The Best Gift-Maker Ever!

Mom and Dad, if you’re reading this before Christmas, stop reading now!  I mean it!  I will take the gifts back if you peek.  You know I’m not bluffing…just ask Kalen!

Last week, Kalen opened a bag he found and saw a gift.  Not just any gift — the gift he asked Santa for.  Now, both boys know the rules – you do NOT look inside containers that don’t belong to you, especially near the holidays.  We told him we were taking that item back to Target, and he’d better make extra sure Santa knew he wanted it!  We all like our gifts to be surprises, and he took it really well.  He’s told a couple of people already, in a very matter-of-fact voice, “I looked inside a bag and saw a present, but Mom and Dad took it back.”

Anyway, back to the main gist of today’s post.  According to Nicky, I am “the best gift-maker ever!” I’m not sure I agree with him (my talents are severely limited, after all), but it’s the best compliment I’ve gotten all month!

I’m about done with the gift-making for Christmas, and not a moment too soon.  I have one step left on one gift, and I’ll do that after dinner.  Then, it’s wrapping all evening.  Yay!  I love wrapping.

Some of the stuff I’ve been finishing up:

This apron is for my mother-in-law.  The skirt is made from the backs of two button-down shirts, and the other fabric and buttons are from my stash.  The ties ended up too short, but they’re just long enough to tie a little square knot at the back, so I hope it will fit okay.  I think it’s quite pretty.

Here’s the one that kept me up late last night, happily stitching away.  I made Dad some lounge pants (he likes to wear them in the evenings), and they looked so plain and boring.  Since Daddy is proudly USN, retired, the anchor seemed an obvious choice.

These eyeglasses cases are the gifts from the boys to their grandparents.  I stole the idea directly from Pout on a Whim.  The boys drew their designs last month, and I’ve been embroidering them on the felt ever since.  These are Nicky’s drawings.  Grandma Julie is cooking, Grandpa Wayne is throwing a Frisbee (the boys love playing outside with him), Grandpa Bill is surrounded by musical notes, and Grandma Wanda is making a heart sculpture.

The reverse sides of the cases show Kalen’s drawings: a camera for Grandpa Wayne, a dog for Grandma Wanda, Grandma Julie with a book (“The Dog Book”), and Grandpa Bill singing.  The cases are all lined with t-shirts from my fabric stash.  We’re all quite pleased and are looking forward to the grandparents’ reactions.

And on that note, I’m off to brave the holiday rush at the grocery store.  I need apple pie fixings…

Merry Christmas, everyone!

First Apron

This weekend was busy, but I managed to make my brother-in-law’s and sister-in-law’s gifts.  BIL is getting a Driftwood Hat, like the one I made Jason, but in a solid color.  It’s quite large on me, but I think it should fit him just fine.

I love this pattern.  It’s from the Fall ’08 issue of Interweave Crochet, and it’s fast, very warm, and simple.  “Simple” is the key when you’re crocheting for men who like little to no embellishment on their wearables.  This is Patton’s Classic Wool in Dark Grey Mix, a pleasure to work with, and (yay!) on sale at Joann’s last week.

For my sister-in-law, I was considering making her a purse, but I couldn’t find a pattern that reminded me of her.  Since they’ve just renovated their kitchen (and by “just,” I mean the floors were finished two days ago!), I decided to make her an apron.  The decision was partially fueled by the fact that she adored the colors of MIL’s birthday bag and mentioned that those are the colors prevalent in her house.  I had some of the pillowcase I lined that bag with left over, but not much.  How to use it?  Trim on an apron seemed like a good idea.

The body of the apron is the leg of a pair of my jeans that split on the hip.  The ruffle is the wide hem from the pillow case…it was my first time pleating, and I’m thrilled with the results.  I had intended to bind all the edges in the pillowcase fabric, but I completely screwed up my first attempt at making bias tape (um, cut along the bias, Aimee, not the grain!) and didn’t have enough left to make both the ties and the binding.  I had just enough store-bought bias tape in my sewing box to do the sides, and it happened to be exactly the right color ivory to coordinate with the fabric.

The apron ties are made from the pillowcase and are criss-cross, because I HATE apron ties that rub against the back of my neck.  The ties feed through buttonholes on the sides of the apron and are the perfect length to tie a nice bow in back.  All in all, I’m very pleased with the results of my first apron.  I hope SIL likes it.  Cooking is not her favorite activity, so it’s a gamble.  I’m hopeful she sees the connection to the new kitchen.

Murphy’s Law and FO’s

Easy Three-Step Process for Getting Phone and Internet Service Restored

1. Drive twenty minutes to your parents’ house to use their computer.
2. Post to your favorite message boards and your blog that you have no internet access.
3. Return home and wait patiently.  Service will be restored within thirty minutes.

So, there you go.  Easy enough!

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Posts by Aimee:

Two deadlines for projects loomed this week.  Jason’s aunt is having a baby, and MIL leaves for the baby shower on Friday.  I had begun a project for the little guy in September, but it was far from completed.  Monday night saw me doing this…

And ending up with this wonky little fellow…

It’s the Celestine Crochet dodecahedron (Technically, according to Wikipedia, it’s a Small Stellated Dodecahedron.), crocheted in Jo-Ann Sensations Soles & More sock yarn.  It’s adorable, even if none of the points are exactly the same shape as any of the other points.  I think I messed up some of my counting.  I don’t think our new little baby cousin will notice, though!  I had originally intended to fill it with something rattly, jingly, or crinkly, but I just didn’t think about it late Monday night while I was finishing it up.  Oh well.

My other deadline this week is for a gift exchange in my June Mommies group.  I don’t think my recipient reads this blog.  I hope she doesn’t, because the pictures are going up!  (If you are a June Mommy, and your name starts with ‘C’, stop reading!  Close this window!!)

I began working on this right after I finished MIL’s birthday present.  It’s the same pattern, the Easy Peasy Crochet Bag, but this time worked in Crazy Yarn.  (Leftovers from odd skeins, cut into lengths between one and six yards long each.)  Again, I held three strands together.

I got ambitious and went for the embellishment on this one, too.

The felt and embroidery floss I had on hand for another holiday project, and the button’s from my stash.  The lining this time is from an old button-down shirt Mom gave me.

I’m pretty thrilled with the whole project.  If my name started with a C, I’d be half tempted to keep it for myself and find something else to send to Cheryl.