The Holidays and Hand Made Gifts

Well, December has come and gone. I had a hundred projects/gifts to make and finish before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and luckily I finished MOST of the projects I had on my list.

Lets start with my sister-in-law. She has an, almost, two year old daughter (my wonderful niece). I wanted to make her something she could use for awhile. However, a quilt or a blanket is just so over done for the kids in the family. I then did some looking around, checked pinterest and I came across whats called the pillow dress. I thought about it and it was perfect. She can wear it as a dress, and add the pants I made when she gets a little taller. Then when she grows even more and the pants don't fit anymore but the dress fits more like a shirt, she can wear it with jeans or leggings! I hope she loved it, and when she opened the box she looked happy!

opening one of the boxes

Next was my very own sister. She and her husband are expecting their first son in a few months. I love to make baby stuff, so I racked my brain and tried to figure out what was one thing I use a lot. A carseat cover. Its like a blanket but with straps. It simply covers your carseat and keeps those unfriendly hands off your newborn! Thanks but no thanks dirty finger person. I had some really cute whale flannel fabric, and some grey mink hanging out. I checked my measurements and needed a little extra fabric to cover the small pieces missing. My mother-in-law is awesome, and also sews, so lucky for me she had some scrap mink hanging around. I grabbed some navy blue mink and it worked perfect. I love the end results, it totally looks like a racing strip on a car! Check it out and let me know what you think.

Front

Side

When the bottom is flipped open (back view).

When the bottom is flipped open (front view).

 The last big project I did, and where I got that grey mink from is the quilt I made for my mother. I wanted something warm, large, and unique. Something I haven't done yet. Something that makes you say wow. Again, i checked pinterest for ideas. I looked at modern quilts, old quilts, and hand stitched quilts. After a lot of thought and a trip or two or three, to joanns fabric, I found the perfect jelly rolls to use, and the perfect fabric to go with it. The end result was this:

Front

Back, grey mink

The quilting design I did.

All folded and ready to go!

I also made some small cinnamon ornaments that smelled amazing. I found the recipe on pinterest as well. It worked great and was so much fun to do with my son. It seemed like a lot of our family members liked them which is always a win in my book! I hope next year we can get amazing gifts, or make even better gifts for everyone. I want everyone to be happy with the gifts we give them, but I never can tell how people feel about hand made gifts. I hope you enjoy hand made gifts and I hope you find some inspiration in this post!

Happy Holidays, and happy crafting everyone,
Sarah