This year I decided I’d make something homemade for each of my kids for Christmas. And not just, like, toothpick picture frames… nay! I decided to make each kid an intricate gift that requires pinning and basting and sewing and hard liquor (if only I drank). Now, because I worry that my children are three of my four blog readers, I can’t tell you directly what these gifts are. But I will give you blurry picture clues and vague descriptions that will leave you puzzled and wanting to know more!
For Jachin I am attempting to make something that I’ve never made the likes of before. There is no pattern for this. I am winging it. And me + an idea + a sewing machine + winging it (almost always) = disaster. But I’m going for it.
These are squares of material. Think squares. Lots of them. Sewn together.
These are iron-on pages. You print out pictures of things, like… oh, I don’t know, Nintendo characters, and then iron them onto white squares. (That is dark blue minky behind there. Minky, if you are not familiar with it, is super-soft fuzzy material that feels like kittens rolled in cotton balls. Minky can often be sewn to the back of lots of squares that have been sewn together. You follow me?)
These are some of the iron-on pages. I know. Totally cute.
Shhh… no blabbing to Jachin.
Now we move on to Zoe. Zoe, as you may recall, wants nothing but Julie the American Girl for Christmas. I have it on good authority that Santa may be bringing the goods. Therefore, I am sewing Zoe something that has to do with this:
See? How they match?
And it goes with this:
Hello? Can you get more 70’s looking? I don’t see how.
And Deacon, well… okay, I’m not super-worried about Deacon reading my blog, so I’ll just flat out tell you what I’m making. (Plus, I actually work on it in front of him. Because he’s a baby. And two minutes after I’ve put it away, he’s forgotten about it. Because he’s a baby. And on Christmas day he’ll open it and be like all, Yay! I’m a baby and I’ve never seen this before in my life! )
It’s a Quiet Book. The Quiet Book that I started making when I was pregnant with Jachin. Yes, I have been working on this Quiet Book since 1998. Because have I told you how bad I am about finishing things I start? The Quiet Book is actually the token object that is referred to every time I embark on something new. Like, I will start ripping out everything in the boxes in the basement and labeling and color-coding and Jon will come down and look at me in the center of a disaster and say, “Umm, is this going to be like the Quiet Book?” And I’ll shoot him with my angry wife laser eyes. And then a week later I will have abandoned the color-coding labeling project and you won’t be able to walk around in our disaster-ridden basement.
Yeah, it’s like that.
But this Christmas is it! The Quiet Book will be completed! Jon will have a stroke! Pigs will fly by our windows on Christmas morning! And then we will shoot them and have fresh bacon!… but that’s something else entirely…
Okay, did you get a good look at creepy Jonah?
I guess a few days in a whale’s stomach would make you a little worse for wear.
Anyhoo… these are my current projects. Things that I have to finish before Christmas morning. Which — if I know anything about myself — means that I will be up until 3am Christmas Eve finishing them.
Are you making anything homemade for Christmas??
10 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
The “thing” you are making Jachin is going to be amazing!! I love all the colors and iron on things. Can’t wait to see the finished project. Good luck!!
Comment by Kim — November 30, 2009 @ 7:29 pm
I can’t wait to see your finished projects. They look awesome!
I am all about the homemade Christmas this year. Julia wants a fancy dress “with diamonds and crystals.” I’m making that. Lucy is getting a doll and I’m making her tons of doll clothes. I’m making the girls matching homemade pajamas and craft aprons. And by I, I mean mostly my mom. But the ideas were mine.
Comment by Leslie — November 30, 2009 @ 8:39 pm
P.S. How did NaNoWriMo turn out for you?
Comment by Leslie — November 30, 2009 @ 8:40 pm
You are freaking magnificent; I don’t care if you’ve been working on one of those crafts for 11 years. (Although, not sure Jachin will love the Nintendo character whatever when he’s 22…).
I *might* make some baked goods; otherwise I’m all about local artisans doing the work for me.
Happy Christmas!
Comment by stephanie (bad mom) — November 30, 2009 @ 8:52 pm
Anson is going to be so jealous of Jachin’s present that he would ask for it if he had the presence of mind. But I don’t have the skilz or a sewing machine…
Comment by Jenna — November 30, 2009 @ 8:52 pm
so I totally guffawed at “Did you get a good look at creepy Jonah?” scroll, there he is, close up! and seriously creepy.
good work sista of my heart, we are kindred spirits for sure. May the force to finish be with you…
Comment by Nerak — November 30, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
Beyond cool! I’m jealous of Jachins gift, I’m pretty sure Byron will be too. I’ll make sure he never see’s it!
Comment by Diana — December 1, 2009 @ 6:43 am
Simplicity — whatever, Simple it is not, it ended my sewing days in 7th grade sewing class when I royally screwed up a ’simple’ nightshirt pattern. Having personal issues. You are amazing,and creepy Jonah needs to be a character in a book.
Comment by Shahara — December 1, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Those look so great!! I am going to be attempting hair accessories this year. I hope they turn out well because I don’t really have a back-up plan. Maybe I should get a back-up plan. Good luck. Let me know if you want to work together. That minky stuff was tricky last time I used it. Cute but very stretchy.
Comment by Krista Hansen — December 2, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
What an awesome idea to make a video-game-thing-made-with-lots-of-squares-sewn-together for jachin! He’ll love it. I have big plans to make Moses a library book bag/back pack but have yet to even figure out how in the heck to do it. Seems like it might not happen…
Comment by Heather — December 8, 2009 @ 12:36 am