Saturday, October 29, 2005

Christmas is coming...

I looked at the quilt I made for the grand prize for my book contest and it got me thinking. I go all out for these books promoting and marketing like mad. And this year the book is coming out at Christmas. And yes, a few people will be getting a copy as a present.

But then I kept thinking. I do beautiful homemade crafts for these books and yet, members of my family still don't have quilts made by me. One of the reasons I wanted to learn to quilt was to make every member of my extended family (husband, children, parents, siblings, neices and nephews) a quilt. Although many of my family members have quilts made by me and a couple have more than one I am far from my goal.

So I decided that this year will be different. (Ha! how many times have you heard THAT?).

With that in mind - I shall be profiling my gift making and giving this year. I am determined to make as much as I can and the gifts will be meaningful, fun and useful all at once. I'll start with the children - the neices and nephews. I have four grand-nieces, ranging in age from 2 to 7. I have 7 nieces ranging in age from 5 to 24. I have 8 nephews ranging in age from 3 to 24. I have 6 brothers and 2 sisters. I have 5 sisters-in-law.

Two of the nieces I know very well, having spent quality time with them at various points in their lives. I'll start with them simply because they will be easy. Katie is 14 and Brittany is 12.

Yesterday I went out and bought colored stock paper and today I will buy matching envelopes. Katie loves horses, so I'm making her some horse stationary which will then be put inside a patchwork fabric envelope. I made the cards today. I found a lovely picture of an appaloosa horse in a free clip art forum and made that the front of the card. I did a logo on the back of the card with my name in it. When I finish the patchwork envelope, I'll take pictures to post here.

Brittany will be getting a variation of the same thing - Brit is a girlie-girl, she likes lace and dressing up and flowers and pink and blue. It'll be fun coming up with something pretty for her - lots of choices. Once I make hers, I'll post photos.

1 comment:

Bobbie (Sunny) Cole said...

You put me to SHAME, girl. I don't sew, don't quilt, have ambitions for both (more so on the quilting) but just never make the time. This year...if you can stick your neck out, so can I...I'm gonna find a way this next year to piece one quilt, make one braided rug, lose 20 pounds, and walk 4X per week or more. Why are things always more scary when we give voice to them, put them in writing, etc?

Your projects will make fun gifts. Always like coming in here with a cup of coffee and getting inspired.