Handmade Christmas Progress

Our dining room table has been COVERED in sewing stuff, sewing machine, fabric, and 14,000 Wal-Mart sacks for a few weeks now. We call it "the dining room table" but let me explain that we do not also have a kitchen table. This is our only one.

I'm tired of cleaning it off and especially a few nights ago because I planned to sew right after dinner. So, I had a really big brainstorm that involved us eating on TV trays. I hauled chairs into the living room for the girls to sit in and we were going to sit on the couch. I got out our Christmas place mats to make it a more special occasion.

As we sat down to eat and watch a movie on TV that we thought came on at 7:00 but actually came on at 6:00....just as we were starting supper, Sweetheart said,

"Mom! We're just like Matilda's family!"

(If you don't know that movie, the horrible family sits around every evening with the lights off, mom wearing sunglasses, and watches stupid game shows while they eat TV dinners.)

Niiiice. Thank you dear.

And yes, I cleaned off the table the next night.

OK--on to the progress. I can't post sister's cute present here because she might see it. It's been very enjoyable to work on. Too bad it's kind of small and can't constitute her whole gift. Here are the pillows I've been making for my mom.

All she has to do is stuff the 16" pillow form into a different case for each season. I'm through with the winter pillow and here is the fabric for the backs of them all---most of it lovingly donated by a friend with an awesome craft closet. And with that donation, the only cost of this project was the muslin for the front and the pillow form. And muslin is cheap. The leaves were all these little sample squares my mom gets from some fabric company. She has boxes of these things and I was so glad to find a good use for them.

See? One for each season. Here is the tutorial for those pillows.

Here are some ornaments the girls made. Well, I hot glued the popsicle sticks together and they painted and I glittered. Maybe I should say WE made them. We are going to use them as gift tags. Glitter will be everywhere. I found that tutorial online also but now cannot find it anywhere! I did find several like it just by googling though.

I REALLY REALLY wanted to give the girls wooden bunk beds for their dolls. (They each have 2 special dolls). They were just too expensive and S said too difficult to make. I pleaded my case a few times to him and then stopped before I turned into a nag. :) But I REALLY wanted to give them doll beds for Christmas. So.....

I brainstormed some more and eventually found myself in WalMart with a tape measure borrowed from the hardware department measuring Sterilite containers. I found the 28 quart container was the right size to fit the bill. They were $4 each. Score!

Here are the pillows I made last night from pillow ticking scraps my mom had. Free? Double score!

The beds are going to be great. They don't bunk, but they can slide under the girls' beds when not in use, or stack up in the corner of the toy room. I'm going to paint each doll's name on the lid. Any tips for painting on plastic lids?

I'll keep you posted on bed progress. Tonight I hope to cover the mattresses.