Christmasy Placemats & Napkins

Awhile back Sew, Mama, Sew had a placemat and napkin sew-along. I decided to make these for my mom for her birthday. She decorates the house in blues and silver for Christmas, but I threw in the green to tie together the one print with with green in it. She really likes these placemats. Although I don't think she'll ever use the napkins. I really like how these turned out and now have placemats on my ever growing list of things to make for our house.

When I was a kid we opened one gift on Christmas Eve after church and we are carrying on that tradition with our kids. Every Christmas Eve after church we go to one of my husband's sister's houses and have a bite to eat. After eating each child gets to open one gift. For the past 4 years or so I've made something for my kids Christmas Eve gift. Right now I'm working on those Christmas Eve gifts. I'm not sure how much longer this will last as it's getting harder every year to come up with something for the boys.

Skirts

Both of these skirts were made using Anna Maria Horner's tutorial. I ordered some lawn fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew! specifically for these skirts this past summer and wore them a few times each. I love, love, love, love, love these skirts. They are so comfortable to wear to work, around town and at home. I wouldn't recommend wearing white to garden though! But then I always end up dirty no matter what colour I wear gardening.

Farm Themed Birthday

My youngest son is wild about cows and all things farm related. He was very insistant he wanted a cow cake again this year. I managed to talk him into having a barn cake with farm animals made out of cookies.

A few weeks before his birthday he told me, "You know mom, a barn really needs a tractor." I said, "Oh, really?" He said, "Yes. I think I need to have a tractor cookie to go with my barn cake and animal cookies."

Where in the world could I get a tractor cookie cutter? I needed to find the farm animal cookie cutters already (except the cow - that I already had) so I searched the web to try to find a tractor cookie cutter too. The shipping costs to and in Canada are unbelievably expensive so I managed to talk him into having a barn cake and a John Deere tractor cake with farm animal cookies. I did finally manage to find the pigs and ducks cookie cutters at the Bulk Barn (2 trips to 2 different stores though).

I made the cookies early in the week of his birthday and froze them. The cakes were baked the morning before his birthday and iced along with the cookies the night before his birthday. He loved these cakes and cookies. I made lots of cow cookies since he loves cows so much and each guest took a cow cookie home with them. (Sorry about the side-ways picture. Blogger won't let me load it turned around.)

He asked me the other day when I was going to make more cow cookies because he'd like to take some on his school lunch. He rarely askes for me to bake anything special for him, so I was pretty surprised. I think I'll have to get some made this week for him.

Diaper Clutch

This diaper clutch was made for a friend's friend. They knew they were having a boy so I got some great boy fabric from Country Quarter, my local quilting shop. My friend loved the clutch and changing pad and was excited to give this diaper clutch to her friend. This is a great shower gift or a welcoming baby gift. Moms are loving that they only have to grab a diaper and a small package of wipes to go to the park, shopping, etc. and they get to carry it in a great small bag. I wish I had one when my kids were in diapers.

Ottawa Senators Birthday Cake

My oldest son's favourite hockey team is the Ottawa Senators. So of course he wanted an Ottawa Senators birthday cake. I found a picture of the Ottawa Senators logo on the internet and printed it out in colour. I decided it would be too hard to cut the cake into the shape of the Senator, but I knew if I coloured the icing black and used round cake pans I could make a puck. Luckily my son agreed to a hockey puck cake with the Senator on it. I just free-handed the design onto the iced puck cake and filled it in. It's not exact, but the birthday boy and his friends thought it was "sick". From what I gather that's good!

Great Teacher Christmas Gift Idea

My kids love to make gifts for their teachers. The boys made these snowman pins for their teachers with a little help from me. They picked out the buttons and ribbon from my stash. I glued the buttons together and glued the ribbon and felt hats to the snowman. Then I glued the snowman to broach pins. This was a quick gift to make and an excellent teacher gift.

Christmas Bag

Outside flap

Outside pocket under the flap

Awhile back I made a really cute patchwork flap messanger bag for a swap. My daughter loved it and said she would like a patchwork bag. Well I knew then what I'd be making her for Christmas Eve! I went to Country Quarter and bought a really cute charm pack. I can't remember now what the fabric is named but it's a Moda charm pack. Blue is her favourite colour right now and I chose a charm pack with lots of blue and blue-green as my starting point. The bottom left-hand charm is not part of the charm pack. That was from a fat quarter I picked up at Country Quarter. The middle charm is from a fat quarter I bought at Quilt n' Stitch. I had bought the stripe fabric in the summer from Fabricland but had no idea what I was going to make with it. I used a combination of tutorials I had seen on the internet to make this bag. She loves this bag! I think I need to make one for myself soon too.

Another Christmas Scarf

Once I knew I was making a scarf for my youngest son I knew I would have to make one for our oldest son too. Luckily I had quite a few blue (his favourite colour) fabrics in my stash. I found one really nice blue and gold star fabric from Country Quarter for his scarf and added a few remnants from Fabricland. He says he loves it - but he hasn't worn it that often yet.

Christmas Scarf

This cute scarf was for my youngest son for his Christmas Eve gift. Each child in our family gets to open one gift on Christmas Eve after church. He had requested a scarf about 3 months before Christmas and little did he know I was planning a scarf for him for Christmas Eve. He asked about every other week if I was working on his scarf. He requested orange (his favourite colour), green and brown. I had very few of these fabrics in my stash. I visited my local quilting shop - Country Quarter and got one of the orange fabrics. The rest are from the Fabricland remnant section. He love, love, love, love, loves this scarf.