December 29, 2018

Christmas Gifts 2018

Now that all the Christmas gifts have been gifted, I can share all of the things I made this year, most of which you've seen at least in part recently 😊

There were the cat pillows that I've shared already and the snowflake ornaments for my grandmother, one of which is shown in the tutorial showing how I finish the ornaments. Here's the full set of three.
embroidered snowflake ornaments | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
The snowflakes in the middle and on the left were designed by Mollie Johanson and the one on the right is from Craft Foxes.

These are the ornaments for our boys this year. Aiden is 16, so he gets an approximation of our van on his ornament in honour of having his beginner's license.
Aiden's ornament | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Zachary's ornament is a basketball player because he has been all about basketball this year, playing on both the junior and senior school teams, plus taking part in men's league pick up games whenever he could.
Zachary's ornament | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Nathan's ornament is a book because this was the year he finally started reading for fun, rather than just doing the absolute minimum reading required as part of his homework. Reading the Harry Potter books was definitely the start of it and it's great to see him reading (and enjoying it!) so much more.
Nathan's ornament | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
I gave my Dad my Night Sky quilt, (the pattern for which is on my needs-to-be-released list). Dad enjoys looking at the stars and taught me to love it, too, so this seemed like the perfect quilt to give him, especially after I realized that I've never given him a quilt. I've given Mom a couple of wall hanging sized quilts, but that's it. She has laid claim to my Indecisive quilt, so when I (eventually) finish quilting that they'll each have a me-made quilt.

I gave Mom this rock art canvas, which was a lot of fun to make.
Nathan's ornament | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
I picked up the rocks at my favourite nearby beach and painted them to make daisies, her favourite flower. I have an abundance of rock and sea glass art ideas pinned on Pinterest, so I'd say I'll be making more like this. It's really a summertime activity, though, since it's currently too cold to be rock hunting on the beach!

For my coffee loving husband, I painted and framed this canvas. I even painted the background with coffee! Then, while painting the letters, I could smell the coffee, lol.
coffee quote | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
I made two sets of 15 Christmas napkins, one set for us and another for a friend.
napkins | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
I made 5 each with these three fabrics, just cutting them into 10" squares. I decided on that size by taking a precut square from my stash and pretending I was wiping my fingers, lol. I discovered the purpose of a new sewing machine foot in the process of making the napkins. This is the overedge foot and using it allowed me to stitch a perfect zigzag along the edge of the fabric without it folding, pulling or puckering. I love learning how to use a foot that I've never used before!
overedge foot | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Let me say, using the napkins for the first time and intentionally wiping messy fingers across a piece of my good fabric was a strange feeling! The plan now is to make a set for everyday use to eliminate the need to buy paper napkins.

Nathan also made gifts for everyone in the family, all out of cardboard. He made me a sewing machine, complete with a needle, the turtle and rabbit speed setting and the stitch selection 😊
cardboard sewing machine | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
For Aiden, he made a guitar and an amp. The guitar has frets and tuning screws and the guitar is connected to the amp by a piece of twine.
cardboard guitar | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Zach, an avid reader, got a cardboard version of Oathbringer, a Brandon Sanderson book.
cardboard book | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
And for Paul, a fan of the Marvel movies and characters, Nathan made a cartoon version of Stan Lee.
It was fun to see Nathan so excited about each of the gifts he was making and to see his brothers be so enthusiastic about the things he made for them. I love knowing that he gets to experience the joy of giving handmade gifts.

I still have placemats to make for Paul's mother, but she was told already that they wouldn't be finished in time for Christmas and she's content to wait until whenever I get them done. There will be dresden plates involved, so I'm looking forward to finally getting the fabric for them, hopefully sometime next week.

Phew! I think that's the most handmade things I've ever gifted for one Christmas. Now to try to keep Christmas from somehow sneaking up on me next year so I can make most of my gifts again 😊

6 comments:

  1. I love the handmade gifts--Nathan's most of all since they remind me of my son's projects.

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  2. Very cute Christmas ornaments, they are very special.

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  3. The ornaments are awesome. Wow...you made a lot of gifts this year.

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  4. Love love love the cardboard creations!! Stan Lee would be impressed! Homemade gifts all the way!

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  5. Love love love the cardboard creations!! Stan Lee would be impressed! Homemade gifts all the way!

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  6. The ornaments you made are fantastic, Leanne. What a treasure for your boys to have to look back on. And those cardboard gifts that Nathan made are fantastic!

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