We had a very low key Christmas this year, which was exactly what we needed. We started Christmas morning with presents. Allison & I actually had quite a few thanks to my family which mailed packages. The picture above is one of Allison's favorite presents, it is currently living on her dresser and she calls it 'MY picture.' Apparently this girl likes pictures (particularly when she is in them!).
As soon as present opening was done we headed out to church. Allison wore a super cute little outfit, courtesy of Nana.
When we made it home it was time for the real playing to begin. Mark & Allison put her new Duplo Lego train set together. Mark discovered, much to his dismay, the play table was not big enough for the deluxe set which he determined Allison 'needed.' It has now taken over my dining room table. Allison enjoyed sending her baking accessories around on the train tracks.
We enjoyed a Christmas brunch - french toast. I had planned to make cinnamon rolls but it just didn't happen this year. Mark had a lot of music practices at church and a flooring job he was wrapping up so our time getting ready for Christmas was very limited. We decided french toast was easy (and yummy). Perhaps cinnamon rolls will come out for New Year's.
Both mark & I had the 26th off as well as an observed holiday. Mark took a quick run up to Fry's first thing in the morning to buy some computer parts. He spend the day playing with the train and building a new computer. I'm now finally up and running on the new computer, whew! Allison tagged along and 'helped' as much as she could.
And I did manage to get a picture of our tree in the background. I want to try for one more before we take it down but for now this is one of my favorite Christmas pictures.
The weather around here has been particularly dry and we finally got out do enjoy it! Allison asked for a bike ride. We assumed she wanted to ride her little bike but when we got in the garage she insisted on a Chariot ride so we all got on our bikes and went for a ride. Which allowed for plenty of tire pumping, much to Allison's delight.
And we ended the 'holiday' with a dress fitting. Allison is going to be a flower girl in Mr. Brent's wedding come March and we tried on her dress. We put Cinderella on the t.v. to distract Allison during the fitting and I think she got a little too into the dress fitting. She did not want to take the dress off! Now all I have to do is find some fabulous red shoes to go with the dress! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well.
I made a lot of our Christmas presents this year. The last week before Christmas I felt like I was in quite a mad dash to finish it all but it all managed to get done (or done enough). Here is a sampling of what I made along with links to tutorials as applicable! First, was Logan's quilt (I know I already had a post on this but now I had it all done). I made the quilt using this pattern from the Winter 2010 Quilts & More Magazine. I made the wide strips two inches bigger, though, than the pattern said to make the quilt big enough for a full size bed (the pictures are on our Queen size guest bed). the pillow shams I made up myself. And there will be more on the sprocket pillow later.
The back was put together with 2 yards of one of the Children at Play fabrics and some random piecing on my part. I know that this quilt was going to require 5 yards for backing but for some reason I thought I'd just buy 2 yards and piece the back (5 yards is expensive!). In hindsight I'd buy the 5 yards and save myself the trouble later. Besides, I ended up buying just as much by the time it was said and done!
A close up of the fabric. I love it.
And from this angle I decided it was awfully hard to part with. Good thing I don't have a little boy living here!
Ah yes, the sprocket pillows. I made a few of them for various friends (and Logan). I used the Cluck, Cluck, Sew tutorial and they came together beautifully, of course!
A also made another quilt (Made in 2011 No. 14, I think?). I used a fabric line called 'Etchings' which I originally found in Sister's for Mark's Mom's quilt. I liked it enough I bought a 10" layer cake to make another quilt for my sister-in-law, shown below. I sort-of made a disappearing 9 patch pattern - although it is a bit more crazy than that. I put it together using Cluck, Cluck Sew's Apple's quilt for inspiration and using a stack-n-whack methodology. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, it is the best way I can think of to describe it.
I quilted this one myself with a random, all over stitch. I thought it looked so nice with my tree in the background.
And I almost thought it looked like a Christmas quilt! Good thing there was some grey in it, too.
One of my few non-sewing projects was this 'puppet theater' that I made for my dear little friend, Bekah. I purchased the .pdf download from Sarah Jane Studios for the Nutcracker Puppet Theater and cut out each piece (there are TWELVE characters) and assembled them. I may not have designed this but the cutting & assembly still made a handmade gift. And I'm hoping to make one for Allison next year! I really don't think a cereal box ever looked so cute!
I also made another quilt top with the fabric I found in Sister's for Mark's Mom. I had intended to finish it myself but after seeing how well the double hour glass came together I decided this quilt needed to go to a professional quilter. This quilt will likely be my Finished in 2012 No. 1. I'll just give a peek for now. It was made using another Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial for the double hour glass.
I also made my very crafty little sister a pair of customized scissors. I actually made her two pairs using this tutorial. They turned out okay, but I learned that this craft ideally uses multi-colored paper with a small pattern on it. I made another pair for my friend at work, Karlee, and they turned out great, I just didn't get a picture. Oh well, live an learn. I figure this way Brittney will always know which scissors are hers around the church office!
Finally, I made a pair of tree pillows. The one above used the last of the scraps I had from the quilt I made for my little friend, Bekah. So I gave it to her Mom, of course. And that meant her Mom needed to buy some more matching pillows. And that means I'm her Dad's favorite person right now (kidding, of course! I am good at getting my friend, Jodi, to spend money, though!). And I made the one below for my sister-in-law Hannah. I was a little worried it looked a bit too much like a peacock. But Mark convinced me he would have never thought 'peacock' if I hadn't said anything so I figured I could give it to her. So I did. And she has requested another one. Good thing I have plenty of scraps and Kroon Day is coming soon! I used yet another Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial for this one. These pillows came together super quick & easy!
And that was about it for what I made this year. And trust me, it was plenty! There was one other little pillow for Mark's Mom (made with the scraps from her quilt) but I forgot to get a picture of it. Maybe when the quilt is done. Enjoy the tutorials if you happen to be a crafty person!
