Christmas wrap-up

It seemed to me that before I did any 2009 year in review or goals for 2010 type posts, I should probably do a quick wrap up of our Christmas.  I will admit that the tree has yet to come down (I'm working on it today . . . really!) so I suppose this means it's still ok to be talking about Christmas!

Maddie and Jamie both got a lot of great stuff - mostly from family and friends and a very generous Secret Santa from church.  Their main gifts from Mom and Dad were stuffed characters . . . a Winnie the Pooh for Maddie and a Mike Wazowski for James.  Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Opening their foam alphabet tiles from Grandma and Pop Pop

James with his Mike Wazowski

Maddie and her Winnie the Pooh

James mastered the unwrapping concept

Maddie wearing her hat from Grandma, scarf from Tori, and shirt from Liz

All in all I think that we had a successful Christmas :)

A purse for my Mom

As a Christmas present for my Mom I made my first purse using the pattern for the Phoebe bag from Rebeka Lambert at artsycraftybabe.  I had no ink in my printer to print the pattern, but luckily Ed has a huge screen on his imac (24 inches!) so I sized the pattern on the screen to 8 1/2 by 11 and traced it.  Clever, clever me . . .

Here it is hanging on my sewing chair

The inside of the bag, with a pocket.

Inside seams, I am actually really proud that I managed this step right the first time. 

So, yay for me that I managed to get it finished in time to mail for Christmas, so glad it got there in time!  I think that the exterior fabric is awesome because it's adult enough to use for everyday and then the interior fabric is lots of fun with the butterflies.

Christmas projects

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there

I was only able to get two of the stockings done before Christmas, and those went to Liz and Daniel. I love the reindeer!

I do think I am going to have to level up to a more advanced sewing machine soon as it was so difficult to go through so many layers of batting, fabric and the loop all at once. But the stockings did turn out pretty great, even if I did break a needle half way through.

My first quilt top

Here it is . . . my first finished quilt top:

Ta-da! I call it the "Zaney Quilt." All the fabrics except for the yellow and orange are from the Robert Kaufman Animal Party Line (in Fall colors), and I think they are super cute!

The blocks are randomly placed, but I find it funny how you kind of end up with patterns, even with randomly placed blocks. . .

I still need to quilt and bind it, I have been practicing quilting with my free-motion foot and am a little nervous. Maddie added her own artwork to the Giraffe Panel, there is a pen mark in the bottom by the grass, luckily it fit in with the style of the print.

This quilt is a Christmas gift for Zane, the two year old son of my friend Victoria . . . I didn't get it quilted in time to mail to Australia for Christmas, so I had to send photos instead :)

Here is Zane on Christmas, isn't he a cutie?

The quilt is kind of an odd size because Zane is in a toddler bed, so I made it larger than a crib quilt but smaller than a twin, the exact measurements escape me at the moment, but it is five 10 inch square blocks wide by six long, so I have to subtract the 1/4 inch seam allowance . . . hmm, I'll get back to you, Christmas has wiped my brain out.

And the panic sets in

I've been sick with a horrible cold for almost a week now. Midway through the week Maddie caught it, and now James has it too. It is less than a week until Christmas and I still haven't even mailed (*cough* *cough* finished making) my gifts for my family on the east coast. I only have one more thing to do, which I hope to finish before the post office closes today.

I worked all day on projects yesterday and I still have this wonderful pile of fabric waiting to be made into stockings:

Detail of the awesome fabric I got for Jamie's stocking

(no flash, the lamp makes the greens a bit muted though)

Well, aren't these cute . . . I wonder what lucky people get these fabrics?

The trick is to get them done before Christmas Eve or they are kind of pointless (for this year anyway).

The only fabric I am not 100% sure about is this green that is going with Maddie's Santa toile:

I do love that Santa toile though!

I couldn't find anything I liked for contrast and just snagged it off the wall at the last minute. I shouldn't have been shopping for fabric at Joann's anyway . . . but I'd had a horrible day out shopping (ok, really just to the church to pick something up and then to Joann's for some interfacing and snaps), but in that time we had several mishaps. These include, but are not limited too:

a) Maddie throwing up,

b) the double stroller not opening

c) carrying Jamie around the store while I pushed Maddie in the cart with the other hand, I had to switch off sides to give my sprained wrist a "rest" (side note, my five month old is the size of an average one year old and heavy!)

d) Jamie's chubby little leg getting stuck in the side of the shopping cart as I tried to set him on top of Maddie for just a minute while we were in the bathroom - yes all of us in the handicap stall . . . his poor leg was too fat to come back up easily and he was not happy. I kept having visions of the fire department having to come cut him out of the shopping cart, luckily he did eventually get un-wedged with only some minor bruising.

I was really just not in the mood to go to a quilt store to look for better quality fabric, especially once we got outside the store and it had gotten dark. Jamie loves riding in the car during the day, but he gets car sick or something at night and screams his head off the whole time he is in the car seat.

So, I pretty much like everything but this green which is kind of cheap fabric and feels somewhat like thin cardboard, may have to get her a different contrast. . . or wash the heck out of it and see if that softens it up at all.

We shall see how these turn out, as I am not following the pattern I bought, but meshing it with another I saw online and modifying in my brain as I go. . . hmmm, sounds dangerous.

I would tell you all about the project I made yesterday (of which I am very proud), but the recipient of said project reads my blog . . . here is a sneak peek though ;)

Ooooh, what could it be?

No, really, don't guess, it's for my Mom and she would see your guesses!

There do appear to be butterflies involved, however . . .

ETA: Only an hour until Santa, no one is bathed or dressed (both babies are asleep actually), and apparently the post office closes at 3 p.m. on Saturdays! What!?! Will have to mail off my east coast gifts Monday. The package is light so I am hopeful I can send it first class and get it there by Thursday . . . nothing like cutting it close to the wire!

Oh, Christmas tree

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

How steadfast are your branches!

Your boughs are green in summer's clime

And through the snows of wintertime.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

How steadfast are your branches!

We finally have a tree! It isn't decorated as of yet, but it is up in the living room. It's very cute, if a bit tipsy-looking as it lists to the side. Maddie is very excited about having a tree inside, and keeps saying "tree!" and asking me "wasthis?" when she wants me to confirm that we do, indeed, have a tree sitting in the living room. The plan is to decorate Mr. Tree tonight after we go see Santa (his sleigh is stopping at 5 pm on the street behind ours for pictures and canned food donations).

Here are some pictures of our tree finding adventure. This is the same lot we've been going to since our first Christmas together 8 years ago. We stopped there Christmas Eve on the way back from our honeymoon in Solvang. Side note: both kids and mommy are sick, which explains the slightly spacey looks on the babies.

Maddie and Daddy strolling the tree lanes

Maddie's come hither look . . . why, yes, those are her pink Winnie the Pooh sneakers, thanks for noticing ;)

Posing in front of a "Charlie Brown" tree while we wait for our tree to get a stand and netted, don't they look so into it?

James on the roof of the car with our tree, he is master of all he surveys . . .

One of Ed's (in)famous one-handed family portraits

Give away madness

Seriously folks, there are way too many give aways going on right now on all these lovely sewing and craft blogs.  It is insane!!!!  Here is the latest one I have entered, and I suggest you do too . . . a jelly roll, layer cake and a quilt pattern . . . awesome!

Visit Green Fairy Quilts to enter . . . they are also having an amazing sale, if only I have money to spend!