My gift to the world...

I'm sewing my own giftbags this year. I've been reading, hearing, and talking with others about how much garbage the holiday gift-giving season generates for our planet, and decided that reusable giftbags were the way to go. Plus it gives me an excuse to keep doing simple sewing projects that I can complete in a short amount of time - I like quick and easy.

Here's my first giftbag, made from fabric I had sitting in my closet:



"I'M REVERSIBLE!"



And it folds up so nice for storage:



I still have some kinks to work out. The assembly process wasn't as smooth as it should have been because I was having trouble visualizing how to place the ribbons so that the bag could be reversible. I'd also like to do a mitered edge on the bottom of the bag, but I can't figure out how I can do that and have it reversible. The examples I found online were for single-sided bags. I have some ideas that I think I'll work through on some scrap material first. Maybe I'll have to whip out a bunch of these over the next 10 months, and then sell them at holiday bazaars next year! ;P

Okay family, friends, and lurking blog readers - I need your help. We're going to order photo greeting cards (should have already done that - thank goodness for Costco), and I can't decide which picture to use.

#1:

#2:

What do you think?

I'm so amazing

LOL - I'm feeling pretty full of myself after completing not just one, but TWO sewing projects in the last three days! This is astounding on many levels, mostly because I have have a long record of starting projects and not quite finishing them. Seriously, I have a pile of outfits that I made when A. was a baby that need nothing more than a button or a snap, and I have crochet projects that are a few granny squares shy of being full blankets. It's a terrible disease to be stricken with, but I know that I'm in good company when it comes to having the inability to see things through to completion.

N. had been after me for a week or two to make her a new robe. Her last one, which she wore up through this last winter, was made by my aunt and given to N. as a Christmas gift four years ago. I looked around the stores we usually frequent, and didn't see anything that struck mine or N's fancy. Finally I decided that this was a job for Sewing Mom! I stumbled upon a fantastic 50% off sale at Joann's over the weekend, and came home with a pile of pretty, pink fleece. From the time I laid out the pattern to the point at which it was ready for my little fashionista to wear was just over 24 hours.

Here she is, singing along to the Plain White Ts.


Digging the sewing machine out of the closet prompted me to dig deeper into my stash of sewing stuff. There are a bunch of patterns that I never got to for N. back when she was A's age. Needless to say I don't have much use for them now (I'll probably freecycle them), but I did find a pattern for a hooded jacket and pants I could make for A. Only problem is, he wants it to look exactly like it's pictured on the cover, right down to the fabric shade and embroidered do-hicky they stuck on there. I'm trying to convince him to think outside the box a bit, but he's not really buying into it. With that project looming over me, I decided to do a quick search of my old friend The Internet. I googled "easy kids pants pattern", and low-and-behold, I found this Handy Home Projects blog! They were totally easy - from the time I started sketching the pattern to the time onto the boy was just over an hour. Granted, they aren't hemmed, so the case could be argued that I didn't actually finish them, but I'm going to ignore you. If I were really doing things right, I wouldn't have just settled for the 1/2inch elastic I had in the drawer either - they really need a wider elastic. But they're totally cute on A! And they make me happy because the fabric was the remnant from a hat a coat I'd made for him when he was an itty bitty baby.



Here he is being a bit surly, and giving me a glimpse of the teen years ahead:


That may be all the sewing I have left in me for right now, though I may be feeling just inspired enough to branch out into something besides fleece! LOL!

Random photo time. Here's N. all bundled up at the Woodinville Light Festival last Friday. Although she's grumpy in this picture (the kids were tired of waiting in line to take the train ride over to the senior center) the kids actually enjoyed themselves. And they got to see Santa land his helicopter in the playfields outside the community center. Santa's really come a long way.



Lastly, a picture hubby took of the kids when he took them out to the Redmond Watershed trails on the weekend. We had a light snow that lasted most of the day on Sunday, but amounted to very little in accumulation. The kids were surprised to see a thin layer of ice covering the whole pond there.