Handmade Christmas
 

Last year my mom printed some picture off the internet of a gang of bunnies stealing a snowman's nose, and she asked me if I'd paint it for her. I told her I would, but never got around to it, because she wanted it exactly like the picture, and I'm just not that good at replicating things like that and didn't want to make it a half-assed attempt. I started doodling around in my notebooks earlier this year, and decided I was going to try to sketch out a few calvin and hobbes type snowmen, when I remembered the bunny. I ended up with a sketch of my own design, and I knew that wasn't going to be good enough for a present, so I decided to try my hand at clay modeling. I've never done any sort of sculpture work before, so I think this turned out pretty awesome. I just finished my first coat of paint on these guys, and was wondering what you think?

Starting the first coat of white paint
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4383.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4387.jpg

A bit more color
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4394.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4397.jpg

Working on Mr. Snowman
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4409.jpg
(green's my mom's favorite color)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4410.jpg

Before
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4391.jpg
After
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4393.jpg

End Result:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4418.jpg http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4417.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4420.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...r/DSCF4422.jpg

Soon as I have photos for you guys, I can show you bits of the quilts I'm making, and also the knitted baby blanket I made for my friend's BRAND NEW BABY :D

Meanwhile, tell me what you think, or post your handmade gifts (christmas past, present, or future are all acceptable, as well as all other holidays, birthdays, or random days of giving)

Wow! Razz that's wonderful!
Makes me want to go get some FIMO (even though I have nowhere near your talent)

So are you giving this to your Mum for Christmas?
I would cry if I were her. In fact I would cry even if I were there watching it.

love it! really great execution of a concept!! I like that your mom has a bit of fire in her to like this----coz it's really kind of terrifying. I can actually FEEL the snowman's pain! hahahahha! LOVE IT and ur doin it rite!

That's excellent! Good work.

That is awesome!! Very clever!


Here is what I made Flint for Christmas... the girl decided to try it out after returning from her first slumber party. Flint is really tall and we haven't been able to find a blanket that will simultaneously cover his feet and neck... so I made on a nd a big "floor pillow" to go with. The blanket is 9 ft. long:

CAPTION: Sleeping Beauty!

Razz the sculpture is great! Your Mom will love it!
My husband is tall too, good idea to make a blanket that fits!

Forserious, awesome picture AND awesome blanket! My boyfriend has the same problem, so I'm working on a quilt for him at the moment (though right now it's not even 1ftx1ft yet :D)
(Boyfriend's quilt in progress)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...camera0271.jpg


I just finished the baby's quilt, though I really do think it's far too tiny to be of use to anyone, even a newborn, lol. But it's my first finished quilt. All it needs is to make it through the wash before I give it to my BFF later:
Front
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera030.jpg
Back
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera031.jpg
closeup of the fabrics
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera032.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera029.jpg

BFF looooves cows, and had a little girl, so I nearly died when I saw this set of fabrics, perrrrrfect!
Hopefully none of you are quilting perfectionists, because you'll be terribly annoyed by my un-straight seams, and nowhere near matching corners...I just can't be patient enough for that...so I just go with what I like instead :D

Still working on my boyfriend's mom's quilt, I went to every fabric store in the area trying to find "not girly but feminine" fabrics for her, because that's how she describes herself, She also told me she was going to paint her room beige or tan, and use pink or rose accents.

A week later, after I had found all of this acceptable fabric, she painted her room mint green. Luckily that's the accent color I chose in the quilt, or I'd probably have exploded from upsettedness.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...amera035-1.jpg

Closeup of some blocks:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera037.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera041.jpg

Fabrics I chose :D
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera045.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera046.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../camera040.jpg

*fervently wishes I was handy like that*

Very nice! I wish I could quilt.

Wow, beautiful quilting, Razz! I wish I knew how to do that. Really great projects you have going. I like that last photo, too...the colors of the thread next to the pieces of quilt fabric make me feel nostalgic.

Very nice quilts!!

I was hoping my kid's quilts would be done by Christmas... not through cutting all the fabric yet (but am so happy that I will have enough thanks to Codfobble and a few others!!) and decided to do some embroidery and sew on some fun large vintage buttons... but here is where we stand so far:

I don't know if this qualifies as handmade... but here is what I threw together for everyone in the family. The rocks and fossils in the jars are from the family land... the rocks are primarily FLINT... thus his name:

Very nice stuff! Razz, I love that sculpture and the colors on that big quilt go together beautifully!

But ummm....you really have to work on matching those corners! (ducking)

I didn't get to make anything this year except a few fleece hats & scarves for charity. But just for grins, here's the quilt I made my mom a couple years ago. It's on DD's bed now. It definitely had the desired effect - my mom was floored and felt very loved. It was a great gift for her - mom was a wonderful seamstress but though she always meant to, never got around to making a quilt. Her mother and grandmother were great quilters though and I have some from the 1930's tucked in boxes. Anyway, enough rambling --

http://www.wayswriter.com/pam/moms_quilt2.jpg

I think Pooka should be my new best friend...she's so trendy and hip with those good ideas... *dreamy sigh*

I mean....Awesome stuff dwellars!

Bri ~ It's not about "being able to" in any way. It's about DOING. My mom always told me growing up that the reason she can do so many things is because either nobody bothered telling her that she couldn't, or someone DID tell her, so she did it just to prove them wrong. (Like the day she woke up and decided we needed a laundry room in our house...so she just built one.) I try to keep that in mind when I'm thinking about starting something new, because about 70% of the battle is getting yourself to believe you're actually going to DO what you want. So if you want to quilt, go buy some cheap fabric, chop it up, and sew it together...then figure out where it went disastrously wrong...and try again :D That's what I'm doing.

*pokes juniper* I know I know...I can't figure out how to make them all perfect, and I don't think I'm patient enough for real quilting... so after these are finished, I'm going to stick with crazy quilting...then I won't feel like a lazy bum...because it's *SUPPOSED* to look that way :D

pooka, how tall is flint? he looks about 5'9 to me......is that 'really tall'?

The snowman and bunny's expressions are perfect!

@ Razz- you wouldn't happen to be in the DFW area would you??? IF so we could surly get together on some projects!

I'm imagining a bunch of curmudgeons, grumbling and gesticulating as they stitch...
(sorry, Pooka!)

Do you young LADYS that are into makin quilts, know that years ago some magazines put a quilt patch in each months mag. Maybe progressive farmer?
Damn I''m old

Flint is 6'1" a whole foot taller than I am...

Most blankets if they cover his feet come only mid way across his chest. Even the oversized I've found... just don't get it.

Quilt patch in a mag... how very cool...

Turn the blankets the other way. :haha:

The original bitch and stitch!

Lol... yep. I have a t-shirt that says "Ladies sewing circle and terrorist society" it is circa 1972...

Pooka- I'm assuming I'm not in the DFW area, since I don't know what that is. :) (though if you're ever around these here parts, definitely feel free to drop by...flint can come too I suppose...if he's willing to tear out stitches in case of mistakes :D)

buster - there's new hip magazines that do that in a "retro-fun" sort of way...only I still haven't cracked the code to their websites to figure out how to get on the mailing list for any of them yet

Zen - http://craftster.bigcartel.com/ :D (You can add your own phrases under the skull and crossbones shirts )

I almost forgot... how could I... the most important present I made this year:

I wrote a book for my kids

Papa's snuggle blankie also can be used on boy monkeys:

The most important part is making sure they're exactly the same size. Are you using a rotary cutter or doing it with scissors? Getting them just right is almost impossible with the scissors. Then when you pin them together, you make sure all the seams match up and pin them right on the seams.

I'm generally pretty good with square corners but still have to work on getting points right (like with half square triangles, pinwheel designs, stars, etc.) and that's a matter of measuring those 1/4" seam allowances just precisely.

Yup, I know. But now we can find them all here:
www.quilterscache.com

I gave my mom the snowman on christmas eve with the rest of the family there...


She laughed so hard that she cried, and couldn't explain what it was to anyone...it was great :D

could you take pictures of each page and post them? I'd like to read it.

It may be too personal, but if not, she knows this hot shit computer geek that could make a pfd of it.

Not too personal... in fact... the plan is to have Flint do some illustrations based on the photos I used and submit it for publication...

It is 20 pages long so... I'll refer to Flint and have him load it whatever way makes sense.

You guys can give me your feedback then!


At Razz- That is awesome!

...waiting for beest to take pics of his pressie.... *sigh* ..taptaptap......