Christmas Sewing

I've been working on a number of Christmas projects in the last couple of months. It sure has been fun to work on projects with specific people in mind!

I started two projects early in November - the first was a dress for my little niece, Anna.

  

I added a white ruffle at the bottom of the skirt, because it was a little short, but I - of course - forgot to take a picture.

The second was a set of Christmas place mats for my mother-in-law, Barb. I used a variety of Christmas fabrics that I had in my stash. A few were fabrics that I had made our kids' stockings out of, and a few were from my Grandma, who was the first person I knew who quilted.

Each place mat is different, and I didn't use a pattern, but tried to keep them approximately the same size by using 3.5" squares. I didn't get a picture of them all bound and finished, but they turned out pretty well, and my mother-in-law was able to use them all throughout the Christmas season!

I also made a few hot pads for my mother-in-law to give as gifts to family. Each one is made with scraps, and I had fun playing with some free motion quilting on them - they're all different!

Two weeks ago, I finally bought Made by Rae's pattern for the geranium dress, and I'm in love! So far I have made four dresses and a top, and I'm excited to make more and more! I ordered some fabric from Bari J's line, Bijoux, from Hawthorne Threads for a special project, and while I was waiting for it to ship from the East coast, I found a yard of fabric that belonged to my mom and whipped up my first dress for Audrey.

I was a little intimidated by the button holes in this dress, but I figured out how to do them on my sewing machine, and it was easy-peasy! No problem at all! 

And then, when my fabric came (they actually ship really quickly, but I'm not very patient!) I had enough extra after cutting out my patterns for a secret project, that I could also make a little geranium shirt for Audrey.

(David said this doesn't really look like Audrey, I think because she's sitting still, which doesn't happen all that often.)

It's been really fun to do all this sewing this holiday season, but I still have one more project to finish- it should be a quick and easy one though. :) Last night I finished a big project - one I can't share yet. It sure feels good to get things finished. And Audrey's excited too!

She's been sick this week, so it's good to see her smiling big like this, even though she's still a little sleepy.

Filling In Some Gaps

There are some gaps in what I've finished recently, and what I've actually posted about recently. In the last few months, I've finished a couple different quilts and smaller projects and forgot to share any pictures of them. We've been a little busy, soccer season is in full swing, but the end is in sight, so hopefully we'll get a better routine going in the next few weeks. 

I finished my Scrappy Trip to Ethiopia quilt in September. A family friend offered to quilt it for me, so it flew on down to Georgia, and came back looking so good! She chose circles for the quilting, and I love how it turned out!

This quilt was raffled off for a local family to take a mission trip to Ethopia, and surprise, my mother-in-law won it! I'm pretty excited for her to have it -- it's staying in the family! 

Another quilt I've been working on is a small, gray and red one, made of a fat quarter pack I got in a fabric swap a couple years ago. While I was piecing the top of this quilt, a friend's husband was in the hospital recovering for a pretty severe injury. I spent a lot of time praying while I put this one together.

It has such a special meaning to me, because I made it for a friend's little boy, who will be coming to the US very soon from Ethiopia. His adoption is almost finalized, and I am excited for him to use this quilt! Micah and I have prayed for him often, and many many times, so it seems fitting for him to have this one. 

For the back I used a gray flannel with white dots, and a red chevron for the binding. The quilting is a scallop design that I did free motion on my Pfaff, and I think it turned out alright. There are some inconsistencies, but it seemed to blend in alright. I need to get myself a good pair of grippy gloves that are solely for quilting, so I can get a better grip on the fabric! 

I have also finished a few other fun projects - one is a single Swoon block mini-quilt, which I made for my sister for her birthday. She hung it up in her dining room, by her sewing space. :) I really love this pattern, and I think I'll be making more soon! This picture is from when I was basting, of course, and I did straight-line quilting near the horizontal and vertical seams.

I also made this fun fabric banner for the baby shower I hosted last week -- I think it will live in Audrey's room eventually. At least, after her birthday party. I can't even believe that in 12 days, my baby will be a year old! 

Now I need to plan a quilt for her big-girl bed, which she'll move into sometime in the next two years. If I start now, maybe I can get it finished by her 3rd birthday? Maybe.

I've been working on Micah's Halloween costume the last week or so, and I'm excited to share the finished product in a couple of days!