Holiday 2023!

It's another year and that means another round of holiday gifting. In my effort to make new and exciting projects each year, expanding my skills and my gift recipients' joy, these projects made it into this year's repertoire.

I began this year's gifting at a guild workshop. We made mittens, repurposing wool sweaters. Prep work involved felting the sweaters; washing in them hot water and putting them in the dryer. Our guildmate had her own pattern and process, however, a You Tube search for upcycled sweater mittens will yield many results. These also fall into the "quick make" category. For mine, I used anti-pill fleece for the insides and sock tops for my mitten cuffs. They are the softest and comfiest mittens EVER!

My next round of projects was Edyta Sitar's Little Beach House Pincushions, which I made into ornaments by simply adding a ribbon to the chimney. I'm a big fan of using my scrap fabric for holiday gifts, and this is the perfect pattern for using both batting and fabric scraps.

These decoupage plates were a completely new endeavor, a fun make, and a relatively simple process. The tutorial by Alyssa at MintSeams can be found here. I used my stash of Kaffe Fassett fabric, which produced stunning results.

Finally, I could not resist making as many Tilda Santas as possible. For me, these dolls were quite time consuming, taking several evenings to complete. But all things Tilda (Tone Finnanger) are wonderful and the cuteness level is soooo worth the effort! The pattern can be found in her book, "Sewing by Heart," available through different online retailers.

As always, I hope these gift ideas feed your creativity and joy in giving beautiful handmade gifts.

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Liz

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