Handmade Christmas :: H's Milanese

My last handmade Christmas gift...it took a bit to photograph since I gave it to our wonderful babysitter before Christmas without taking any pictures of it. I had to ask her to bring it back so I could take a picture of her with it. We remembered this weekend. 

I have been so blessed to find H as our babysitter. I had asked and asked for friends to recommend a babysitter or share one that they use but I got nothing. So I finally joined Care.com and found H. Best decision EVER. H is a perfect fit for our family for babysitting. She's adorable and fun and young enough to be cool but is so good at her job that the kids know when she means business, listen and respect her and she has my kitchen clean and more laundry done while she's here than I do all week. LOVE her!

So when Christmas was on the way I really wanted to do something to show her how much she means to our family. I knitted up the Milanese cowl with my favorite yarn. It turned out great, even with my mistakes. The drape is really great. It is warm and cozy for our winter days and she seems to like it. Win.

Handmade Christmas :: jammies

I hope I can post about the handmade I got done this year...there isn't too much. For as little as there was handmade this year there are even fewer pictures of what was done so we'll see if I can even post about it.

One thing that I almost crossed off the list and almost gave up on were the Christmas Eve jammies. I have given the kids new jammies on Christmas Eve since #1 was a year old but the past four or so years I have made the pants each year (here is last year's post, inside that are links for other years). And each year they are a little comically large or too tight...can't seem to get them just right. But this year there was just so much on my list and a little baby and the sickies and a new fabric store that I had heard had all sorts of crazy long lines...

But I did make it to the store. The lines weren't TOO bad, I was able to run there while Mr. Wiedz came home for lunch one day.

And I decided that this year there was no need for the pants to be a surprise, after all I make them every year so they know what they're getting.

Last year my mom had to help me with waistbands because I had made my rises too short. She made contrasting waistbands and sewed them onto the top of the pants similarly to how I do the cuffs on the bottom. I decided to start that way and I'm so glad I did. Probably saved the pants!!! No seams!!! I was able to cut out and sew all six pairs in one day and add elastic the next evening.

Done! And adorable.

*I am notoriously late in getting shirts to go with the jammies each year. Actually last year I didn't even get shirts and they just wore whatever they were wearing that day to bed and the next morning. This year I got a great deal at the Children's Place's cyber Monday sale and got all the kids new shirts. They didn't match or "go with" the jammies but everyone loves their shirts and they all looked so cute.

Project :: Headband for #6

I'm was thinking July may have to be the month I catch up...but it looks like it'll take me all summer since I don't even write up my catch-up posts as often as I intended! I looked over my list of things I wanted to write about, share here, document and remember. I'm behind. I always say {at least to myself} that I will be more consistent. Perhaps it just is what it is and I won't worry about it but with no journal and no scrapbook, this space is where I keep track of most of our goings-on...so I'll catch up.

We are in the heat of summer, which I really don't like, last year we started school by now just so we could be inside instead of out in the heat. So I'm knitting, which is evident by the fact that the only posts have been Yarn Along posts.

Now, here's a post about a project I made for #6 back in MAY...

Every little girl needs a headband right? I thought #6 did so I decided to knit one for her. Size one needles and really little yarn meant that what I thought would be a quick project during a couple basketball practices, turned out to take a long time. It turned out just like I hoped though. I love how the construction went; all garter stitch so that was easy, the loop for the bow hides the seam of the headband part and a rectangle goes through the loop to make a bow! So sweet.

(Ravelry notes here)

As it turns out I'm not so good at remembering to put bows on my girl. I'll keep trying but will probably have to gift this one on to the next baby girl...it's just too cute to not get more wear out of (and it really did take awhile!). 

Project :: The Tale of Two Quilts

I'm sure this post could be a "tale" but I'm not feeling particularly wordy today. But I did want to document and share my baby quilt for #6 and as with all things #6 it includes a story.

You may remember my dilemma with not finding out the gender of #6 when it came to hand-knits and coming home outfits. I had the same problem with the quilt.

I have waited through four boy's baby quilts to make a girly quilt. Sweet pink, pastels, flowers...oh I wanted to make a baby girl quilt. So when I decided not to find out the gender of #6 a gender-neutral quilt wasn't really an option. I wanted pink! Flowers! Pretty!

But I couldn't really come to the hospital and only have a girl quilt. No matter how much I was hoping and figuring and willing #6 to be a girl I wouldn't want to not have a quilt for the baby had it been a boy. 

So just like that meant two sweaters. And two coming home outfits. That meant two quilts.

 

I started the boy one first (deciding on fabric and making first cuts in November) but while waiting for the right backing fabric I finished the girl one.

I loved it. The fabric (for both) was from some pre-cut square bundles my mom gave me for Christmas years ago. I just laid the squares out in a somewhat pleasing way and sashed them with pink. Mom's gift even came with some yardage that was used for the border and I was able to find the same line online to order the backing. I hand quilt my baby quilts so I did a simple in the ditch around the squares and once around the last border. It's not my best quilting and binding sewing. I see a lot of ripples but it is already well loved and in the years that follow I won't even notice or care.

I found the right blue for the backing and binding of the boy quilt and got to work quilting in the last couple weeks before #6 was due. I was on track to finish. Once around the border with hand quilting, once around machine sewing the binding, and once around hand sewing the binding to the back.

But the stomach bug hit.

And I went to the hospital to deliver #6 with only a baby girl quilt packed. But I only needed a baby girl quilt!

I finished the boy quilt a month or so after #6 was born. I needed it off my shelf but didn't want to put it into the unfinished projects tub to languish in almost done state!

Of course I've heard all the jokes about saving it for the next one. Ha! Ha! I have nearly daily conversations with the Lord, thanking Him for the blessings He has blessed us with. Marveling at Him for deeming us worthy of these little people but asking Him to bless the next girl next time. And because I know not everyone believes that the Lord is completely in control of that sort of thing we have also taken the precautions we deem right for us. We would like to enjoy the children we have. We are ready to move on and have big kids and enjoy the next stage.

And as it happens a great friend of Mr. Wiedz found out his wife is expecting while I was pregnant with #6 and right after I had #6 they found out they are expecting a boy! So now the "extra" quilt has a baby cooking and waiting for it.

Project :: knitted pants (and baby toes)

While I was pregnant with #5 I tried to knit baby pants. I was new at knitting and only got through one leg before I ran out of yarn and gave up. During my pregnancy with #6 my mom bought me a knitting book, Vintage Knits for Modern Babies, during our fun birthday girls weekend. There are so many patterns in there that I want to make, but one of the first projects I cast on was the Tiny Trousers.

 

I finished them and blocked them and put them in the drawer to await #6's arrival. And the other day she wore them! She looks as cute in them as I thought she would. She has worn them a time or two since this day that I photographed them. Actually she wore them to her brother's freezing t-ball game the other night and thanks to the wonderful soft wool she was warm and toasty!

Another picture to show her adorable baby toes. I think I decided to knit a bigger pair in some wonderful grey wool that I bought just before she was born...I've been waiting to decide what should be made with that yarn...

Ravelry notes here.

Project :: Jammies

I have documented a little bit of my Christmas jammie sewing journey, here and here (scroll down to reason #5), are some examples. So this year I tried again.

I bought fabric with a coupon so I got nearly all the fabric I needed for twenty-some dollars and I bought the fabric early, like November or the first week of December. Then it sat in my sewing room waiting for inspiration. That insiration didn't come until it was two days before Christmas and my budget didn't allow for going out and purchasing jammies.

Necessity is the mother of invention...or in this case inspiration.

I got up really early one morning and was able to cut out four sets of pants before anyone else woke up. The flannel wasn't as wide as I was thinking so I couldn't fit the 5th pair of pants onto any of my fabric. That night, after a trip to the fabric store where there was no more red flannel of any kind and cutting out the fifth pair, I was able to sew up all the pairs, except waistbands. I texted my mother, who was staying at my sisters for a couple of days before heading here that next afternoon, asking if she'd be so awesome as to do the waistbands for me - I'm awful at waistbands. She said yes, so the next evening while I finished my own to-do list she sat and finished all the pants for me. Yay! Mom!

Though, she was worried that there wouldn't be enough rise. I even followed the pattern. I cut it out straight for #1 (it's a pattern we've used for her before), used the same pattern for #2 just with shorter legs, and folded the pattern down to the correct markings for #3 and #4. I used a current pair of pants for #5's. I was bummed that even though I had used a pattern there was still an issue. I really wanted this to be the year the pants just *fit*!

She added contrasting fabric for a waistband so that the pants wouldn't lose any of the rise by all the folding over.

The next day, before I wrapped them, I decided I just couldn't let the pants be 5-7 inches too long again this year. I measured everyone then during naptime I went out to the sewing room and measured inseams, cutting off the extra fabric and sewing the cuff back on the new bottom.

I wrapped them up. Placed them under the tree and have the best fitting Christmas jammies I've ever had. I say it every year, but I really plan to start earlier next year...so much easier to take care of things when you're not under the gun!

#5 refused to be in the picture.

Handmade

Now that Christmas is over I can show off some of the handmade that made it under our tree this year. I didn't take on too much as far as handmade goes and I'm happy to report it seems like just the right amount. People who really appreciate handmade or could use something I can make got something but I didn't go too crazy and drive myself into a dizzy trying to do too much.

First up was a project by the kids for their grandmas. And our first-ever freezer paper stencil project - fun! I found the idea in a Family Fun Magazine (they didn't do freezer paper but I think it worked brilliantly). I talked to each kid about what design they would like on their dishtowel. Then I cut out all the freezer paper. During nap-time the kids took turns painting the towels. Baby got some help putting his handprint on after he woke up. The kids thought they turned out real nice and the grandmas liked them too!

#1 found a project in a book we had from the library, Kids' Embroidery, that she thought her Grandma D would like. Grandma D is a big journal keeper so #1 embroidered a cover for a new journal for her. I forgot to take a finished product photo but it turned out awesome and Grandma D loved it.

My dad is a hankie user. A couple of years ago I embroidered some for him and now they are ready to be replaced. So he got some new hankies wrapped up under the tree.

Lastly, I drew #1 in our family exchange and thought she'd appreciate a cowl (or neck warmer as we like to call them). I had some yarn my mom gave me sitting in my stash waiting for a project and found a quick easy pattern (ravelry link). I paired it with a new journal and she was very pleased.

Project :: A Labor of LOVE

Many years ago, like 8 year ago. Mr. Wiedz asked my mom, Grammie N, if she would make our family quilted stockings. She did and they were beautiful! Then about a year and a half later #3 came along. No stocking for him. Each year Grammie talked about making new ones and each child made the job a little bigger. I bought those cheap red stockings with the furry white trim and they did look good, all uniform on my mantle, but they weren't our Grammie-made stockings. #1 joined in with the wishing a year or so ago, letting Grammie know how much she missed the beautiful stockings she had made for us.

I'm not sure what got into Grammie but this year were were BLESSED by the completion of our family quilted stockings!

All of the stockings use a collection of quilters cotton (I want to say Hoffman) and all of them have log cabin blocks making up the stocking base. Then Grammie did what Grammmie does best, appliqued different pictures onto the stockings to represent each of us.

I have a snowman collection so my stocking has a beautiful snow-woman on it. Mr. Wiedz's has an deer and an evergreen tree on it. #1's says "joy" and an angel.

#2 has a puppy and a frog, he was 2 months old when they were made so who knew what he'd like...but it is so cute!

#3 is our little chicken-farmer and Grammie put a rooster on his stocking! So perfect!

and #4 is our little expressive dude! He's life wrapped up in a skin! Grammie put just his most favorite things on his stocking. A goldfish swimming in a bowl! And a pirate too! She even used her fun machine to print his name on the pirate's shirt (hence why there's no photo of his favorite part of the stocking).

She even got a stocking done for #6, covered in stars since we don't know if it will be a boy or girls stocking or what #6 will be into.

Thank you Grammie N. Our mantel has never looked so perfect!

I'm excited to show you how these stockings also tie into the rest of our Christmas living room once my package from Grammie gets here and I get it put together...stay tuned (it may take me until after Christmas - just warning you).

A long awaited project

We've been getting a lot of projects done around here lately. The last couple of weekends actually have been project weekends. Completed projects! 

So I have a lot of projects to share with you. Not to mention the school planning that is going on around here. And the garden growing. So much going on.

Today I'm starting with a project I've been asking for all year. I drew plans. I figured costs. I asked each time extra dollars came into the project budget. A couple of weekends was the time!

A clothesline! A simple post and cross-beam with lines strung between. 

I love it! The weeks after it was set up I didn't turn on the dryer once. So much laundry can be done when you're not waiting for the dryer cycle and I was able to turn out our whole laundry room in a day. Plus it is so enjoyable to stand in the warm sunshine folding clothes off the line!

Course, it's been raining for days now and I'm back to the usual dryer cycle and folding laundry in my laundry room while staring outside.

Project :: Coffee Cozy for Miss. Julie

A couple of weeks ago I discovered it was my friend Julie's birthday. Now not only is she a friend now, she was a friend many years ago in college, she is also #1's Girl Scout leader, and just a great person to have in our lives. This particular day happened to also be a Girl Scouts meeting day so I knew we'd be seeing her.

Well, we should have a gift!

After we got some school work finished I headed out to my sewing room and whipped up a coffee cozy. Seriously these things take no time! I have a serious button shortage, especially large, fun buttons so I actually had to pick out a button then find fabric to match it instead of the other way around. The pattern can be found here.

A quick trip to Dutch Bros. for a coffee cup and gift card and we were in business.

Project :: knitted bunnies

I set out to knit these bunnies for the little boys to go along with our "rowing" ABC Bunny. But they didn't get done for that. And I thought they would go well with our next "row", Goodnight Moon. Not then either. I knew we had one more bunny book coming up.

The saddest thing was that they sat completely knitted and embroidered but without stuffing or closed up for WEEKS!

In a surge of project completed-ness around here I stuffed them and stitched them closed and made pom poms for the backs.

So cute. Really so much easier than I represent here with taking me months to complete them. They are small and really knit up quick.

I presented them to the boys at the end of "rowing" The Little Rabbit.

Pattern here.

Project :: coffee cozy

I found and read through a blog a couple of weeks ago, house on hill road. Lovely. Fun. Inspiring. Wish I had more time in the day, kind of blog.

But when #3's soccer season ended this week I knew just what I wanted to give his coach as a thank you.

Here's the instructions and pattern. So easy. Even when I was sure I'd done the elastic wrong it turned out alright. Fabric is some awesome stuff in my stash I got from my mother...I have scraps of the whole line that I'm working into a quilt for a family member who got married (I can't really say recently got married anymore either...they may be waiting awhile for their wedding gift quilt...).

Soccer coach was on a trip and missed the last session so her coffee cozy and gift card are waiting on her desk.

The 10 ways of Christmas

I was thinking I'd love to post about my crafting, gifting, making, decorating, traveling, etc of Christmas but figured I'd also get bored of individual posts so here is most everything in list form.

1. Gift baskets - I've made goodie baskets for neighbors, friends, and service people many of the past few years (there have been years it just didn't happen). This year I had baking day for banana bread and cookies and candy day for carmel corn and seafoam. Baking day was way easier. Candy day ended up having to be a few days spread apart. The baskets got done and delivered without much stress.

I made the exact number of cookies I needed for the baskets. #1 and I used the laundry room table to get them decorated so we could spread out more. Later, the dog at all but 6 cookies! Back to baking...

After the dog-eating-the-cookies, I didn't have anymore green food coloring so went with stars.

2. The making - I kept my making list pretty small this year since I didn't give myself much time to get anything done. Mr. Wiedz and I decided to make no-sew fleece blankets for each child so that was a project we spread over a few evenings and was actually nice since we were doing it together.

Santa also brought this handmade dress for Kit's stocking. Every doll needs a Christmas dress, yes! #1 says Santa's elves did a real good job making it!

I'd thought maybe I'd knit #1 and #2 a hat and Mr. Wiedz's step-dad a neck warmer. I got #1's hat done but the yarn I'd purchased for #2's disappeared, I took that as a sign to let that project go. And my heart just wasn't in the neck warmer so it was also abandoned.

My first cabled garment and I love it. So does #1...she's barley taken it off. It is supposed to be "slouchy", I'm not sure where she saw slouchy hat fashion but she is all over it! Grammie gave her 3 more skeins of yarn for me to make more...

3. Daddy/Sissy Christmas Outfit Date - Every year for many years now, Mr. Wiedz has taken #1 on a date to pick out her Christmas outfit. This year they spent a couple hours at the mall and came away with a fabulous outfit!

4. The Travels of Mary and Joseph - For many years I was a Creative Memories consultant. A dear friend, AJ (who is still a CM consultant - need scrapbook supplies or inspiration check out her website, shared two of their family traditions, an ABC's of Advent scrapbook and traveling Mary and Joseph. I never did put together a scrapbook like hers but once #1 was old enough Mary and Joseph have started traveling through the house on their way to Bethlehem (the manger). This year was the most fun we've had so far. #3 would start each day by looking for them. I tried convincing him that Mary was really tired from the baby Jesus in her tummy and that they needed to spend another night in the same location - no go...

They're journey was long and perilous...

But they made it...thank you Mary for your willingness to be the vessel for our Lord.

5. Christmas Jammies - We've always given the kids pjs on Christmas Eve and last year I made them all for the first time. This year I gave it another go (there were some rise issues and general fitting issues last year since I didn't use a pattern at all). I used really soft Christmas flannel and had a pattern that #1 used at Girl Scouts this year. I modified it for the other kids, though not enough and EVERYONES pants were about 5-7 inches too long...but the inseam was good and the waists all fit :)!

The cuffs are another really cute flannel that said Naughty or Nice...I thought of #4 when I saw that fabric and just had to get some to add to the pants. Everyone got a simple t-shirt to finish off the pjs...later I realized I put #2's shirt on #3 and #3's shirt on #2 (too small), we fixed it but #3 wasn't happy about not having a green shirt. I realized once I was sewing #3's that they were not going to be big enough around so I added a strip of the cuff fabric...gave me some more width to work with and is pretty cute (helps figure out whose is whose too).

6. Santa - We do Santa. The fun of Christmas...the magic...the letters...the excitement...we leave seafoam for Santa

And he comes...

He even leaves a thank you card (for the seafoam) and a Santa statue.

7. Christmas Morning - Last year we moved to our rental in Eugene. This home is JUST where the Lord picked for us to live. But it is a much smaller house than our previous one. Every year for as long as I can remember Mr. Wiedz and I travel to his family's for Christmas Eve. A wonderful time of visiting, eating and celebrating. At the end of the party we drove home, put kids to bed with promises that Santa only comes when they're asleep and woke up Christmas morning in our own beds. The past couple of years Mr. Wiedz's parents have joined us in the trek home after the party and gotten woken by excited grandchildren for Christmas morning while my parents come sometime in the later morning to spend the rest of the day. Last year my mom suggested that our home here was a tad too small for everyone to fit...and invited everyone to her house. I didn't think Mr. WiedzGrammie and Grampie D.

Presents, sticky buns, and a beautiful time shared by grandparents, parents and children.

8. Christmas Afternoon and Dinner - Another wonderful aspect of being at my parent's for Christmas is that it truly feels like being on vacation. We had a really relaxing day.

Some naps

Some knitting (me) and crocheting (grammie n).

Some reading

And some new games to play

Christmas dinner was easy, put together throughout the day

9. The Sickies - A couple of days before Christmas #2 started feeling "weird". I gave him Tylenol and let him rest, as we were eating dinner and a friend from work walked in the door he let loose into the "puke bowl" I'd JUST sat in his lap. He was fine until the next morning when he let loose again. After another day on the couch he was up and fine that evening. #5 and #4 weren't feeling great the day before Christmas Eve but were doing better by the time they went to bed.

Mr. Wiedz started feeling achy. He woke up Christmas Eve not so sure about going to all the festivities of the day. I talked him into it...it wouldn't be the same...everything was already set in motion. We drove up to Portland. Once we got to mom's his Tylenol had worn off so he decided to lay down for a bit until it was time to leave. But he only got sicker. #4's fever was back too.

I went to the family party without Mr. Wiedz or #4. While I was there Mr. Wiedz's fever got to 102.7. He was miserable.

He did wake up for Christmas morning and enjoyed the time with the children but had a nap when the morning activities were wrapped up.

He started feeling better, we drove home. He went into the doctor on Sunday to discover strep throat. I took #4 in Sunday too. #1 got her antibiotics yesterday evening and #2 went to urgent care tonight.

10. One last stop from Santa - When we got home we discovered Santa had also visited our house! Leaving a couple of presents for each kid. They were so excited! We had such a quiet and snuggled time being together. Opening presents slowly and enjoying each one and each other.

After our present time we had birthday cake for Jesus then went to bed.

What a season. What a celebration. What a time.