From my family to yours

Merry Christmas!

It's very cliched to say that Christmas has snuck up very quickly on us this year, but I cannot believe it's already Christmas eve!!  Thankfully all my Christmas shopping has been done and mostly wrapped and the decorations are up so that's the bulk of my tasks done. But what a week I've had - put in three days at the office, did a gestational diabetes test (negative woo hoo!), hosted a party with our neighbours at our house, went to carols by candlelight, braved some late night shopping, babysat four kids for a few hours with a friend while we tried to get them to sit for a nice group photo (exhausting and fruitless) and cleaned my house (including my sewing room) from top to bottom.  No wonder I feel about 90 years old at the moment!

Of course I didn't get everything done that I had on my to do list.  My swimmers are about 75% done, all that I need are some straps and to sew the leg elastic on, but apart from that they look pretty awesome.  I did think about saving the fabric for post pregnancy, but I think I've bought enough fabric to make a maternity swimsuit as well as a normal sized one - swimsuits really do use up so little fabric.  Hopefully I can squeeze in some sewing time tonight after an overexcited little girl goes to bed. 

After Vicki commented on the last post that Snapfish were having a 50% off sale on their calenders after she had bought one at 40% off without free postage I spent ages uploading photos and ordered 4 calenders by the cut off date for guaranteed pre Christmas delivery.  Well here we are on Christmas eve and they are nowhere to be seen, but I guess I should have paid for the express post option and not just settled for the free standard shipping.  Vicki I hope your calendar turned up in time - it will make up for not getting that extra 10% off and free shipping!

I did however manage to finish these Christmas decorations I started last year:

Better late than never right?  I also slaved away over a gingerbread house, seriously it was so fiddly to construct and decorate that I decided halfway through that I would probably not make another one of these again, and then when the kids I was looking after managed to destroy it in 2 minutes and eat most of it in 30 minutes I definitely decided not to make one again!

I also wisely decided not to sew any Christmas presents this year because I knew I would only stress myself out and not finish them anyway.  But I did make some cabbage patch doll clothes of all things for a doll I'm giving Anna for Christmas.  It's actually my childhood cabbage doll that I've cleaned up and am gifting to her - possibly cheap, but I like to think it's nostalgic and sentimental.  I seemed to have kept the doll (and my sister still has her identical twin doll too), but for some reason the clothes have gone missing.

I also spray painted an old cane basket I had in a red gloss paint to store all the clothes in.  Far out sewing those little bitty clothes are fiddly, but it's a good use of fabric scraps. It's also really hard to find cabbage doll patterns - Butterick have stopped selling them, there are no free patterns on the web and the ones for sale on ebay are exorbitant.  I bought one pattern for a shirt and jumper dress, but I ended up drafting a pattern for a simple a-line dress, pants and a skirt.

And that it is it for my crafty adventures for this year.  I doubt I'll have time to sew or post again between now and our annual trip to the inlaws, let me say now thank you all for following along with my adventures this year and sharing your own too in your comments and on your own blogs - I really love being part of our sewing community.

I hope you all have a happy and calm Christmas and new year.  Darwin residents - I hope the cyclone doesn't eventuate, and Christchurch residents my fingers are crossed that your ground stops shaking for the next few days at least.