Eleven Ladies Dancing

Well, I think I've extended this Christmas thing way past the eleven-ladies-dancing and twelve-drummers-drumming and thirty-five-flamingos-cooking-dinner section of the song (okay, I made that last one up), but nevertheless Christmas isn't quite over here in my corner of blogland. Here are a few of the gifts that I made for the adults in my life (just those that I remembered to photograph - Christmas panic really took over at the end there).

For my dad, Lady Harvatine's quilty coffee mug, gifted along with some of the fabulous fair trade coffee from my favorite neighborhood shop.




For one sister-in-law, an enormous tea cozy (plus some of my favorite tea from another great neighborhood shop). Perhaps it turned out a bit too big, but I didn't have the dimensions of her teapot and figured that too big was preferable to too small. It's only *a little* ridiculous looking.



Another sister-in-law got two crafty presents. First up, a drop-stitch scarflette (made from an incredibly quick and fun Ravelry pattern).



I also made her a shopping tote inspired by the Jenny Hart version of the Burdastyle Charlie Bag. I made some silly mistakes while sewing this and the bag almost didn't make it under the tree, but Nate talked me down and convinced me to wrap it up. I'm glad that I did, since my sister-in-law really seemed to like it.

(I'm sorry that the pictures of these were so bad - I forgot to photograph it and had to do so at night)


The embroidery pattern came from Jane of Jane's Apron; I've been searching for a use for these cute little birds!

Finally, for my mom, I made this apron. It was more of a bonus gift; for her main present, I digitized all of her mother's childhood photos and put them into a new scrapbook. I think that gift was the hit of the Christmas season (although, of course, I forgot to take pictures). It was also my favorite to make - I just loved sorting through those pictures and getting them into a place where they can be preserved and enjoyed.


Mom liked the apron and awful lot too, though, and tells me that she is already wearing it all the time. Mom very often spills things on herself, and she's always covering her shirt with a tea towel. Inspired by that, I used a tea towel to make the apron. I took pictures of the process, and you know what that means: tutorial time! I'll try to get it up tomorrow. The project is soooo easy - I hope you like it!

Finally, I thought you might like to see what my surprise gift is up to these days. Here it is, at home in my craft room and brightening my days!