hopefully something rhetorical

I haven’t been in this space much lately.  As I mentioned, I have had my wife here visiting with her beast, her description not mine.  I mean how could you not get distracted with all this cuteness around!  I really had no hope.

But alas, the wife left for the next adventure last weekend, so I thought that I would share a little of what I gifted this holiday season.

As I have mentioned several times already, I was a little slow with Christmas this year.  I have been getting things done in “phases,” and the 25th of December was not, apparently, a good deadline for me to have.  I have two phases done, and one more still to complete.  Unfortunately, the gifts I still have left to do are for my family.  But, the good news is that in just a few weeks we are going home, so I am going to have them all done to take with me.

Until then, I thought I would share a few of the other goodies I made.  This is phase one!

First, I have a new favorite baby gift, thanks to Maya over at maya*made. In November, she posted about a simple gift that she has made for her own children and for others, and I have made quite a few of these since then.  This one is for my friend’s little boy that will arrive in just a few weeks.  And, I have a few others that still need to get to their recipients that I won’t post here quite yet.  I followed her idea to just use two pieces of flannel.  Sewn together, it is the perfect weight for a little receiving blanket.

Side note: I am a little bummed because I forgot to snag a picture of the one of these little blankets I made this season that I liked the best before it got on the plane last weekend.  So, I will have to see if I can track a picture of that one down still (hint..hint..)!

But, in addition to the little blanket above, I had a few other handmade goodies for my friend, Bonnie, and her family.  I posted a sneak peak of this table runner back in November.  Now that it has been delivered, I can share the finished product.

This is my spin on a little Hanukkah table runner.  (And, as everyone else is experiencing, pictures are hard in the winter, so please excuse the lighting of all these pictures.)  I thought it was holiday-ish without being overwhelming.  The candles were really fun to do!  And, the back is pieced as well, so you can always flip it over.  In hindsight, I probably would have actually quilted this one, but I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to do it, so I skipped it.

And, my favorite thing I made for them was also for their table.  I already posted a little bit about them here.

They came out so much better than I expected though!  And, that Lizzy Dish fabric couldn’t be more perfect. I used it on the back too, so they would be more versatile as the kids got older or if Bonnie wanted to change things up a little.

I know that more of these will be made as more and more of my friends are having kids.

And, last but not least, I got pretty good at the crayon rolls this  season.  These seemed to be a big favorite around blogland.  And, I know why.

They are so fun to make, and they are really useful to throw in your bag and take with you to the restaurant, etc, which I witnessed firsthand with my nephews over Christmas.

So, there’s phase 1 of Handmade Christmas 2008!  I will be back tomorrow with phase 2!