Seams of Life

giving handmade

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy holiday.

Ours was great although our gift giving was a little different this year. We spent much less on gifts this year than in the past as I'm sure a lot of others did as well. Our reason though was not the receding economy but our own personal economy. My husband and I have decided to start living on much less than we make and pay off all of our debt. We have been following the advice of Dave Ramsey and our view of debt and spending has really changed for the better. So far  this plan has been working great and learning to be more frugal has been a fun challenge.

I made several handmade gifts and now that this gift has been received I can safely share it. I crochet this prayer shawl for my Mom.

 

And here it is again modeled by the always lovely and always willing Carlee...

 

This is the largest crocheted piece that I have ever completed. It worked up much faster than I expected. I found the pattern at Lion Brand and used their Homespun yarn.

I was quite proud of this one and my Mom really loved it which made it all the better.

Tis the year for a simple Christmas

Less than a week till Christmas and I'm not feeling the usually anxiety that goes along with the season. Its mostly because I decided not to stress out this year by spending less and doing less. This year is purely about being with family and enjoying the many blessings in my life.

Deciding to have a simple Christmas has ironically turned out to be quite productive for me. I've completed two handmade gifts (I'll post pics after they are given) and nine handmade gifts that my Mom asked me to make. I guess once I the pressure of finishing something in time is lifted (if I finished them great, if not thats ok too) I'm able to work better.

 

These are the last 4 of 9 jars I made for Mom to give as gifts. They contain a plastic bag dispenser and a little candy. The plastic bag dispenser (I don't have a shorter name for it) is basically a tube with elastic at both ends and its used to store those plastic shopping bags so they can be reused. She needed 6 for her nurses at the dialysis center and 3 for the ladies at her beauty shop.

I also had time to stiffen these little treasures I bought at the thrift store.

 

They were all flattened and stuffed in a plastic baggie. I dipped them in watered down Elmer's glue and let them dry so they would hold their bell shape. I love them. Each one is done in a different stitch. I know someone somewhere spent a lot of time crocheting these little gems.

 

Crochet, Christmas, Winter and such

Ack, even after my little quickie quilt I am in no mood to sit in front of sewing machine. I am, however, really in the mood to crochet. Maybe its due to the fact that the weather is freezing here and that makes me want to crochet all kinds of warm goodies like these.

 

Now if I was a good blogger I would have a little tutorial to go along with this post, but alas, I do not. I kinda just winged it as I made these and I didn't write anything down as I went. Not very smart of me because I will probably want to make another pair someday. I have found a wealth of free crochet patterns I can share on the Lion Brand website. You have to register with them to get access but its totally worth it. They also have lots of knitting patterns too.

Finishing up this last quarter of school has really freed up a lot of my time. Unfortunately my head has been spinning with all the great holiday craft ideas out there in blog land. I can't focus on just one, there all so great. I'm really excited about Christmas this year and this weekend we put up our tree and decorated a bit.

 

I let the girls handle trimming the tree while I just sat back and snapped pics. I'm enjoying the "little helper" phase they both seem to be going through while it lasts. I made the little owls below last Christmas.

 

 

I used this tutowlrial and added a little embroidery. I didn't make a base for the bottom since they were going to be hanging instead of sitting as in the tutorial. Instead I just sewed it closed.

This is my first Christmas as a blogger so I'm anxious to share my holiday crafts as well as seeing everyone else's creative ideas. I'm currently working on a few handmade gifts and have several others planned. And if you have time check out Uncommon Grace's flickr group Winter Is: and join if you'd like to share your winter photos.