I'm still technically not done, but...

If you can't tell by this post, I'm a procrastinator. Thought I'd recap what I was able to give out (and technically finish) these past couple days, though I'm still needing to finish a couple more gifts. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and that everyone enjoyed your amazing crafty gift goodness!

Another pleated clutch, with layered fabric

Ginger schnapps, in single size jars

Shortbread

Cockroach ornaments, based off of Very Purple Person's tutorial

Poorly self-drafted capes

Felt-applique t-shirt

Diaper clutch, again poorly self-drafted

Earthworm ornaments

I'm still technically not done, but...

If you can't tell by this post, I'm a procrastinator. Thought I'd recap what I was able to give out (and technically finish) these past couple days, though I'm still needing to finish a couple more gifts. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and that everyone enjoyed your amazing crafty gift goodness!

Another pleated clutch, with layered fabric

Ginger schnapps, in single size jars

Shortbread

Cockroach ornaments, based off of Very Purple Person's tutorial

Poorly self-drafted capes

Felt-applique t-shirt

Diaper clutch, again poorly self-drafted

Earthworm ornaments

Extreme last minute crafting

Hello again, Aleah from no time to sew with my last (last minute) crafty gifts. First up, made the night before it was gifted, a couple things for a work friend:

The first is a purse organizer and a small zipper pouch. She always wants to change her purses to match her outfits, but complains about what a pain it is to transfer all her purse contents all the time, so I thought this might help. It's basically a strip of pockets that she can fill with purse stuff, roll up and stick in one purse, then pull it out and move it to another purse easily. I just winged the construction, more details here. The zipper pouch is from this tutorial.

The second item is this super simple jersey circle scarf. This has got to be the easiest gift of all time to make. I bought a third of a yard of jersey from the bulk bin at my local fabric shop. I trimmed off the selvages, then used a ruler and rotary cutter to make the long edges nice and straight, and sewed the short ends together. Done. So if it happens to be Christmas Eve and you're one gift short, might I suggest a jersey circle scarf? I think it took me longer to buy the fabric than to make the scarf, seriously.

I also made my mom a case for the Kindle Fire my dad is getting her:

It's basically from this tutorial, resized for a Kindle (luckily, it turns out that the dimensions of the Fire are the same as my regular old Kindle, so I made this case the same size as one I made earlier in the year for myself). I lined the case with a scrap of black corduroy left over from a skirt I made last year. The lining is visible around all the edges, of course, because my lining always seems to end up bigger than my outside fabric for some reason, but I'm just going to pretend it was intentional since it kind of looks like trim. Here it is open, with my Kindle in it. The bird screen saver seemed appropriate for the fabric (it's Alexander Henry's Bird Seed, which my mom actually gave me last year because she liked it but couldn't think of anything to make with it!)

So woo-hoo, Christmas Crafting complete! Have a Merry Christmas, everyone. May it be filled with family, friends, food, and plenty of crafty gifts too!

Extreme last minute crafting

Hello again, Aleah from no time to sew with my last (last minute) crafty gifts. First up, made the night before it was gifted, a couple things for a work friend:

The first is a purse organizer and a small zipper pouch. She always wants to change her purses to match her outfits, but complains about what a pain it is to transfer all her purse contents all the time, so I thought this might help. It's basically a strip of pockets that she can fill with purse stuff, roll up and stick in one purse, then pull it out and move it to another purse easily. I just winged the construction, more details here. The zipper pouch is from this tutorial.

The second item is this super simple jersey circle scarf. This has got to be the easiest gift of all time to make. I bought a third of a yard of jersey from the bulk bin at my local fabric shop. I trimmed off the selvages, then used a ruler and rotary cutter to make the long edges nice and straight, and sewed the short ends together. Done. So if it happens to be Christmas Eve and you're one gift short, might I suggest a jersey circle scarf? I think it took me longer to buy the fabric than to make the scarf, seriously.

I also made my mom a case for the Kindle Fire my dad is getting her:

It's basically from this tutorial, resized for a Kindle (luckily, it turns out that the dimensions of the Fire are the same as my regular old Kindle, so I made this case the same size as one I made earlier in the year for myself). I lined the case with a scrap of black corduroy left over from a skirt I made last year. The lining is visible around all the edges, of course, because my lining always seems to end up bigger than my outside fabric for some reason, but I'm just going to pretend it was intentional since it kind of looks like trim. Here it is open, with my Kindle in it. The bird screen saver seemed appropriate for the fabric (it's Alexander Henry's Bird Seed, which my mom actually gave me last year because she liked it but couldn't think of anything to make with it!)

So woo-hoo, Christmas Crafting complete! Have a Merry Christmas, everyone. May it be filled with family, friends, food, and plenty of crafty gifts too!

Whew! Almost finished

Life got away from me the last month.  Apparently trying to make Christmas gifts and starting a blog while working a full time + part time job was not a good idea.  ;)

I want to share some of my finished (as of 10 minutes ago) gifts.
For my two nieces:

 The skirts are the circle pattern from Favorite Things - easy and fun to sew.












The pleated purses are from http://mommybydaycrafterbynight.blogspot.com/2011/10/pleated-purse-tutorial.html .  The pleating takes a bit of time but the instructions for these are great!

We also gave away over 30 jars of homemade jelly.

And my homemade vanilla and lemoncello is ready to decant and bottle up.

  One of my New Year's resolutions is to get regular about blogging!  I received a pressure cooker for my birthday so I anticipate more canning and my fabric stash is getting out of control so sewing will be happening.
   I've really enjoyed seeing the pictures and reading about everyone's gifts.  Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring me.
    Happy Holidays!

Whew! Almost finished

Life got away from me the last month.  Apparently trying to make Christmas gifts and starting a blog while working a full time + part time job was not a good idea.  ;)

I want to share some of my finished (as of 10 minutes ago) gifts.
For my two nieces:

 The skirts are the circle pattern from Favorite Things - easy and fun to sew.












The pleated purses are from http://mommybydaycrafterbynight.blogspot.com/2011/10/pleated-purse-tutorial.html .  The pleating takes a bit of time but the instructions for these are great!

We also gave away over 30 jars of homemade jelly.

And my homemade vanilla and lemoncello is ready to decant and bottle up.

  One of my New Year's resolutions is to get regular about blogging!  I received a pressure cooker for my birthday so I anticipate more canning and my fabric stash is getting out of control so sewing will be happening.
   I've really enjoyed seeing the pictures and reading about everyone's gifts.  Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring me.
    Happy Holidays!

Pillows, Snoods & Table Decorations!

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I posted here due to some unexpected travel, but here's what I've been up to in the crafty Christmas world:

Pillows
I made these pillows for my sister from fabric she bought on our trip to Hawaii last year (Kapaia Stitchery on the island of Kaua'i, great prices!). These were supposed to be for her birthday in February (oops), but better late than never! I bought pillows from the craft store and just sewed 2 fabric pieces together and flipped them right side out. I slipstitched them closed after inserting the pillow. I bought the blue fabric to make a dress, but borrowed some of it here since I thought it made for a more complete group!

Snood Fever Continues!
This is my version of the snood made world famous by Karen from Did You Make That? I made 3! This snood is made from Merino wool that I bought at the Brooklyn General Store in Brooklyn, New York and was my first knitting project in years. I started it in New York and finished it in Virginia! This one went to my friend who is heading back to France next month. Should keep her nice and toasty.

Table Runner/Napkins

And finally, I made a table runner and napkins for my mom, as she loves decorating for the holidays. I gave them to her a bit before Christmas so she could enjoy the festiveness! For the table runner, I used sew-in interfacing to weigh down the lighter weight reindeer cotton and found that slowly ironing out the bumps in the fabric helped keep the fabric flat. I also used my walking foot which helped keep the fabric layers from shifting.

The napkins were made using the rolled hem setting on my overlocker. It's the first time I've used this feature and I love how it turned out! It looks like the edges are bound with a narrow bias tape and it was so fast and easy to make.

Happy holidays, all!

~Amanda from Sewin' in the Rain

Pillows, Snoods & Table Decorations!

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I posted here due to some unexpected travel, but here's what I've been up to in the crafty Christmas world:

Pillows
I made these pillows for my sister from fabric she bought on our trip to Hawaii last year (Kapaia Stitchery on the island of Kaua'i, great prices!). These were supposed to be for her birthday in February (oops), but better late than never! I bought pillows from the craft store and just sewed 2 fabric pieces together and flipped them right side out. I slipstitched them closed after inserting the pillow. I bought the blue fabric to make a dress, but borrowed some of it here since I thought it made for a more complete group!

Snood Fever Continues!
This is my version of the snood made world famous by Karen from Did You Make That? I made 3! This snood is made from Merino wool that I bought at the Brooklyn General Store in Brooklyn, New York and was my first knitting project in years. I started it in New York and finished it in Virginia! This one went to my friend who is heading back to France next month. Should keep her nice and toasty.

Table Runner/Napkins

And finally, I made a table runner and napkins for my mom, as she loves decorating for the holidays. I gave them to her a bit before Christmas so she could enjoy the festiveness! For the table runner, I used sew-in interfacing to weigh down the lighter weight reindeer cotton and found that slowly ironing out the bumps in the fabric helped keep the fabric flat. I also used my walking foot which helped keep the fabric layers from shifting.

The napkins were made using the rolled hem setting on my overlocker. It's the first time I've used this feature and I love how it turned out! It looks like the edges are bound with a narrow bias tape and it was so fast and easy to make.

Happy holidays, all!

~Amanda from Sewin' in the Rain

phew . . .

I thought I wouldn't finish these throws in time.

Nearly finished my shopping and wrapping - now for some serious baking!

More festive fun over on my blog

phew . . .

I thought I wouldn't finish these throws in time.

Nearly finished my shopping and wrapping - now for some serious baking!

More festive fun over on my blog

Oven gloves and stockings

Hi everyone! Joanne here from StitchandWitter. I've been thoroughly enjoying all your crafty Christmas makes so have snaffled the guest login from Tilly to add my own small post. This weekend, I've been whipping up a bunch of oven gloves for my mum and sisters, using this tutorial. It's been so easy and a great way to do a bit of stash-busting. I used insulated wadding which is extra protective for handling hot stuff so hopefully they're practical as well as unique.

On my sister's request I also put together a few Christmas stockings for her.... dogs! Yep - these are for Nancy, Clint and Nacho. Hope they appreciate them :)

I've been so inspired by all your crafty makes - I've already got loads of ideas for next year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all xxx

Oven gloves and stockings

Hi everyone! Joanne here from StitchandWitter. I've been thoroughly enjoying all your crafty Christmas makes so have snaffled the guest login from Tilly to add my own small post. This weekend, I've been whipping up a bunch of oven gloves for my mum and sisters, using this tutorial. It's been so easy and a great way to do a bit of stash-busting. I used insulated wadding which is extra protective for handling hot stuff so hopefully they're practical as well as unique.

On my sister's request I also put together a few Christmas stockings for her.... dogs! Yep - these are for Nancy, Clint and Nacho. Hope they appreciate them :)

I've been so inspired by all your crafty makes - I've already got loads of ideas for next year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all xxx

The last one!

I finished my last Christmas present! These are for my two little sisters. They asked for some ear warmers like they had seen in a shop, but in their favourite colours :) They're very simple, an inch of rib, two inches of stockinette, and another inch of rib. Oh and two huge pom poms :)

I hope they like them!

Ashley x

The last one!

I finished my last Christmas present! These are for my two little sisters. They asked for some ear warmers like they had seen in a shop, but in their favourite colours :) They're very simple, an inch of rib, two inches of stockinette, and another inch of rib. Oh and two huge pom poms :)

I hope they like them!

Ashley x