Handmade Christmas Gifts 2012

First I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! 

I have been meaning to share the Christmas presents I made this year. I have been so busy this month, I really need to be more organised - between Christmas and all the birthdays at this time of year, I am quickly running out of time to finish birthday gifts! 

The good news is that I have decided on most of my Christmas gifts for 2013. Even better I can get started on them whenever I like... lets see how many I have wrapped and ready before December 2013! 

So this year I decided to make good use of my fabulous new sewing machine to make all of my Christmas gifts. The added bonus was that I got to practice my sewing skills and I now have a nice variety of scrap fabric. 

Because I like to make things fair, I had to think of a Christmas gift that would be suitable for all 22 people on my list. So I opted for cushions with the thought that they can be used in either the bedroom or lounge room, as well as being suitable gifts for kids. Sure guys might not appreciate the decorative aspect of cushions, but they do appreciate the many ways they can use a cushion! 

I ended up sewing most of the inserts for the cushions, and have decided I really need a couple of the rectangular ones for myself! 

The hardest part was choosing fabric for everyone, but everyone seemed pretty happy with their cushions. 

For my husbands Opa and Oma (centre photo) I opted to make a little scrap section on the backs featuring fabric from their kids and grandkids cushions. The bird fabric I used for the front of their cushion will also be used in our 2nd anniversary quilt (when I get started on it). 

At least couples were a little easier as they got matching cushions. On some cushions I opted to use a feature colour as the zip, rather than just plain black or white. 

Overall it was a fun project, but rather stressful - I'm glad it is over!

Merry Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas! 

I hope you have a great day, filled with delicious food, family and fun! 

Meanwhile, I still have two gifts to finish making so we can leave to spend Christmas at my parents house...

German Paper Stars

I went a little overboard recently when I found a tutorial for a really cute paper star! I was orginally looking for origami Christmas ornaments when I found some instructions on how to make these German Paper Stars. The instructions I found were far to confusing but after a little more searching I found a great YouTube tutorial. I still had to pause and go back a few times but it was easy once I worked it. 

And after cutting far too many strips of paper, I now have some new ornaments to add to my tree... 

I haven't decided what to do with the little stars yet, maybe a garland for the window - I may have to make more though and I'm not sure I'm up to it anymore! 

If you are up for a paper folding/weaving challenge you really should give these stars a try. And might I suggest you don't start making them with 6mm paper strips like I did. I really don't know what I was thinking when I cut all those strips! 

I have lots more of my crafting adventures to share with you, once I get the time. You gotta love Christmas...

Little girls peasant dresses

I am a little behind in sharing my crafty pieces lately, but my excuse is that I have been busy making Christmas presents and decorations! 

Anyway, I recently made a couple of peasant dresses using some tutorials I found which included free patterns! 

The first was for my husbands cousin whose little girl just celebrated her first birthday! I made this one using a tutorial from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. I made the 12-18 month size, but there are other sizes available for free! 

The second was for my cousin who just had a baby girl so I made the 0-3 months size from Sew Much Ado. There is a link where you can purchase the pattern in more sizes as well. 

I actually attempted a pillowcase dress before these but messed it up and opted for the peasant dress. I have found that I am really slow at sewing... as in the first dress took me about 6 hours!!! 

This cute fabric is from Ikea in the childrens section. I had to buy it and making these little girls dresses were my excuse. I have some lovely scraps to use now. 

Anyway, if you are new to sewing these dress tutorials were great, the only trouble I had was with the sleeves since they are so little. Just give it a go and take your time - if I can do it, you can too.

Koi cross stitch coaster

I found the cutest cross stitch pattern on pinterest one day and knew I had to somehow turn it into one of my wall coasters! 

I had to add extra stitches to all sides to make it fit the coaster, but it is such a cute pattern. 

If you like this pattern you can get it (for free!) from Cross Stitch Happy

I didn't have any blue aida and attempted to colour my cloth using watered down acrylic paint. It did work, but unfortunately I watered down the paint too much and it turned out very pale. 

If you're looking for more cross stitch patterns you can also check out my pinterest board.