Christmas is coming…

Suddenly it’s December, and all those little craft projects I’ve had in the back of my mind for ages have taken on a greater urgency.

You may remember that way way back in February I was cross-stitching a picture of a sewing machine and mentioned I had a plan in mind for when it was finished? Well, the plan which had occurred to me was to give it to Jenny, as inspiration for her sewing (as you may also remember, I’d been giving her sewing lessons at the time). I finished it not long after that, but then I thought I couldn’t really just give it to her unframed, but I couldn’t afford to frame it myself (framing cross-stitch is incredibly expensive if you want it done properly, because it needs to have multiple mounts so that the glass doesn’t touch the stitching – something that size would cost nearly $100 to be framed), so I struck on the bright idea of turning it into a cushion (which wouldn’t cost me anything, because I could do it out of my scrap fabric collection).

And then life got kind of busy, what with work, and union stuff, and then there was the earthquake, and before I knew it the year was almost over, and the cross-stitch was still sitting there waiting to have something done with it. So I decided this weekend would be a crafty weekend, and I finally got onto sewing it into a cushion:

It’s still got to have the stuffing put in, but my bag of stuffing is up in the attic, which I didn’t feel like climbing up into last night. Might get it down today while it’s light.

The other project I’ve been working on is little gifts for various people at work. This is one of those annoying situations where I’ve got myself trapped into a tradition. Way back when I first started working there, I used to give a little Christmas present to my immediate boss and to one other person who I had to work closely with. So that they wouldn’t feel obliged to reciprocate it would always be something I’d made myself – a jar of chutney, a bag of fudge, a little embroidered object. As our department merged with other departments and my immediate team expanded, the number of people who I made little gifts for gradually expanded to 3, 4, 5… I counted up this year, and there’s now 16 people I really should give a gift to! Not all of them I necessarily want to give a gift to, but they’re of the category where if I give something to X, Y, and Z, then it’ll look really bad if I don’t give it to W and V as well. I could just not give anything to anyone, but some of them I do genuinely like and want to show my appreciation to. So, having got myself into a corner here I’m now in mass production mode.

Luckily I hit on an idea this year that is relatively quick and easy, but looks like I’ve made a lot more effort than I actually have. I found some felt and sequins in the depths of my stash, and have been making little Christmas decorations. I can get through 2 or 3 in an evening, so I should be able to get plenty done before the last week of work.