My mother-in-law brought a gift me to pass along to a mutual friend, but she noticed that a bit of the stitching on this gift bag had come undone. I checked my thread supply and found a blue that matched closely to the original. A few minutes of careful stitching and the bag was ready to be back in service. It feels rare these days that you have items that can be repaired simply without being thrown out. It was a pleasure to sew this up.
A couple of years ago, Laura and I were out shopping and we saw this mini steam iron in the crafting section. Without being able to check reviews, we took a chance on it and brought it home. It’s been a great tool so far, for both of our various projects and uses. It comes with a little plastic cup to fill the reservoir and various heat settings to match what you are doing. I use it with this little ironing board I brought home from my Mom’s sewing cupboard and it is sets up anywhere close to an electrical outlet.
I used it to iron some embroidery floss that I wanted wrinkle free for some ornaments I was assembling.
These walnut shell baby Jesus ornaments made for the children in my Sunday School class were a true labor of love and took a lot of my time and energy when I had the least amounts to give. But no one was expecting anything and I was determined to bring into being the idea I pictured in my mind. Plus, I already had all the supplies on hand. The problem that gave me the most trouble was whether to include a face on the baby Jesus or not. I had seen some similar with and without. After I carefully added a face to each one, I took one look and said “nope”. So out came the sandpaper and I carefully sanded off my pen and pencil marks. Perfect.
When I was looking for a photo prop, I remembered Laura had worked on this twig ‘cathedral’ project before abandoning it to the basement storage to work on other ideas. I brought it back up, set it in the tree and was so pleased with it as a manger scene as I loaded up all my ‘babies’. I forgot to take it out of the tree and she saw it there and asked about it. I told her how it worked as a prop for me and she was a little amused that this ‘rustic’ and unfinished project of hers could have worked so well for me.
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| Reminder photo of what I put in the gift bags for the children. |
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| Reminder photo of Christmas gift bags for friends and family. |
After Christmas Day was over, I had more time to work on projects that had been pushed off. One was to restring the pom-pom bunting that had been a casualty of Kate accidently pulling on something that knocked everything off the mantle and broke the bunting thread holding it together. I restrung it and then found a pom-pom down behind a basket that was supposed to be strung. So I picked a new thread with even more friction and restrung it for the second time. One project done. Next was to finish the last walnut shell baby that had gone missing when I had made extras. Finished that. The next project was to make three new ‘lollipops’ after I gave away a couple to a young friend who couldn’t join us for the craft and playdate we planned. Her sisters and I made some while they were here and the ones I had made I wanted her to have. So I decided before I put the crafts items away, to make three new ones for me. The original one seen below is mine from elementary school where we made Christmas crafts each year. A few of my other ornaments survived and I have kept the ones that I thought were still cute and not damaged or spoiled. And then the last project was to repair a couple of the ‘Christmas tea bags’ that had come unstitched. I made these years ago for the girls’ play kitchen and these two have been in my sewing basket a long time waiting for me to mend them. Projects finally done!
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| The walnut babies were wrapped in Kate’s old cardigan that developed a hole in the pocket. I had been saving it for the buttons and now we’ve used most of it in other projects. |
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| The original ‘lollipop’ made in the ’80s. |
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| Three new ones that give the same ‘vintage’ mood of the original. |
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| Into the Christmas stocking they go! |
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| Actually this stocking was a thrifted find from last year. Someone spent a lot of time on this, I’m sure and I found it at a thrift store in Maine. I wish they could know how much I love their needlework! |
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| A few red stitches and these tea bags are ready for play again.
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Below are some of the ornaments that came from my Mom’s collection that were made by me and others. Some I kept, others were not in good shape. But I took their photos so maybe some Christmas, I can recreate some new ones in a similar style.
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| This ’80s lifesaver ‘person’ was damaged and I had to throw it out. But maybe someday, I make some new ones with an updated look! |
And finally, I bought a new electric fabric shaver and gave all of Kate’s legwarmers a de-fuzzing. It really helped clean them up.
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| One done on the left. One on the right before. |
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| So cute! She wears leg warmers often in the winter. |
Below are some of the ornaments that came from my Mom’s collection that were made by me and others. Some I kept, others were not in good shape. But I took their photos so maybe some Christmas, I can recreate some new ones in a similar style.
