Crafty Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. I know I'm behind on posting all of our Christmas events, but the rest are coming.

One of the things I look most forward to at Christmas is giving gifts to others. I get most excited when I have found that perfect gift knowing whoever I'm getting it for will absolutely love it. I thought this year I would do things a little different and make something for everyone. Well to make a long story short only 3 out of the 13 people received something homemade. For various reasons my plan never came to fruition, but I did decide to make both Moms and my sister something.

My sister was recently accepted to join Delta Gamma Rho, a club/sorority at Harding University. So I made her a set of towels and a book bag/purse in her club colors. I found this really cute apron pattern at Joanne's and that is what I decided to make for both of the Moms.

Last year I bought myself a sewing machine for my birthday. I had never sewn anything in my life, but I knew I wanted to learn. I figured the best way to do that was to jump in head first. The funny thing is that after I got the sewing machine it sat in its box for probably 4 months before I even pulled it out. I was too scared to use it. One day I decided it was time to face my fears and sew something. I thought it was a good idea to start small and sew Martini a blanket. I would use fleece so all I would have to do is turn the edges under and sew a straight stitch. I think I sewed Martini 2 or 3 blankets over a few weeks which gave me plenty of practice. I quickly learned how the machine worked and it gave me confidence to move on to my next project.

So a few months before Christmas it was time to start working on the presents for the women. The aprons were my first project. With a little coaching from my friend Rebekah (thanks a ton) I was ready to get started. At first the task was a little daunting, but I took my time and did about 2 steps from the pattern each day. Knowing that once I finished the first apron, the rest shouldn't be too hard. Google search was my friend through out the process. If I came upon a stitch I didn't know or a word I wasn't familiar with I simply googled it. And there my answer was, usually accompanied by a video . So I pretty much had my own private teacher.

The first apron took me a couple weeks. After I got it done, the others were finished in a matter of days. BJ's towels and bag were a whole different story. Since I store bought the navy towels, I thought it would be a piece of cake, WRONG! I didn't have a pattern for the letters, so I had to make my own. Then I didn't realize how hard working with cut terry cloth is, but like they say on Project Runway (my favorite show) "Make it Work" and I did. The process in all was very simple, although the letters did required a lot of attention.

As for the bag, I chose this particular bag pattern because it was a "see and sew" pattern, meaning it was supposed to be one of the easiest patterns. Overall it was, I had it finished in one Saturday. But it was the same old story... brand new pattern + brand new sewer + monogramming letters = many hair pulling moments.

I am so glad I have acquired a new skill. I hope the three ladies in the family loved their gifts as much as I enjoyed seeing the end result. There is just so much satisfaction when you make something with your own hands. I can't wait to start on another project. Here are the finished products.....Oh and thanks for letting me brag a little:)