kiddie present.

Making gifts (especially for little girls) is one of my favorite things to do. They are thoughtful, whimsical, charming and bright. This Christmas was the perfect time to pull out a couple of great tutorials to make a little present for a special sweetie I know. The first is the Kidlet, as most of you will know from JC Handmade. It is a great go-to gift that doesn't take a great deal of time to complete and the end result is perfect! Such a great way to get the little ones to stash their toys out of sight. I decided to make the pocket on mine a little larger than the pattern calls for, but that's because I wanted the next gift to fit inside the pocket...

The sweetest cloth doll in the world. Emily from Inside A Black Apple has a great tutorial and video from her appearance on the Martha Stewart show, really you all it's a no fail tutorial! Try it out. I also changed this one a bit too, I only printed this pattern out at 117%, instead of the 150% I was supposed to because I wanted it small enough for a 1 year old to tuck under her arm while she bobs around the house on her sea legs. You may also notice that she has no face. This was intentional. The recipient is going to be a big sister pretty soon and i thought it would be neat if she could tell her mommy how she is feeling (sleepy, sad, etc.) a little responsibility that could prepare her for the new baby. Please don't think I'm crazy, we're talking about a pretty well-advanced 1 year old! I also included a sweet little letter to the little girl in the package written from her new dollie. Oh, and a little quilt for her new baby.

I am also aware that when the 1 year old maintains manual dexterity around 3, this dollie will most likely have a face! Hide the markers! ha. I hope you all got to sew up something extra special for a sweet little person over the holidays, it really IS the best!

handmade and hectic.

This was how I answered the question "how was your holiday?" asked by a friend. I do it every year, and I do it to myself, and I say that I will start my crafting earlier every time! However, just about everything got done, and I did enjoy it. This is a quilt that I made for my uncle. He is so generous every year that I thought it time he get a big cozy quilt. I think he liked it. I probably should have ironed it (at least for all of you), but I had just pulled it out of the dryer and took a quick photo before it was squished into a box and wrapped! That's how close I cut it with all of my holiday sewing this year. yikes. I'll be back in the new year with lots of new sew and tell! Party hard and have some fun!

This photo depicts the true colors a little better than the top, which was hit pretty hard with sunlight.

~Sew Something!