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My last Christmas Post (I hope)

I hope if you are reading this you had a wonderful holiday – whatever you may celebrate in your home.

I get a little crazy over Christmas myself, so I’m going to try and wrap up all of my Christmas posts into one long one. One of my goals this year was to make as many homemade presents as I could. I wanted to make more than I did, but I did make more than I ever have in my life! I posted previously about a pillow and a cushion I was making for my aunt and uncle in-laws, I made my mom a pillow as well with the same fabric that I used for that pillow. I made this pillow for my mother-in-law:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This bib for my husband’s coworker:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this pillow for a friend of the family:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also made new tree skirts out of blankets for our Christmas Trees. Tree Skirts cost too much, and ours really needed replacing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, this about sums up my post right now. I think Santa dropped off the Grinch because my kids are at each other’s throats and making me crazy. I am going to say the “Serenity Prayer” (or at least the tiny bit I know of it) over and over in my head right now.

I sincerely hope both your holiday and winter break are going much better than mine!

 

 

 

 

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Zippers are the Bane of my Existence

I mentioned previously I’m trying to make more homemade gifts for Christmas this year. What a mistake that is turning out to be! The Jacksonville Jaguars stadium cushion has been a little difficult. I’m going to list my mistakes/frustrations:

1. Only buying a yard of fabric – this means I have to be very diligent on measurements. No mistakes, and if I make a mistake, I’m hosed. I tend to make a lot of mistakes…

2. Enlisting my mom for help! My mom has been off from work and she came over to help me organize my sewing area and to give me some tips because I’m still very new to sewing. I’m very appreciative, thanks Mom! However, I said, “Mom, I need you to help me figure out these boxed corners because I’ve struggled with them before.” She proceeds to send me in a totally different, possibly more difficult direction with the cushion! Is it harder? I don’t know yet! I still don’t know how to do a correct boxed corner and my eyes were glazing over doing it her way…

3. Now to the zipper. I’ve tried installing approximately 8,098,567,456,432 zippers since I began sewing. No really, it’s been that many! Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but I’ve tried many different ways, watched many different videos, read tons of tutorials, tried invisible and regular zippers, etc. I have yet to get it completely right. My mom has not ever tried a zipper. So I explained to her the basic process. Together, we figure it out! Finally, hallelujah! But guess what?!? We forgot to account for the seam for the zipper when we cut our fabric, so I have to rip out the zipper and will have to do it again! I rip the zipper out of the too small fabric and call it a night.

4. Now, I’m on to Day Two of the cushion. I’ve learned finally how to do a zipper, and I’m actually excited. I’m going to show the darn thing who’s boss. I cut my fabric, allowing for tons of room, and go in for the kill. Guess what? My bobbin runs out of thread! I didn’t realize it until it was time to pivot, so I thought I was halfway done. I was pretty devasted.

5. So after reloading my bobbin, in my frustration and hurry to tackle the zipper, I loaded my thread wrong twice in a row!!! My machine started making that dreaded sound and I haven’t been so aggravated in a while. I actually let out a very loud yell of a very bad word that I will not repeat here.

I did manage to finish the zipper and sew a couple of pieces together before I had to leave for an appointment. I hope the rest of the piece goes a lot more smoothly than that did!

Anyone else have something that they just can’t seem to figure out?

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Homemade Christmas Presents

So, one of the many things I’m trying to do in my quest to find myself is to try new things. I have never been one to make anything myself and have always opted to buy things or give gift cards. I’m all about the easy way out over here. Or at least I was!

Once I started sewing, it kind of opened my eyes to this whole new crafting world that I had always shunned and dismissed. I just started really looking at Pinterest about six weeks ago! Anyway, I can ramble on forever if I don’t get to the point – homemade Christmas presents are a goal of mine and I just finished my first one.

My aunt and uncle in-laws are coming to town next weekend and my goal is to sew each of them a gift for Christmas. I always struggle with what to give them besides pictures of the kids anyway – so I’m hoping this will be more heartfelt. I just finished making her a Christmas themed throw pillow and I’m going to make him his favorite NFL team covered stadium cushion.

Here’s a pic of the throw pillow:

It’s got a zipper at the bottom, so my goal is to make her other pillow cases for other holidays so that she can reuse the pillow and just switch out the pillow case.

Do you have any homemade gift ideas?