Homemade Christmas Gifts

 I wanted to share some of the Christmas gifts I made for our daughters this year.  Although making gifts adds to the to-do's I have to accomplish during an already busy time of year, I love giving the kids gifts I/we have made.  

This year for Christmas I painted two more wooden dolls.  First was the promised uncle who is a priest.  He was challenging since his attire is all black, forcing me to outline objects to set them apart, but I think this figure turned out great.  My daughters were very excited!

I also added to our saint doll collection and painted a St. Clare of Assisi holding the monstrance with Our Lord.

 The next Christmas project I tackled was making a set of paper dolls for the girls.  I had previously printed the dolls at a different time, but as can happen with paper dolls, they were not holding up well with use.  I decided to try to make them more durable.  I printed them again from this website.  I remember my sister and I having a set like this when we were growing up, but they are out of print now, so you can print them for free from that site.

After printing them and cutting them out, I traced their outline on a piece of 1/4" plywood, and my husband kindly cut out the shapes for me.  He did such a great job!  I then glued the dolls to the wooden cutouts, modge podged them, and let them dry.  

Meanwhile, I cut out all of the clothing pieces, cutting off the tabs, laminated them at our teacher resource center, and cut them out again.

After the dolls were completely dry, I super glued a small velcro dot on the chest of each doll, again allowing the glue to dry completely.  You can see the white velcro circle on the doll, but it is not a big deal since the dolls generally have clothing covering it.  I placed the opposite side of the velcro to the corresponding spot on the back of the dolls clothes.  This allowed me to get rid of the tabs.  My girls can simply push the velcro pieces together to keep the clothes in place.  They like it so much better than trying to hold the clothes in place, since the tabs never work well.  They do need to remove the clothes from the dolls gently to ensure the velcro on the doll holds up, but otherwise the dolls are now easy to use and durable.  I really like them and so do the girls!

I also undertook a few sewing projects for them this year, including a new apron for Erin, my youngest daughter, but I think the girls like this gift the best out of those I sewed.  Last year I purchased two bonnets, one purple and one yellow, although I probably could have made them.  To match the bonnets, I made Moira a purple colonial dress, and Erin a yellow one.  I love watching them dress in these and play together.  They are so cute!

I hope you are having a blessed Christmas season!  God bless!

+JMJ+

Quilting

 Recently I began my first quilt.  I promised to make this quilt for my oldest son  Seamus many, many years ago!  As you can tell, I am a bit behind schedule.  While I have always wanted to learn to quilt, the process overwhelmed me, and I was too intimidated to begin.  However, last year my now 14 year old and I selected the fabrics, and recently I worked up the courage to begin.  Last weekend I finished cutting out all of the blocks!  It was so exciting!  Finally I am making progress.  I am looking forward to the actual sewing process and hoping a good friend of mine (hi Katy) will be willing to share her quilting knowledge as I go along.

Luckily Seamus simply wanted a block quilt, which is great for the beginner I am.  The color palette he chose is entirely boy--greens and browns, but I think the fabrics will work well together.  In the center Seamus asked for a larger block with the Irish blessing embroidered on it in Gaelic.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat 

Go raibh an ghaoth go brách ag do chúl 

Go lonraí an ghrian go te ar d'aghaidh 

Go dtite an bháisteach go mín ar do pháirceanna 

Agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís, 

Go gcoinní Dia i mbos A láimhe thú.

I embroidered some as a child and enjoyed it, so I just need to freshen up on the stitches for that part.  I may make a pillowcase to match the center block when the quilt is finished.

Have you read any of Elizabeth Foss's posts on sewing?  I enjoy reading her posts at needle and thRead (and all of her posts actually).  She finds some of the most beautiful fabrics.  I think when I sew my daughters' quilts or even maybe some summer dresses for them, I will check out some of the websites she suggests for fabric.  We are very limited on fabric selection where I live.

I plan to update my progress as the quilt comes together.  If you have any suggestions or tips for quilting feel free to leave a comment.  I am definitely learning as I go along.