Have a very DIY Christmas!

This year seemed to be completely about DIY crafts and gifts in our house... and since I have started my blog I wanted to share some of what I have done!

My previous post shows one of the gifts I made for my sister...and after talking to her last night she absolutely loved it so that was PERFECT!! However, I still wish I had of kept it...so I'm planning on making my own still  this summer and may even rope her into helping out!

Since the lovely sewing machine I recently got was from my Dad he requested a couple of Christmas gifts ahead of time... a new barbeque apron and a cover for his seat belt since he hates when it rubs on his neck.

Both were pretty easy to do but I still had some fun with it! He asked for a pretty basic apron (not one too tacky I believe was the wording)...hmmm I guess he remembered all those interesting ties I bought him every Christmas while he was working.

I went with a reversible option to give him a couple of looks and it went over really well!

For side one I went with a really clean lettuce green color with an easy to wash fabric.

Kind of plain but really nice for around the house and if he happens to host a dinner party.  But for the other side I decided to have a bit of fun! When we were kids we loved potatoes in our house! And Dad was always in charge of making them but for what ever reason they would come out like golf balls a lot of the time and it just became a bit of a running joke in our house.  So when I was in Fabricland and saw this fabric it had to come home with me!

LOVE IT!

My Dad absolutely loved this so it was a ripping success!  

Since I was so occupied with trying to get everything made up and wrapped I totally forgot to take a picture of his seat belt cover.  I made it really simply with some dark brown minky and attached some Velcro for easy cleaning whenever he needs to.

For my Best Friend I found another wonderful fabric at Fabricland.  She looooooves Elvis so when I spotted this fabric I knew that it was PERFECT for her!

Beach Elvis! How can you go wrong!

I made her an apron since I know that she loves cooking and making yummy treats (PS, Paula if you read this I enjoy being your unofficial taster...just saying)

This project let me try my hand at applique on the front pocket and doing pleats! 

I think it turned out great! What do you think?

My next project was for my little guy Xander.  This is his third Christmas and up until now he has used one of our spare stockings that we had.  I got the inspiration to make him his own stocking from one that my Mum had made for me for my first Christmas.

Xander's is on the left and mine is on the right.  I found this great John Deere fabric at Triangle Sewing in Guelph, Ontario.  Love it since Xander is completely in love with tractors and thought that it was great!

My sister in law had a special request this Christmas that I helped her out with.  She had purchased the below adorable Hello Kitty fabric for her girls.  Since she has three kids now she didn't have an opportunity to get some things made up for the girls when she made up their big girl room.

Soooooo, being the Santa's little helper that I am I put together some pillows for them!

....well fourteen pillows to be exact...and a pillow case for my oldest niece.

 

I picked up some pink minky to back the pillows with and did a variety of sizes for them, some for them and some for their dolls.

I've been told they were a hit!

And now for my absolute favorite project this year..and also the most difficult since I have never made a quilt on my own before!

I decided to make a runner for my Grandmother's table since she is the most crafty woman that I have every met and also the one who taught all of us grandkids the importance of knowing how to do your own sewing projects (not only to reattach buttons but also for various other things).

I started with a block of four...

then attached the same...

starting to look like a runner now...

I added a strip of light green around the edges to add a bit of fun...

and backed it with some funky Christmasy fabric...and then quilted it all together!

I love it! I was totally hard on myself for the little mistakes I made along the way but only I know where they are so I've let it go...kind of...

She loved it so much that she refuses to put it on the table in case something spills on it, and she wants to see it better, so it's hanging on one of her chairs in the living room.

Those are my projects this year...aside for the multitude of baking projects...including Xander's first gingerbread house...

 complete with guard hippos...

which we only let him put a couple of candies on since a) he was licking the candies and pulling them off as soon as he put them on...and b) well he's two and he just wasn't doing it right...lol...he can do his own house next year.

Let me know what you did for projects this year!