Monday, September 27, 2010

deck the halls...?

Apparently there are ONLY 89 more days until Christmas.

Personally, I find it a wee bit bizarre to count down to Christmas in September - it's like you're deliberately trying to fill yourself with stress and worry. Happy Holidays, indeed.

However - I made a LOT of Christmas presents last year - and though I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I did worry that I might give myself early-onset arthritis from crocheting so much in such a short time.

So this year, I am "starting early" by finally finishing up the Christmas stockings I made for our family last year. (Yes, I am Scrooge - we had no! stockings! for the first 7 Christmases of our marriage...) Last year, I made them. This year, they have names. And I still have a whole year (and 89 days) to make a fifth stocking for Newest Little Burley.

Check it out:











Mark and I are Christmas grumps who choose not to spend money on each other - but we give the girls a few gifts, and our extended families exchange gifts. I'm gonna see how many presents I can make this year - and hopefully repurpose a lot of material, use up some of my scrap fabric, and have a (moderately) green Christmas.

The list so far:

alphabet bean bags for the girls (sew)
a hopscotch playmat for the girls (sew/quilt)
superhero capes for each girl (sew)
stuffed/beanbag "monster" doll for each girl (sew)
flannel/feltboard for each girl, travel-sized (craft)
a paintbrush roll for my art-teacher-brother (sew)
a crochet hook roll for my sister-in-law (sew)
a scarf (or two) for my sister (crochet)

I'm a little stuck on what I could possibly make for my nephews (3 1/2, 5 1/2 and 7 1/2) - they are definitely starting to have ideas about what is COOL and what is NOT... and while I'd *love* to make their gifts - I also want them to enjoy them. Ideas?

I think I can make most of the sewing projects from fabric I already have (AWESOME) - and I've already started playing with colors and cutting stuff up. Hopefully, getting started now will help with the Big Scary Christmas Countdown.

Anybody else getting ready for the holidays early?

1 thoughts:

Kaycee said...

I love how crafty you are! I have long admired that in you (as evidence, the quilt I asked you to make for my Mom still hangs in her house in the room you made it for - and every time I am there I want to steal it!). I love your list, especially of all the fun things you can make for your girls!! I feel like maybe you made super hero capes for your nephews last year, if I am wrong I would totally suggest that for their ages. My almost 6 year old nephew also loves pirates and swords, so if you could make any sort of mask/costume I bet they would love it!