A Lunchbag for My Husband.

On December 23rd, I had a bit of time to myself to sew, and I ran through my Q4 FAL list to see what was unfinished. Dare I try to finish anything on the list? THEN, near the bottom of the list, it called to me. A companion bag for my husband's messenger bag, and I could totally finish it before the end of the year, PLUS, have it done in time for Christmas, right? Right.

So I did. I used Pink Penguin's lunchbag tutorial, which I've used once before for another lunchbag last year.

Fabrics are the brown duck cloth from my husband's messenger bag (which I still have oodles of) and the blue and cream cross-hatch home dec print. I couldn't find any cording or twill tape in my stash that I had in sufficient quantity, so I used the selvedge ends from the pillowcase I made for my husband, also for Christmas.

He was pretty excited about it, which made me pretty excited. This is my fourth finish from my Q4 FAL list, though I have one more really exciting one to share with you, hopefully tomorrow.

FF: Two Stockings.

Christmas is my favorite holiday. It's not even a contest. For as much as I hate snow, and as much as I once loathed Christmas music--I worked several years in a bookstore, so I think I get a pass on that one--I love Christmas trees and decorating with my family and eating a big meal and family traditions and doing special things with my kids.

A couple of years ago, I decided to make stockings for my family. Each family member got to pick a color, and I perused tutorial after tutorial, but never landed on anything I loved, so I drafted my own. The green and pink were my first two, and I made them before I realized I needed to cut the cuff slightly smaller than the body of the stocking. It made for a much cleaner line.

And then I had another kid, so he needed a stocking. My older kids suggested his be yellow.

This year, my younger sister mentioned she hated her kids' stockings, and I was listening and not thinking much about it until I realized--wait. I make stockings. What was stopping me from making more for her kids? When I proposed the idea, she loved it.

She requested red, so I pulled all of my red fabric and crossed my fingers that she'd be okay with a whimsical stocking. I really really wanted to use the ninjas for my nephew, and thankfully she was all on board. My husband saw this one and asked if I could trade it for his red one, but I said no. I had already sent my sister a pic, and she was thrilled.

And one for my niece too. I really like the FMF and Juliana Horner roses together.

I'll be putting these in the mail this weekend. My sister is moving to a new house this weekend too, so they'll arrive just in time for her to get her decorating on. (She insists the first thing she's unpacking is her Christmas tree.)

Some Holiday Handmade.

Friends. It's December 9th, EEK! Is your December flying by as quickly as mine seems to be? Between sick kiddos--we were healthy for a week, and now we're back down with yet another cold, grumble--and holiday preparations, life has been uber busy. But somehow, and I think it must be magic because I have no other explanation, I've been able to get quite a few things crossed off my holiday to-sew list. I thought I'd show you what I'm up to and throw out some links, just in case you're looking for some fun projects to conquer.

My husband is a lover of bow ties. He would wear one every day if he could. It's earned him the nickname "bow tie guy" at one particular affair. Since I think he's a hottie with this particular fashion accessory, I am all about making him more. This is one of two that I've made for him for Christmas. I need to get a photo of the second. If you'd like to make one for your very own hottie, Sew Like My Mom has a great tutorial. I think I've made four at this point? Five? For this one, I used an old school blue and white polka dot from my Grandma's stash. This fabric is probably older than I am.

This Noodlehead Divided Basket is a gift. It's actually the second I made--I had intended to send a pair of them, not just one--but the first turned out looking like yuck, so I tried a different kind of interfacing and crossed my fingers. This one, while not perfect, is sooooo much better. I'm using the first one in my own bedroom, even though brown and tan are a little on the safe side for me. It does serve the awesome purpose of keeping my books out of the hands of an inquisitive baby/toddler.

I am obsessed with Anna's 241 tote pattern, but I'm also excited to try her new Gatherer Crossbody bag that is a free tutorial! 

For these bad boys, I only gave the gift of labor. Some of y'all might remember when my bestie came to visit, and I did a bad thing and introduced her to fabric and the In Color Order lined drawstring pattern. We had to make a second trip to my LQS for her to pick out *more* fabric, but when she went home, life happened in the way of a doctoral program, and she was never able to finish them. I ordered her to send me the fabric, and I slapped them together in an afternoon. She has them now, just in time to gift for Christmas!

Y'all know I'm a Tula fan, and when I was ogling the Eden line, my husband happened to see the Tiger print, which he admitted was super cool. So of course I capitalized on that brief moment and opted to make him a pillowcase. The cuff is C+S Sprinkles in some sort of green, and the mini-cuff is Essex linen. I love this tutorial from Lovely Little Handmades.

These ornaments were made from a tutorial from Fireflies and Mudpies. Mine...do not look like the picture. And we went wild and used all sorts of ribbon colors, not just green. But I will say that my kiddos loved making them. I let them pick out the ribbons and plan the order, and I did the tying. I didn't have twine, so I used gold ribbon, and my ribbons went all wonky. I did try pressing them with starch, and that helped, but one of the kids got a hold of one of the ornaments, and it was a hot mess pretty quickly.

In the last couple of weeks, I've also made nine hot/cold rice packs, two stockings which I'll share with you soon, and I've got pieces cut for another 241 tote. (I'm a 241 tote junkie, and I freely admit it.) This 241 will have a zipper, which I've never tried before. Wish me luck!

OH! And if you have an awesome go-to handmade holiday gift, TELL ME ABOUT IT. Send me a link. I'm always on the prowl for new gift ideas.