Christmas in... September?

 Hey, folks! I know what you're thinking... a blog post in the middle of the year? The world must be coming to an end! But I wanted to post about all my Christmas projects from last year, but I had a newborn to take care of and a house to move into, so I kind of just never did. Anyway, here we go!

First, I made a to-do list! I thought I'd get maybe 4 or 5 of these things done, especially since I didn't start until the beginning of December due to having a baby the month before. But I'm an overachiever so I put ALL THE THINGS on the list anyway.

What a to-do...

First thing I did was my Festive Australian Wildlife Christmas Tree Skirt! Back in October of last year, I was the recipient of a random act of kindness that led to this project. Here's the story.
I'm part of a sewing group on Facebook, and sometime last fall a fellow member posted a picture of these amazingly cute and quirky fabrics- Christmas platypuses, and Christmas koalas. I fell in love. I asked her where it came from, and if they had a website where I could order some, but alas, it was from a shop in Australia, and while they had a website, they did not do international shipping.

When I posted that I'd answered my own question, this kind lady asked how much I would buy if I had the chance. I figured she was gearing up to buy some and ship it to me, and I would pay her back, as people in the group often did for each other. Sadly, we'd just dropped a kajillion dollars on car repairs, so I told her it wasn't in the budget, but maybe could I contact her about it later? To borrow a clickbait phrase, what she did next astounded me!

I soon received a private message from my fellow seamstress, saying someone had recently done something really nice for her, and she wanted to pay it forward by sending me some of the fabric free of charge. How much of each would I like? I responded, saying probably a yard of each and thank you SO MUCH! A few weeks later, not only did she send me the two fabrics she'd posted pictures of, but the third fabric in the set (Christmas echidnas!), a festive Austrailian wildlife Christmas bunting fabric project piece (the kind where all the pattern pieces are printed on the fabric just the way you need them), a calendar of Australian scenery, and a Christmas card! Happy tears were shed.

Christmas in October!

Fast forward to December, and I'd finally decided what to make: a tree skirt. My family had never used one when I was growing up, but I wanted to make something I'd get to see every year and remember how much this lady's generosity had warmed my heart. That kind of giving is the point of Christmas, after all! So I found a tutorial, bought some fancy ribbon, whipped up the pattern, and made my tree skirt like two weeks before Christmas. It turned out really well! Now my continuing mission is to find a way to pay it forward to keep the giving going.

I really like the way the buttons turned out!

And here's how it looked on the tree!

After that I got to work on ornaments. Instead of buying ornaments for the girls each year, we make them! The big project this year was, of course, Fluffernutter's baby's first Christmas ornament. I'd made one for Goofer Bean, and decided to continue the trend for Fluffernutter. We also made a set of ornaments to send to the girls' grandparents, but I didn't get a picture of those this year.

Unicorn!

Side View

After the ornaments, I got to work on Aurora's stocking. By now it was three days before Christmas, but my baby needed a stocking, and it felt unfair to buy one when I'd made Goofer Bean's so I did it anyway. I also fixed Goofer Bean's, which was a little wonky. It was a quick and fun project, and I think it looks sooo pretty!

Lacy lacy goodness! I love white and red for Christmas!

Then, despite the fact that I needed to complete the whole project in two days, I started Fluffernutter's Christmas dress. Michael took care of the kids for the most part while I stitched and stitched away. At around two in the morning on Christmas eve, I almost gave up, but thought to myself, "This baby's only got one First Christmas, and I'm so close! I'm doing this!" and I worked for another hour or two, went to sleep, woke up early, and finished the dress just in time for Fluffernutter to wear it to church!

The dress

Bodice Detail

Back View

As is tradition in our family, the girls got to open their stockings on Christmas Eve, because they were super good in church, which gave me an opportunity to snag a cute photo showing off how the stocking matched the dress, and how cute my little Punkin is!

Isn't she a doll?

 And, just in case that wasn't enough, I went ahead and stayed up late on Christmas Eve to finish the blanket I started knitting for Fluffernutter that summer. At about two in the morning on Christmas, I checked off the last item on my to-do list! I discovered a few days later that I'd actually done it wrong-- it should form a flat circle all laid out, but I did my increases every row instead of every other, so it's super duper ruffly. I just decided to call it a Lettuce Blanket cause it looks like green leaf lettuce when it's all folded up, and not worry about it because, I mean, it still works, it's still pretty, and doggone if I'm going to unravel a whole blanket and start from scratch! And Fluffernutter loved it. She snuggled right down when I wrapped her up in it. So it's definitely a success.

Ruffly Fluffly Lettuce Blanket

My Fluffernutter enjoying her present.

And that's it! That was my whirlwind December. I have a lot less planned for this year, but still... I can't wait to get started! Merry Very Belated Christmas, everyone, and a happy New Fall!

All the Things!

Merry Christmas, from us.