I love to make as many Christmas presents as I can, but between the quilt shop and the advertising agency, it can get challenging. Last year was especially difficult with my mom passing away, so I was committed to doing even a little better this year.

So here is what I got done… top left is a cosmetics pouch for my stepdaughter. She mostly wanted cash this year to fund some travel, but we wanted her to have a few things to open. Fabric is an older Ruby Star Line and I love Moda’s zipper pulls for a little added flair. Top middle is another zipper pouch, this time for my mother in law. The woman seriously has everything. I stuffed it with Burt’s Bees lotions and soaps. The fabric is from Riley Blake and the pattern is a moda project sheet that uses 2.5″ squares. It works just as well using a piece of fabric and I played around with the size to make both a little larger.

Then I went crazy on men’s shirts for my father in law, my husband and my nephew. Borje’s (father in law) got completely finished as it was started before Thanksgiving in a class with Sam Donavan. Rob’s and my nephew’s didn’t even get started until a few days before Christmas. I finished sewing them at 11:30pm on the 23rd, just in time to realize the buttons I had were the wrong size. So they got buttonless shirts, but buttons have since been procured. All of the shirts were a Simplicty pattern with Mammoth Flannel by Robert Kaufman.

My nephew wasn’t even going to get a shirt, but when I saw him at Thanksgiving he told me he still sleeps under the quilt I made him about 5 years ago. Awwww. Love that kid. That elevated him to handmade territory instantly!

For next year I hope to have at least one handmade gift for everyone who joins us at home for Christmas. Given I always think I have more time that I do, I’m going to start and dedicate some time every month on the 25th to work on Christmas gifts. We’ll see how this goes. And while I would have liked to have done more homemade gifting, I hope the effort put into the meal made up for it!