A Homemade Christmas

As I'm sure you know, this year was a VERY homemade Christmas. It felt so good making so many gifts, saving money, and seeing how excited the kids got when opening their gifts. They were all appreciated, and really loved. It was a really great feeling.

I had decided to give my niece the Coraline doll I had made a long time ago. She's 3 and a half, and she absolutely LOVES Coraline! I was really surprised because I would think it was too scary for her, but she can't get enough of it. So, when I arrived in Florida, I put all of my stuff in my sister's guest room, and apparently left my suitcase open, with Coraline sitting right on top. She found her, told her mom how excited she was, so I had no choice but to just give it to her early. Her face just lit up when I handed it to her. Needless to say, she is a very well-loved Coraline doll. :)


And when she opened up the Mr. Hankey doll on Christmas morning, well, that was pretty much the highlight of my day. She opened it about halfway, saw what it was, and laughed for about 10 minutes straight.

And while I was hard at work, so was my mom! She had told me a while ago that she wanted to make Seth a "quillow", which is a quilt, that when folded up, turns into a pillow. Well, she wanted to make it Star Trek, but when she looked online for maybe sheets or something to make it out of, it was INCREDIBLY expensive. So when she was telling me about it, an idea struck! Seth got a shirt when we went to the Star Trek convention as our honeymoon. He finally settled on the shirt he wanted, but when he went back to get it, they didn't have his size, so he settled for a size smaller. When recently cleaning out his closet, he found the shirt, and gave it to me, very upset because he had maybe worn it once. So, it was my idea to send the shirt to my mom, for her to use on Seth's gift.
I was so excited while my mom was working on it, and her embroidery machine yet again saved the day and made something that was already great, even better. :)

And I knew Seth was getting one, but I never once thought that I would get one too!

I remember that a few years ago my mom bought this Wizard of Oz fabric. I was so excited when I saw how absolutely beautiful it was, and she told me that she was going to make me a quilt. Since then, I've really forgotten about it, and so when I opened up my own quillow, I was really shocked!
The back of it is all ruby slippers, and the other side is all scenes from the movie! Seriously, this is really the most beautiful fabric.



And, from my mother-in-law, I didn't get a handmade gift, but I got something that will help my crafts! She gave me a drop spindle and some wool so I can learn to spin my own yarn! I can't tell you how excited I am to try this out. I've NEVER done it before, but I'm SUPER excited to try!


And that's all for now. I'm going to get SUPER busy and making as many sonic screwdrivers as possible today! Wish me luck!!

Did anyone else have a handmade Christmas, either getting or giving?