Last year Chris and I made most of our children's gifts, and we all agreed it was the best Christmas ever. This year, we would like to make gifts once more. So I am trying to get my act together and get some things started. Last year, I pretty much waited until early December and ended up regretting that!
One reason I haven't done anything yet is that still, my sewing machine has been giving me problems. Maybe I am not mechanically inclined, but I seem to have nothing but difficulties with sewing machines! I thought it had been fixed back in the summer, but it still jammed up, and also had a new clicking sound--the repairman that came to our house and charged me an arm and a leg turned out to be rather unscrupulous, it would seem. This time Chris took the machine to a reputable shop and they gave it a complete overhaul. It now runs perfectly (for the first time ever), and no weird clicking sounds. I am so excited about this!
I have learned my lesson. If I ever have problems with it again, I will not mess around and take it straight to the professionals!
The first thing I want to make is a quilt for my youngest boy, Jasper. We don't have enough bedding in our home and lately when I tried to look for blankets in the store, I was disappointed to find that bedding made of natural fibres is beyond our price range. My boys sweat a lot when they are sleeping; it seems cruel to wrap them in polyester at bedtime! So I thought an all-cotton quilt would be a nice thing to make for either one of them.
I don't have much to spend at all, but I do have a good quantity of fabric that was given me by a friend earlier in the year before she moved. I looked through the bag, and there are a number of fabrics that would be all right for a little boy.
Yes, it's a bit of a loud combination, but as a simple patchwork it might look okay, and besides, it's what I have to work with. :) I was thinking of purchasing maybe one yard of fabric in a horse print to add in, since Jasper adores horses. I think that would make it special for him.
I found a navy flannel sheet I can use for the back. For the filling, I had a weird idea--somebody tell me please if this is crazy. It's necessary for me to do this as inexpensively as possible. I have a lot of cloth prefold diapers from Jasper's baby days that are not being used. They are quite worn and I don't know if they would survive another baby. So I thought it might be possible for me to sew together the cloth diapers to create a nice warm center for the quilt. Is this a bad idea? I am well aware that it would probably look a bit lumpy, but I don't think my boy would mind. Anyhow, my main concern is to keep him warm, more than anything else, since our house is very drafty and cold in the winter.
I have a small quilting project in mind for my eldest, too--but of course I can't say what it is, because she reads my blog!
That's all I have planned for now. But I will continue to look for more ideas. I have placed a button on my right sidebar for Handmade Holiday 2011, which is organized by Tonya of Plain and Joyful Living. If you click on it you will see a list of blogs that will feature posts this holiday season on making handmade gifts.
Is anyone else planning any handmade gifts yet? Please tell me about it!
Can I send you something? :) I'll email you!
Posted by: heather | October 15, 2011 at 05:03 PM
Hey--we have the same machine!
I know next to nothing about quilting, but I think your idea is in keeping with the original spirit of quilting--using up what was too worn out to use otherwise. Great great grandmothers would approve, I think!
And I'd suggest looking for a solid-color cotton bedsheet at thrift stores--if you threw in a lot of solid patches, it would break up the busyness of the other fabrics.
Good luck!
Posted by: Lise | October 15, 2011 at 08:13 PM
I'm with Lise. Our grandmothers used what they had, why shouldn't we? ...And great, creative thinking out of the box, by the way!
Posted by: Leah | October 15, 2011 at 09:24 PM
Started my Christmas stuff last month - Two hats for my son, a blanket for my cousins new baby and 1 out of 2 socks for my husband (not pairs, just one sock so far). I still need to finish the other sock, one more hat for the boy, new fingerless gloves for the husband (he's rough on gloves, though his first pair of homemade trigger gloves laste over two years!) and 3-4 hats for my neices and nephews. I'm also dreaming of finishing a pair of socks for myself and my son so we can have matching Christmas socks... corny I know. =D
Also lots of baking this year - last year I was pregnant with the pregnancy long morning sickness from hell so this year i'm making up for it.
Posted by: Molly W. | October 16, 2011 at 12:27 AM
I am hoping to have an Etsy Christmas. With two young boys in the house (one who loves Legos), the plastic is taking over the house. UGH. Etsy it is.
Posted by: hope | October 16, 2011 at 02:39 PM
Your quilt sounds like a great idea, you could also use another flannel sheet as the "wadding" in the centre, this would ensure it sits flat. Keep your eyes open for sheets in charity shops they are a great chaep source of fabric!
Posted by: Brenda | October 16, 2011 at 06:40 PM
Hey, that's neat that we have the same machine. :)
I think you're right about adding in some solid coloured patches, thank you for the suggestion.
Posted by: Laura Jeanne | October 17, 2011 at 08:31 AM
My goodness Molly, you will be busy! I hope you do have time for the matching Christmas socks--I love that idea, and in my experience kids love having clothes that match their parents (unless, of course your son is 14, lol).
Posted by: Laura Jeanne | October 17, 2011 at 08:33 AM
I will be buying a few gifts on Etsy too. I certainly know what you mean about plastic taking over the house. :)
Posted by: Laura Jeanne | October 17, 2011 at 08:34 AM
Thank you for sharing Laura. I am also trying to not spend very much at all as we have to buy a vehicle large enough to fit our family now:)
I think I have yet to see a quilt that wasn't beautiful. I am sure it will come out great. I don't think piecing the diapers together is a bad idea - great for the environment and I bet it would be warm.
Warm wishes, Tonya
Posted by: Plain and Joyful Living | October 17, 2011 at 05:16 PM
Hi - I've been thinking about the nappies / diapers. I did something similar for a heatproofish table runner (scraps of wadding). They were absolutely fine but I started off by overlapping the edges by just a few millimietre to save on bulk and then found it worked better with cutting the same scraps roughly the same siz and piecing them if that makes sense. I kind of butted the edges together and then did a kind of blanketstitch to bind them. I then stitched in rows across (kind of quilting the wadding) and that stopped all the bits moving about separately. Hope that makes sense!
Posted by: hebejeeby | October 22, 2011 at 09:36 AM
I think your quilt will be cute with all the fabric you have. As far as the diapers- I have used diapers for batting before as I also was trying to use what I had. When I used them I was making a small quilt and I used large diapers so I think I just had to sew them together a bit before I but them in as the middle layer.
I am hosting a Handmade Christmas Carnival over at my blog every Tuesday and I would love to have you link up any Handmade Christmas posts that you do!
Posted by: Abbi | October 23, 2011 at 10:12 PM