Christmas Sewing Projects...

I don't do much posting these days. My this past year's goal has been to be far less dependent on feeling like I need to let other people know everything I'm doing on a daily basis. But I do want to show my sewing projects from this year for anyone interested.

This  is "Bright Squares", a little floor quilt I made for Luna. What I mean by floor quilt is that I thought it would be a bright colorful pattern a baby would like to lay on and play. I saw a similar pattern in a magazine and adapted it to my own design. The front is cotton, the batting, "Cream Rose", an all cotton batting, and the backing is a pale yellow cotton flannel. It is machine quilted in various patterns on the different color panels.

 "JBird Frenzy" was actually Josie's third year birthday quilt. Abbie showed me a quilt and color scheme she liked and I designed from there. It is made with all cotton fabrics, Cream Rose batting, and a premium cotton fabric on the back with tiny birds on it. She loved it.

These are some aprons I made. Jordy requested a "big girl like Aunt Sara" apron, the red and pink fabric. Isaiah got a blue check waterproof apron because he LOVES helping with dishes but gets pretty soaked. Previously I had wrapped a plastic bag around his middle underneath his cloth apron. I think he'll like this much better! The other two are lookalikes made for Abbie and Josie out of vintage dish towels, replete with rickrack!

Next up are two quilts I whipped up for Jamie and Hunter. Jamie wanted a lap quilt. Many people don't realize that Jamie works at GE Railcar in unheated spaces for the most part and comes home pretty frozen. I hope this warms him up. There is a pillow with a wolf on it that goes with it. Hunter's quilt has a fishing/outdoor theme. He basically just needed a warm blanket for his bed. Both quilts have cotton tops, warm polyfill batting, and fleece backs.

This is an activity board I made for Josie. I had made her one a couple of years ago and Abbie suggested that an updated one designed to teach her some handy new skills would be a great gift adea.  It has a shoe on one side with an attached lace that can be undone and laced back up, as well as tied. Along the side is a row of wooden spools to thread a lace through. The other side sports a separating zippered jacket with a button down shirt underneath. And of course it must have the prerequisite label reading, "Gramma LOVES Josie!" underneath another little clip attachment to practice on. It is made with a neutral colored felt fabric over craft board, and the designs are appliquéd and stitched down onto the felt.

This is a hand sewn doll I made for Moon Baby (Luna). It has a soft wool yarn ball head and hands, loosely rolled. The "skin" fabric is from a recycled merino wool sweater. The stuffing for the body is simply the extra fabric that hung down from the head and hood portion, and it has a little pouch of tiny bells encased inside the body. The outside is an extremely soft fleece type fabric in pale yellow. The face is embroidered on.

And last but not least is "Primitive Stars". This is a quilt design Kelly asked me to make for her earlier in the year that she wanted pay for. I suggested I just make it for her for Christmas and she liked that idea. It was pretty interesting to make due to the added issues of using appliqué for the stars, as well as sewing numerous curves into the pattern. It went really well though and I think it turned out great. I believe in always giving credit where credit is due...it's only right and fair...so when I was trying to decide what color to go with for the backing Abbie suggested that the burgundy would make the whole thing "pop", and I'm glad I listened. It really does. The addition of my favorite dark red fabric as the border brought the whole design out even more. I was pretty pleased with it, and extremely pleased to put the last tie in and be done with Christmas sewing! "Primitive Stars" has an all cotton top, warm poly fill batting, and is backed with strong egyptian cotton. (And yes, those ARE beautiful, fat snowflakes dancing across the surface on Christmas Eve!)

Now to start on next year's projects!!! Yes to your question, I do indeed have most of them already planned!