Christmas Aprons

This year, I'm sewing aprons for the ladies in my family. I am a huge apron-lover and have several in my collection. For these gifts, I have matched the fabrics to the personality of the recipient. The one above is for my mum, who loves red and has recently had her kitchen redone.


This one is for my mother-in-law, who loves all shades of blue. I have two more aprons to make; one for my aunt-in-law and the other for my sister-in-law.

In addition to the aprons, I plan to knit a cup cozy for each. Mollie Makes Issue 7 has some really cute ones.

ANOTHER capelet

 I know, I'm not very exciting because I made the same capelet twice this month. The first version was for myself, but when my sister saw it she requested one of her own. We went to a fabric store, battled some terrible customer service (don't get me started), and she ended up choosing this lightweight canvas for the lining. It's pretty cool, I've never seen anything like it.

I found this black somewhat stretchy fabric for the outside of the cape at a local store. It was my first time sewing something so stretchy that just cutting it was a challenge. When I sewed it I used tons of pins which seemed to make life easier. 

As I mentioned in my last post, the "hood" is definitely more fashion than function, it is not going to fit over her head.

I tried it on to show all of you :) I can't wait to give it to my sister!

Please stop by my blog and say hello! I love meeting new sewing friends on the world wide web! :)

Tissue Holders and a Tea Cozy

Hello friends! It's Lindsay from LindsayPindsay checking in with my progress.  I’ve been diligently working on my gift list and am happy to report that I have completed the tissue holders and tea cozy.

The tissue holders will be stocking stuffers. I like to sneak something handmade into the stockings that I have access to on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This year this includes 15 stockings, so I had to choose wisely. I used the JCasa tutorial from Sew Mama Sew and wowie were they quick to put together! I had these cut and sewn within 2 hours! I highly recommend an assembly line if you’re going to tackle large quantities of the same product.

I love this Jay McCarroll fabric. I have a bunch of large scraps leftover and am thinking that they would work nicely on a child’s quilt for a local charity. Because I need to add another thing to my list!

I also finished a quilted tea cozy. This lovely cozy will be going to the host of our annual cookie exchange, who also happens to be my former viola teacher! She taught me from 3-12th grade and I’m so glad we are able to stay in touch. I used the Retro Mama pattern to assemble the cozy but I came up with the patchwork pattern on my own. She includes some great patchwork suggestions with the pattern but the size of my scraps just weren’t going to work. I took to Excel and came up with this simple design. This was my first try at designing my own patchwork pattern, and after the cozy was finished I realized that I should have accounted for the seam allowances as much of the red fabric on the top is cut off. Next time!

I am still pleased with how this turned out. I added an extra layer of insulation to make sure that the cozy is extra cozy. I had some drapery liner in my stash for reasons unknown (I think I picked it up for something out of the remnant bin at Joann), so I added that to the quilt sandwich, which included a layer of batting.

I have been in love with all of the horizontal quilting that I’ve seen lately, so that’s what I went with. And I love how it looks even if it did take quite a while to stitch all of those lines!

I highly recommend the Retro Mama pattern. It is really easy to understand and results in a sturdy and reversible tea cozy.

Felt decoration fun!

Last year I went on a one day felt decoration workshop.  It was so much fun, it totally sparked an interest in felt and embroidery!  I went a bit nuts at home and made all of these beauties.  Some were inspired by decorations I found images of on the web, others are my own creation.

I could make a million of these things.  These two are my favourites.

 

Let The Countdown Begin...

A big Hello to all you Crafty Christmas Aficionados from Elisalex at Stitch me Softly...

With just a couple of days until the countdown officially begins, I bring you an(other!) frame repurposing project - an Advent Calendar with little hanging pockets for each day to fill with activity ideas, trinkets, treats, whatever you want.

You can find the full tutorial here (you might want to scroll down a little to avoid only slightly relevant ramblings!), plus ideas on pocket fillers.

Thanks!

Turk's Head Knot Bracelets

Hi everyone!  Karen here from Renegade Homestead.  It's not even the end of November and I'm knocking out presents left and right (granted, I'm a dog walker so it could be that I have more time on my hands than most crafters).  Today I finished a few Turk's head knot bracelets for my college girl friends.  

I used this tutorial and found that each one took about 20 minutes.  Perfect for stocking stuffers and easily accomplished in front of the TV.  

And I have to share this - the funniest thing happened while I was taking pictures of the finished bracelets!  See anything out of place in the picture below?

That would be a wild turkey on the right.  A whole flock of them wandered into my photo shoot!

Happy to see there were some survivors from Thanksgiving right in my own backyard.  To anyone who celebrated it last week, I hope your holiday was as good as theirs!

Bah humbug!

I am definitely not a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas, and this afternoon I have been getting into the festive mood making a batch of Bah Humbug lip-balms.

I decorated the pots with some black straight line peel-offs, and am going to make some humbug/scrooge themed labels for the top.
The recipe I used was:
Melt 12g beeswax, 12g cocoa butter and 18g shea butter in a bowl/jug over a pan of hot water.Add 42g sweet almond oil and 12g honey and stir gently.
Take off the heat and add essential oils (I added 14 drops, which smells good and minty but has a slight tingle when you use it).
Keep stirring with a spoon or a milk-frother until it cools (otherwise the honey will separate), and when it starts to thicken pour it into little jars or tins.
This makes 6 x 15g jars, with a bit left in the jar. If the mixture sets in the jar, just heat it up again.

I also made some orange lip-balms, but I tried to add orange colouring and discovered that was not oil-soluble and started to separate :-S I had to remix each pot, so now it doesn't have a smooth surface :-(

I feel like I'm making good progress so far, and its not even December. I have ideas on how I am going to label and wrap my gifts as well, which is almost more exiting than making them!

Gift list 2011
Dad - knitted hot water bottle cover, fingerless gloves
Stepmum - scarf, lip-balm, bath bombs
Brother - travelcard case, ???
Future sister-in-law - scarf, lip-balm
Cousin - knitted hat, lip-balm
Cousin - travelcard case, edible something?
Aunts - lip-balm, bath bombs etc in a bag
Uncle - edible something?
Grandparents - edible somethings?

I'm unsure what I can make for my grandparents that would be appreciated - they are all in care homes with various levels of memory and physical problems so not sure what they would actually use apart from something edible. Does anyone have any sweet/biscuit recipes that stay fresh a long time (at least a week)?

First Christmas present done

Hello everyone! I'm Helena of Crafting my Own Style.I was a member here last year, for Christmas presents last year I made purses, toddler aprons and record bowls. This year I haven't felt the insiration, but after reading about all the process here, it came to me!

So yesterday I finished my first gift.

Yup, the first thing you'll see is that the pouch is inside out. I could figure out the instructions, they left much to be desired, especially for a novice project. But it does its work.
Folding it out you'll see that it's a fabric grocery bag - Burdastyle's Charlie to be precise.I whipped this up in a little over an hour and I think they'll be some more under the Christmas tree. I'm hoping the scrap bin won't disappoint me.

Making this bag set free a whole bunch of inspiration for me. I've already decided that my kiddo will get an apron (same as his cousins last year), perhaps an apron for my sister as well and some more Charlie bags.

Let's get crafting!

More information about my groovy grocery bag on my blog.

OK, I admit it.

It's only a month until Christmas. And I really need to get cracking with my Christmas prep. Eek!

I'm Kerry, and I blog at Kestrel Finds & Makes. This is my first post here this year, although I have been peeking at some of the other lovely projects that have been posted. I don't have a huge list of things to make as I decided not to make things too hard for myself, but here's what I will be crafting in the next few weeks:

1. Mittens for my partner in a charity shop/handmade blog swap
2. Scarf for my sister in law
3. Cushion covers for a friend
4. Fabric-based matching game for my friend's daughter

I am also planning to post about wrapping and decorations - all homemade of course!

K x