Christmas DIY Extravaganza

This is going to be a monster post of things I made for Christmas.

First, I made this tote bag for Tracy. I really like it. I might make some for presents for Brian's family members this next year.  I would make one for myself, but I ended up with Mom's almost new purse, so I don't really need another bag. It is heavier weighted fabric (Walmart home decor fabric) with fusible fleece in the middle and cotton lining.

The tutorial didn't include pockets, so I hacked out my own. A purse without pockets is harder for me to use, so I assume everyone else would rather have pockets, too. Hopefully the bag and the self-drafted (that's code for I made up my own method to make them) pockets don't fall apart the first time she uses the bag.

For Tanner, I made this personalized pirate towel. I wish I would have used brighter fabric for the name, but it still came out okay.

I volunteered to sew an Elsa dress for our niece Alana. I enjoyed sewing it because there was a lot of room for creativity. The biggest challenge was that I couldn't try it on her to make sure it fit. I shirred the top of the dress since I couldn't find cheap enough stretchy fabric and I had a lot of the costume silk. It ended up a little big for her, but I think she likes it, and it will fit for a long time.

For Brian's mom I made this monogram photo thing. I originally saw the idea on Pinterest when I was stalking Tracy's boards to find an idea for what I could give her. It wasn't too difficult to make.

The biggest project I did was this quilt for Brian's brother and sister-in-law who got married this year. I really like the lines and colors of the quilt, and it is a pretty easy design to make. I started it in September I think. I machine quilted it, and it ended up much better than Camille's quilt. I got to use my new walking foot.

I was short like two inches of binding (grrr), so I improvised and tried to make it look like I meant to add this...

For Camille, we made this dollhouse. I showed Brian some ideas of what I wanted, and he built it. We painted it (rather poorly), and I papered it. Camille got the doll family from Santa. We don't have any furniture for it yet, so the dolls spend most of their time sleeping. I figure we can stretch out giving Camille furniture for a few future birthdays and Christmases.

I made a few other things that I didn't take pictures of: a paracord bracelet for Joe (Bear Grylls approved); Olliblocks for Alexa (already had the download); a hulk costume with muscles for nephew Leo (didn't turn out very well); and I assembled a craft box for Afton, an extensive 72 hour kit for Brian's brother and sister-in-law, and a few CDs for Dad with his requested songs. I need to let my sewing machine and seam-ripper cool down, but I have a backlog of things I was putting off until after Christmas, plus a few birthdays in January.