap one and read it. 24 different books in a row. No reading Elf on the Shelf 12 times in a row! I used some books we already had, bought a few new ones, and my sister actually found about half of them for $1 each at the flea market. I figure I can catch some on sale after Christmas to replace the ones we end up not loving or that we grow out of.
All 24 of the books are wrapped and read to be opened. (Do you have any idea how long it takes to wrap 24 little book? I bet my back can tell you after sitting on the floor doing it!) They are all in a basket, along with this Frosty that my little boy LOVES, waiting a spot under the Christmas tree.  Several of my Facebook friends wanted to see the finished list so here it is!

1. The Christmas Story - Jane Werner
2. Christmas in the Manger - Nola Buck
3. Bear Stays up-Karma Wilson
4. The Snowy Day - Ezra Jack Keats
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Dr. Suess
6. Clifford's Christmas - Norman Bridwell
7. The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas-Justine Korman
8. The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear-Stan & Jan Berenstain
9. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer-Robert May
10. Christmas Trolls-Jan Brett
11. Santa's Favorite Story-Hisako Aoki
12. Olive, the Other Reindeer-J. Otto Seibold
13. The Nutcracker-Rita Balducci
14. The Christmas Story with Ruth Morehead's Holly Babes
15. Frosty the Snowman-Steve Nelson
16. Mouse's First Christmas-Lauren Thompson
17. Christmas Surprises-Lucinda McQueen
18. Little Porcupine's Christmas-Joseph Slate
19. Franlkin's Christmas Gift-Paulette Bourgeois
20. Arthur's Perfect Christmas-Marc Brown
21. Little Critter I Smell Christmas-Mercer Mayer
22. Country Angel Christmas-Tomie dePada
23. Biscuit's Christmas Ever-Alyssa Saton Cappercilli
24. The Night Before Christmas-Clement C. Moore

This is not the order we are reading them in, and it is not all of the Christmas books we have. I left out some that we like to read alot, like The Jolly Christmas Postman. I also left out several that only the baby would enjoy and some that were characters like Max and Ruby and the Care Bears. I think it would also be fun to just do 12 days. You need less books that way! Maybe start small and expand your collection after Christmas...or better yet, books for Christmas gifts! Let me know if you have a favorite that's missing from our family library!