I didn’t take the handmade pledge this year, but I did seriously consider it. Actually, thanks to books and DVDs I probably wouldn’t manage particularly well:-( But it certainly influenced my thinking (as well as it being something I think is worthwhile for the kids to do). So there were several things that we did make.

Obviously, the kitchen I blogged about earlier today (BG loved it—when she could get to it… my two were also rather taken with it:-) ), and the little apron I made for BG (like the one Puggle got last year).

BG and Bilby also were fortunate enough to recieve beanbags that Puggle made (there’s actually a fifth one, purple, but apparently it’s currently behind the piano—that didn’t take long!) He did quite a lot of it himself, almost all the overlocking, a little bit of the sewing (both of these on my lap), all the pin removal and thread snipping, and the filling of the bags with beans. He was very pleased with them, and I think both the girls will really enjoy them when they get past all their other presents! I had thought of putting rosemary or lavendar in them to make them scented, but just didn’t get to it in the end. They’re a pretty good project for using up appealing scraps—just two twelve centimetre square pieces of fabric.

Puggle made the Rocky Road for family, and he and Bilby also made handprint Christmas decorations for friends and family. In general, I think that decorations are a great Christmas present for the grandparents… there is a specific purpose, they typically ‘have a home’ and they’re often small:-) These were pretty straightforward (although, it was a bit of a challenge to keep Bilby’s fingers spread out sufficiently to be star-like!). They also have a cute litte rhyme on the back, which includes the date—I can post it if it’s helpful to anyone. I did the cutting out, but other than that, Puggle did almost everything on his.

The project that probably occupied most of my time was Bilby’s Advent Calendar. This was rather more complex that Puggle’s, because each pocket is individual, and shaped. I actually haven’t quite finished it… I still need to quilt about half the stocking pockets and some other things near the bottom. I just got it to the point where it should be ok for a while.

The final project I was working on was two shirts for Puggle. Once again, this is a great project for using fabulous material (they’re not small enough for scraps, but it takes just over a metre). I found some gorgeous quilting cotton to use. I’ll be doing more of these! (Actually, I guess the final project is actually the one I have yet to make. I’ve promised Paddington a shirt from fabric of his choice… we’ll need to go and choose that soon:-) )

I’d like to try and focus on birthdays being handmade (certainly for the kids)—I think that may also be logistically more achieveable:-) My dad got a copy of the current Australian Toymaker magazine for Christmas, and I’ve put forward some ’suggestions’ for later birthdays:-) I have some ideas for Puggle’s next birthday, and I may (if we can work out where to put it!) attempt to make our kids a kitchen for the next Christmas. I enjoy the making:-)

ETA I can’t believe it! I forgot to include the Christmas cards (photos of the family) and Chrismas Calendars! The calendars have a page of photos per month (just the children… I use photos from that month the previous year… it’s a great way of using some of the many photos we take:-) ). The actual calendar page for each month includes important dates—family birthdays and the like… and Paddington’s one has friend birthdays as well. Last year’s were so popular, I felt a certain amount of pressure to do them again this year:-) Fortunately though, it’s a single document printed multiple times (aside from Paddington’s inserts… but the calendar bits are the easy bit now… just move them on from last year, change the font if needed, check a couple of dates and add in new babies:-) )