Grand Finish

I have finished all the presents I set out to make, with only 1 dress with matching purse left to do, and that was actually on commission that I agreed to make it.

I made:
2 ties Thomas the Tank Engine
1 little boy's Thomas the Tank Engine shirt
7 duet aprons-4 adult and 3 child, blue snowmen, gingerbread, red/green stripe
2 chef hats-gingerbread fabric
1 firewood carrier-white canvas
1 memory book-just for daddy
3 scripture cases-brown, blue, maroon denim
28 letter spice ornaments-applesauce, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg
50 present shaped spice ornaments
Secret Sibling Gift- twin size quilt, scarf, misc pamper stuff
2 Wordles-frames, printing fees
6 FSL Bookmarks
2 Timeout/Quiet Mats
Almost done: 1 dress and purse-Thomas the Tank Engine

Materials Bought: yarn, spices, frames, printing fees
Number of Projects:108
Grand Total: 10.02

Finished Last Set of Spice Ornaments

I finally finished the last batch of spice ornaments and was kind of disappointed by this one as some of them are a tad too thin for my tastes. I'm going to go ahead and give them and then tell them that if they are not happy with them, I will make another set for them later.

Last of the Duet Aprons

A few days ago I had a brilliant idea on how to use a fabric in my stash right before I fell asleep. I could barely restrain myself from jumping up at midnight and checking to see if I had enough of it to do what I wanted to. I started to cut it out and then knew somehow that I had to make three, two adult and one child. Later that day, I received a phone call that we had been invited to Christmas dinner with my husband's sister-in-law's mother's family on Christmas day. These aprons will be perfect as a set gift for the three girls in that family.
Total cost: $0

Timeout/Quiet Mats

I wasn't really going to count these, but I was on a roll this afternoon and just wanted to finish them. With the prospect of a move coming up and being in different places, I started to think about how I can help my kids be on the best behavior. I saw something similar a while back and figured out a way to make my own and have them be good for the kids too. They do fight a lot, being so close in age it's a given, and I hope that also they will be able to have a place to just sit down and be quiet in the midst of all the stress that I know will be coming. I took 2 coordinating FQ's, a piece of batting the same size and 2 lengths of matching ribbons and sewed them all together to make these.

Wordle Art

So this morning I decided that since it was raining, we would have to get out at some point in time today, and what better reason than to go print some wordles that I would whip up right then and we could also go to DollarTree and get some frames too. Two Wordles, one for my mom and one for my hubby's mom, cost me: $2.67
I apologize once again for the pictures and any further pictures of the projects I finished today.

Scripture Case Instructions

Someone asked about these, and I have to say that I really just copied one that someone had made for me a long time ago, but here are my instructions on making a case that would fit a quad or a bible and a notebook.

Cut out of a sturdy fabric:
(1) 9 1/2" x 22 1/2" rectangle
(1) 5" x 4 1/4" rectangle
(2) 11" x 3 1/4" strips

Using the 5" x 4 1/4" rectangle, make the pocket. I finished one long edge for the top of the pocket by making a scarce 1/4" hem. Then I turned the other edges to the wrong side by 1/4" and then stitched it down approximately in the middle of the side of the big rectangle. I really did just eyeball it so I can't give you definite placement. Then sew the two short sides of the big rectangle together in a french seam, meaning sew wrong sides together in a 1/4" seam and then sew right sides together in a 1/2" seam. Then sew the bottom in a french seam as well. Fold the side so the two seams meet and stitch across the point 1 1/2" from the point. Do the same for the other side. Make a 1/4 inch hem along the top. For the handles stitch the long edges together in a 3/8" seam and then turn right side out. Topstitch the edges 1/8 inch in or use a decorative stitch or a ribbon. Repeat for the second strap. Sew the straps down approximately 3" from the sides. I stitched them down making a square and then going diagonally across the square just to insure stability. You can add embroidery on the side with out the pocket, rickrack, ribbons, or anything else you feel like putting on there.
I hope this makes sense, and if there are any questions, feel free to ask them and I will try to explain further.

Another Update

I just finished two more gifts, both for my husband who happens to have my camera right now, but I hope I can describe them to you well enough for you to visualize them. With these two done, I only have three more aprons and one little girl's dress with matching circular purse left to finish. I made my husband a firewood carrier out of some really dowel scraps left over from my shelves we had put into the sewing corner when we first moved into this house and some canvas someone gave me yesterday. We love a roaring fire when the temperature starts dipping down, but being in SoCal, that doesn't happen too often. I also put together a little book for him of all the reasons why we, meaning the kids and I, love him. I had my daughter help by telling me what to write and picking out the pages to put into it.

Finally some Pictures

So my awesome hubby agreed that we really do need a camera, so he went and got a new one. Unfortunately, it is not better than the old one, which is 4 1/2 years old. The pictures are not so good, and I do not understand this flash. But here are a few pictures of the four aprons and two chef hats I finished.

Another Update

I am getting really frustrated with this camera. It had a minor meltdown last Saturday, but somehow my husband convinced it to work until last night. I tried to take some pictures of the aprons I finished last night and now the camera won't talk to me or the computer. The aprons turned out so cute, I'm getting addicted to the duet apron pattern, I want to keep cutting out patterns because I can see in my head how great they will turn out and people's reactions, but I'm running out of people to give them to. The ones I finished last night were a blue snowman print and a blue gingerbread with 8 point quilt stars on the third fabric. I'm also almost done with two that were from gingerbread fabrics for my daughter and I, and I even had enough extra fabric to cut out chef hats for us, hopefully tomorrow I can sit and do some more sewing after I do some cleaning.

Spice Ornaments 2

I mixed up another batch of spice ornaments for handouts for Enrichment night tomorrow, but the leftovers will be going to any one else I feel needs a little something special to give them a lift. These smell so good when they are being mixed and then set out to dry, my husband wants me to keep making them, but I'm out of cloves, so no on that one. With materials on hand and then the cost of the spices, I made roughly 80 ornaments for only $3.77. Also keep an eye out at different grocery stores, we found the spices at Staters Bros., but the very small bottle was $10 for just the cloves and the nutmeg was almost as expensive as well. We went to the farmers market/fruit stand and were able to get them in smaller quantities for way cheaper than that.

My very first crochet project

I finished it! Wahoo, I am so excited it is done. It wasn't really difficult once I figured out how to do it, the hard part was keeping the balls of yarn away from my kids who wanted to roll it all around the room or take it out of mommy's hands and try to figure out what she was doing with it. This also means that my secret sibling gift is done, with some help from my little bit crazy family. And the cost for the complete basket was only $3.58.

The scarf in her school colors:


The basket. The quilt is folded into the bottom of the basket and then the little things are displayed and tucked into the folds of the quilt. There's a manicure/pedicure kit, some sparkly toenail polish, some treats, and some bath salts. I just have to place the scarf inside and then wrap it up.

Another Birthday/Christmas Project

So I posted pictures earlier of my little girl's dress, but since Saturday was my youngest boys birthday, I finished the boys shirts so we could take special pictures. I like to do the math in advance if I'm going to do matching outfits and buy all the fabric at once with a 40% off coupon and then maybe mix in a solid or contrasting color that might be cheaper than the main fabric, so I'm buying the same total amount of fabric, but of two different fabrics with one less expensive, so the total is less. I also made the ties out of this fabric and have made some bowties as well, so this fabric was really well loved at this house this year.

Scripture Cases

Three of my projects got finished last Wednesday, since they were technically for my son's friends birthdays, but I gave some for early Christmas gifts as well. I also forgot to take a picture before they were wrapped up, so here's one of the little boy opening it. It is big enough to fit a quad set of scriptures, or just the small BOM with a notepad. The little by said "cool, 'cause mine is broken huh?" I made them in denim in three different colors: brown, blue and burgundy.

Cutting up the rug!

Ok, not quite the rug, but a lot of stuff. I finally got my stuff organized enough to feel comfortable to start in on some projects and got my awesome hubby to watch the kids for a while for me. Yesterday I cut out: 4 duet aprons, 2 chef hats, 3 scripture cases, 1 little girl's dress and 1 purse to match the dress. I like to organize my projects by putting them in a ziploc bag with a note inside saying which project it is, what size it is and if it needs anything special to go with it like a zipper or some buttons. I just finished up a double batch of spice ornaments and have almost all of them done except for 5 letters. I'm making them the for all of our extended family members. I also am making them as gift boxes for an Enrichment Night activity next week. I just hope they turn out all right.

Just a Thought

Even though we are trying to do only three gifts each for my kids, I discovered something that will probably be part of my little girl's book backpack or at least get tucked inside of it. I noticed this week that my little girl was asking to read a certain book when we went to the library, a "pink bunny" book. Now, I admit that I hadn't really registered that she read the same book every time we went back, but when I thought about it, she had. I got onto the library's webpage and looked up the book, turn's out it's called "It's Spring" by Samantha Berger. Once I found that out, I went over to this other awesome webpage called Bookmooch where you can share and receive books for just the cost of shipping. I found the book available and I was able to mooch it right away. I'm hoping that it will be in the mail some time early next week, so I can get it by Christmas to hide under the tree. Another gift that didn't cost me a thing. If you have books you want to get rid of, but don't want to just toss them away this webpage is really great for that:

Update

Life has been hectic here, as I am sure it has been for a lot of other people. Someone gifted us a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey and everything. I had never cooked a turkey before Thursday and it terrified me to bits, but it isn't any worse than some other stuff I've made.
I'm trying to make a list of all the gifts and/or people that need to be taken care of this year and every time I try to do it, someone gets left off or forgotten.

Let's see:
my husband-maybe a firewood carrier or a book of coupons (like this is good for one date night or one night off from the chores)
my oldest boy-4- a backpack for library books
little girl-almost 3-need to make her pj's, an apron and chef's hat and a backpack
my youngest boy-almost 1-won't really understand what's going on and has a birthday in the next couple of weeks, need's pj's (maybe my favorite butt-flap sleeper) and maybe a shirt and tie to match older brother?
all of the other family- make spice ornaments in their initials
my secret santa sibling-finishing a twin size quilt, scarf in school colors, pampered basket
and maybe something special for myself since my husband says he has no idea
I also want to make some stuff for another little girl, almost 2 whose dad was laid off about a month ago, I gave her a cabbage patch doll the last time they were over, so maybe a new outfit and a bag for dolly?
I also have to come up with two birthday presents for my son's friends and for myself and my youngest son and make a dress for my SIL to give to someone else

I need to get busy, but I finally made it into my sewing area yesterday and cleaned like crazy. I will also take the time tonight to set up my cutting board and try to cut out all the projects.

Secret Santa Sibling Gift Update

I finally finished the biggest part to this gift, the quilt. Even though I started it before the challenge began, this project actually didn't cost anything besides 1 small spool of thread because I ran out in the middle of the quilting of the variegated thread I was using. I swiped the Harry Potter fabric from my MIL a couple of years ago, these were scraps left over from a quilt she had made for my BIL and didn't know what do with. I matched them up with the stars fabrics that were already in my stash and then quilted stars all over it. There is a pillow pocket on the back to fold it up into a quillow and it will fit a twin size bed.

My First Obstacle

I tried so hard to get into my sewing area this weekend so I could take stock of what I have on hand. But did that happen? Of course not. I just moved some stuff around right now to put my machine over there because there just wasn't room for it. I hope to get over there this weekend because I just found a great idea for some little ornaments and I wanted to put those together these weekend as well. I'm also hoping that by posting these pictures here, I'll have a little more ommph to get in there and get started.

My first Goal

My first project goal is to find my sewing area-as in clean it up and out and figure out what exactly is hiding back there. Then I want to finish up my secret santa sibling gift, just to get it out of the way, because it is the biggest project to work on.

My latest sewing projects

I started these before the competition began, but they are the reason that I chose the tie pattern for the second book. I have two boys and one girl. My little girl loves for me to make stuff for her all the time, but my oldest boy is pickier. One of the ties was for a friend who had seen my sons and HAD to have one exactly like it. I want to make a tie and a play shirt for my littlest boy next and someone has also already requested a dress for another friend of theirs.