Holiday Gifts... so far!

I am so excited to be hand-making lots of Christmas gifts this year. Last year at Christmas I had just started sewing and my confidence level only extended to rice bags- Which were nowhere near as fancy as the ones in that link! But this year I am feeling more confident and am making bags, an apron, a wall quilt, some capes, oven mitts, a kid-sized Snuggie (Yes, really!), a hat/mittens/scarf set... And I am sure there's more I'm forgetting. Not exactly sure how I'm going to get all of this done, but I'll figure it out somehow!

Here are a few things I've finished or nearly finished so far! All of these are for a handmade gift swap. I don't think my swap partner reads this blog, but if she does... Um, act surprised Serena!

Oven mitts from Lotta Jansdotter's book Simple Sewing. One is for the swap and one is for ME! The fabric is an Alexander Henry Christmas print from a few years ago, "Merry Modernica." I only had a fat quarter and it was just enough, and now I wish I had more! I love the colors.


A "Little Forest" quilted wall hanging. I got the instructions from The Purl Bee and it was so fun to make! I copied their layout but did only 6 rows instead of their 8, simply because I didn't have any more green scraps I liked enough! I think it still looks nice this way. It's about 15" by 22", and it went together fairly quickly, even for a beginner like me.

So far I've only pieced the top, and I think I am going to wimp out and finish it by turning, topstitching and tying. I just can't get quilting and binding to look nice. Anyone have a favorite tutorial?

I made an apron using Butterick/See & Sew B5125. For the life of me I cannot get a good picture of it! This picture at least shows the fabrics, but I really need a dress form to get better pictures of things like this. The red is the body and the other print is the ruffle at the bottom and the ties. It's really cute, I hope she likes it!