Handmade Christmas

[Razzmatazz13]

Last year my mom printed some picture off the internet of a gang of bunnies stealing a snowman's nose, and she asked me if I'd paint it for her. I told her I would, but never got around to it, because she wanted it exactly like the picture, and I'm just not that good at replicating things like that and didn't want to make it a half-assed attempt. I started doodling around in my notebooks earlier this year, and decided I was going to try to sketch out a few calvin and hobbes type snowmen, when I remembered the bunny. I ended up with a sketch of my own design, and I knew that wasn't going to be good enough for a present, so I decided to try my hand at clay modeling. I've never done any sort of sculpture work before, so I think this turned out pretty awesome. I just finished my first coat of paint on these guys, and was wondering what you think?

Starting the first coat of white paint



A bit more color



Working on Mr. Snowman

(green's my mom's favorite color)


Before

After


End Result:





Soon as I have photos for you guys, I can show you bits of the quilts I'm making, and also the knitted baby blanket I made for my friend's BRAND NEW BABY

Meanwhile, tell me what you think, or post your handmade gifts (christmas past, present, or future are all acceptable, as well as all other holidays, birthdays, or random days of giving)

[Sundae]

Wow! Razz that's wonderful!
Makes me want to go get some FIMO (even though I have nowhere near your talent)

So are you giving this to your Mum for Christmas?
I would cry if I were her. In fact I would cry even if I were there watching it.

[Trilby]

love it! really great execution of a concept!! I like that your mom has a bit of fire in her to like this----coz it's really kind of terrifying. I can actually FEEL the snowman's pain! hahahahha! LOVE IT and ur doin it rite!

[HungLikeJesus]

That's excellent! Good work.

[Pooka]

That is awesome!! Very clever!


Here is what I made Flint for Christmas... the girl decided to try it out after returning from her first slumber party. Flint is really tall and we haven't been able to find a blanket that will simultaneously cover his feet and neck... so I made on a nd a big "floor pillow" to go with. The blanket is 9 ft. long:

[Trilby]

CAPTION: Sleeping Beauty!

[Nirvana]

Razz the sculpture is great! Your Mom will love it!
My husband is tall too, good idea to make a blanket that fits!

[Razzmatazz13]

Forserious, awesome picture AND awesome blanket! My boyfriend has the same problem, so I'm working on a quilt for him at the moment (though right now it's not even 1ftx1ft yet )
(Boyfriend's quilt in progress)



I just finished the baby's quilt, though I really do think it's far too tiny to be of use to anyone, even a newborn, lol. But it's my first finished quilt. All it needs is to make it through the wash before I give it to my BFF later:
Front

Back

closeup of the fabrics



BFF looooves cows, and had a little girl, so I nearly died when I saw this set of fabrics, perrrrrfect!
Hopefully none of you are quilting perfectionists, because you'll be terribly annoyed by my un-straight seams, and nowhere near matching corners...I just can't be patient enough for that...so I just go with what I like instead

[Razzmatazz13]

Still working on my boyfriend's mom's quilt, I went to every fabric store in the area trying to find "not girly but feminine" fabrics for her, because that's how she describes herself, She also told me she was going to paint her room beige or tan, and use pink or rose accents.

A week later, after I had found all of this acceptable fabric, she painted her room mint green. Luckily that's the accent color I chose in the quilt, or I'd probably have exploded from upsettedness.



Closeup of some blocks:



Fabrics I chose

[kerosene]

Wow, beautiful quilting, Razz! I wish I knew how to do that. Really great projects you have going. I like that last photo, too...the colors of the thread next to the pieces of quilt fabric make me feel nostalgic.

[Trilby]

*fervently wishes I was handy like that*

Very nice! I wish I could quilt.

[Pooka]

Very nice quilts!!

I was hoping my kid's quilts would be done by Christmas... not through cutting all the fabric yet (but am so happy that I will have enough thanks to Codfobble and a few others!!) and decided to do some embroidery and sew on some fun large vintage buttons... but here is where we stand so far:

[Pooka]

I don't know if this qualifies as handmade... but here is what I threw together for everyone in the family. The rocks and fossils in the jars are from the family land... the rocks are primarily FLINT... thus his name:

[Juniper]

Very nice stuff! Razz, I love that sculpture and the colors on that big quilt go together beautifully!

But ummm....you really have to work on matching those corners! (ducking)

I didn't get to make anything this year except a few fleece hats & scarves for charity. But just for grins, here's the quilt I made my mom a couple years ago. It's on DD's bed now. It definitely had the desired effect - my mom was floored and felt very loved. It was a great gift for her - mom was a wonderful seamstress but though she always meant to, never got around to making a quilt. Her mother and grandmother were great quilters though and I have some from the 1930's tucked in boxes. Anyway, enough rambling --

[Razzmatazz13]

I think Pooka should be my new best friend...she's so trendy and hip with those good ideas... *dreamy sigh*

I mean....Awesome stuff dwellars!

Bri ~ It's not about "being able to" in any way. It's about DOING. My mom always told me growing up that the reason she can do so many things is because either nobody bothered telling her that she couldn't, or someone DID tell her, so she did it just to prove them wrong. (Like the day she woke up and decided we needed a laundry room in our house...so she just built one.) I try to keep that in mind when I'm thinking about starting something new, because about 70% of the battle is getting yourself to believe you're actually going to DO what you want. So if you want to quilt, go buy some cheap fabric, chop it up, and sew it together...then figure out where it went disastrously wrong...and try again That's what I'm doing.

*pokes juniper* I know I know...I can't figure out how to make them all perfect, and I don't think I'm patient enough for real quilting... so after these are finished, I'm going to stick with crazy quilting...then I won't feel like a lazy bum...because it's *SUPPOSED* to look that way