Making Christmas, The Finale

The sleepless nights are over.  The mad rush is done.  There were some last minute changes to my list... when I went to finish my embroidered ornament I simply couldn't find the piece that I had started and I had no time to start over.  I also decided to scrap my idea for crocheted birds (that would have been gifts) and find something else to give instead.  Lastly, my husband ended up putting together Buddy's big Christmas gift this year (a wooden train set).

Thank you so much for your encouraging comments during the past few weeks!  There were a couple projects on my list (like those messenger bags) that just took a lot longer than I had anticipated and I really needed the motivation to keep going.  So thank you!

Here are the projects I finished:

The tunisian crochet scarf that I finished was a Ravenclaw scarf for my littlest sister.

The hand warmers were fingerless gloves for my brother-in-law

My harvest wall hanging!

One of the messenger bags that I finished was a Star Trek themed bag for my sister-in-law.

The other messenger bags were variations on the epic messenger bag and were commissioned by a friend.

Greep!

Fish pencil cases!

The "aquatic invertebrate" was a small green squid for anther sister of mine.

...my next big project?  Cleaning up my crafting space.  Right now it looks like a tornado swept through it...

The To-Do List:

     [X]  finish crocheting one scarf
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [X]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [X]  sew four five messenger bags--DONE!!!
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [X]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate--DONE!!!
     [X]  sew build a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

Making Christmas, Week 9

RED ALERT! PANIC MODE! PANIC MODE! RED ALERT!

There's less than a week and a half left until Christmas and I'm only halfway done with my to-do list!  I've been working on messenger bags this week as they are the biggest item left on the list.  They are taking longer than I had anticipated... and on top of that Buddy has decided that he doesn't need naps anymore which has cut down on my crafting time.  On the plus side he now goes to bed much more willingly and a little earlier.  I've finished one messenger bag so far.

I'm afraid I can't show you much more than that because it will be a Christmas gift.  :)

The other messenger bags are coming together nicely and I'm hoping to have them done by the end of the weekend.  That will leave me with a solid week to finish the rest of my projects. 

...so again, here are the (not so) updated lists:

The To-Do List:

     [X]  finish crocheting one scarf
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [X]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags--PROGRESS!  1 done, 3 to go
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

Making Christmas, Week 7

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

With all of the preparations and anticipation of today, I had very little time for crafting this past week.  I made some progress on one of the amigurumi birds that I am making as a Christmas present, and I will probably get to work on it some in the car as we drive up to visit family!

...so here are the (not so) updated lists:

The To-Do List:

     [X]  finish crocheting one scarf
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [X]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds--PROGRESS!!
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

Making Christmas, Week 6

I finally finished the scarf that I have been working on (off and on) for nearly a year now!  I tried a new technique called tunisian or afghan crochet.  It's kind of a melding between crochet and knitting... you use a super long crochet hook (called an afghan hook) and pick up stitches like in knitting... but then you pull through loops as you do in crochet.  The end result is a scarf that looks like it was knit in stockinette stitch, but it is much thicker and stretches differently.

Tunisian crochet is quite the interesting crafting technique and I think I will have to explore it some more!

I also finished this little guy:

This is Greep, the 3rd and final Rainbow Monster!  Don't let his annoyed expression fool you, Greep is really quite pleased to make your acquaintance!  His siblings Plurp and Orango are already available in my Craftsy Shop and he has now joined them there.  The Rainbow Monsters were originally sketched by my brother-in-law Elliot and I translated them into fabric.

...and finally, the updated lists!

The To-Do List:

     [X]  finish crocheting one scarf--DONE!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [X]  finish one paper-pieced pattern--DONE!!
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

Making Christmas, Week 5

After all of my productivity last week, I hit a lull this week!  I made some small progress on my crochet project, and I did sew up a gift for a friend's baby shower, but I can't show it to you yet!  Otherwise my time was eaten up by laundry and cleaning up after Buddy.  Oh well.

...so here are my lists, rather unchanged:

The To-Do List:

     [  ]  finish crocheting one scarf--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [  ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

Making Christmas, Week 4

I managed to check not one, but TWO projects off my list this week!  I'm on a roll!

First, I finished half a dozen fish.

Then, I finished a wall hanging that I started working on last year.

I always get somewhat annoyed that Thanksgiving is practically ignored by our commercialized culture, so I decided to make an extra effort to decorate for the holiday!  I had finished the pieceing of the quilt top last year so I simply had to quilt, bind and finish it this year.  The pumpkin and maple leaves are paper-pieced patterns designed by Jennifer of Sewhooked and I designed the "Thankful" paper-pieced block myself.

I am super excited about this wall hanging and it's going to get its own proper post next week!

...and here are my updated lists:

The To-Do List:

     [  ]  finish crocheting one scarf--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging--DONE!!
     [  ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases--DONE!!
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween

Making Christmas, Week 3

I was quite productive this week! ...or at least I felt productive.  I worked on a lot of projects but I still haven't finished many.

But I did end up making nearly 70 little "goodie ghosts" for halloween this week.  (...and they weren't enough!  I'm going to have to make even more next year!)

They helped me hand out candy while I went trick or treating with Buddy!

I also made good progress on the fish pencil cases.  I have all of their little fins ready to go!  (I made the first one over the summer and it was so cute and fun that I'm making more!)

...I got a little carried away and I'm now making six... Hopefully I can get them finished by next week!

So here it is...

The To-Do List:

     [  ]  finish crocheting one scarf--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [  ]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging--PROGRESS!!
     [  ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [  ]  sew two six fish pencil cases--PROGRESS!!
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween

Making Christmas, Week 2

It's time to update my to-do list!  I managed to make some good progress on things this week and I finished one item on my list!  Can you guess what it is?

The To-Do List:

     [  ]  finish crocheting one scarf--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers--DONE!!
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [  ]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [  ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [  ]  sew two fish pencil cases--PROGRESS!!
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

...and then I accomplished some other things that weren't on my list.  So I'm going to start a list of those things too!  Who doesn't love crossing things off of lists?

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween

Posts and more pictures of these are to come!  So stay tuned!

A To Do List...

Our computer is back up and running smoothly... just in time for me to start panicking about all of the projects I have lined up for the end of the year!  And it turns out that I'm not the only one with a monstrously long to-do list...

Welcome to "Making Christmas 2013!"

Thanks to Rebecca of Making Rebecca Lynn and Janine of Rainbow Hare, a whole bunch of us crafty bloggers are counting down the days until December 25th and ticking off our to-do lists as we go!  Kind of like a virtual accountability group... for craft-a-holics.

There are dozens of things that I would "like" to get done before the holidays, but realistically I have very limited crafting time and I need to prioritize.  Some things on my list simply need finishing... and theoretically they shouldn't take very long.  But then I also have quite a number of gifts that I need to start and finish before Christmas. Since the gift items on my to-do list are for family members and people who may happen to read my blog, I'm keeping my descriptions vague and cryptic.

Here is the list:

     [ ]  finish crocheting one scarf
     [ ]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [ ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [ ]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [ ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [ ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [ ]  sew four messenger bags
     [ ]  sew two fish pencil cases
     [ ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [ ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Hopefully I can get it all accomplished without pulling too many all-nighters the week before Christmas (which is what usually happens!)  But hey, go check out some of the other blogs that are "Making Christmas" and feel motivated to tackle your own to-do list!