2012's Labor of Love

It doesn't feel like Christmas if I don't have a "labor of love" to make for someone. This year, with my dad's passing, I decided this would be my labor of love. I brought home 2 great big bags of his shirts and turned them into 13, yes-13, quilts. One for my step-mother, one for each of my brothers, and one for each of my dad's grandkids. They turned out beautiful, and I am thankful that I had the time to think and reflect on my dad's life and his love for me and my family as I made each one of them. 

This is only 11 of the 13 quilts. (I am still working on finishing mine)

Pajama pants for the kids.

This was a last minute gift idea that I saw on Pintrest and tweaked it a bit to make it my own. I saw them on Pinterest a few day earlier, and couldn't stop thinking about them, so on Christmas eve day, I decided that I had to make them, and went to Walmart, bought the fabric and got started. They turned out awesome! Ally said it was her favorite gift, and I was really glad that I decided to make them. They are totes for the kids to take to church.

Inside they have a spot for a notebook, crayons, and colored pencils, also some other miscellaneous pockets for whatever they wanted to stuff in there.

This is the inside of Olivia's bag. I love how they turned out. I even made a pattern so I could make them again. The first one took a few hours, but by the 3rd one, it was only like 45 minutes. They were easy and fun to do.

These were my niece/nephew ornaments for the year. I think I made 30 of them. They were fun to make, and I loved the way they looked on the Christmas tree.

I made some scrunchies for Ally- because clearly I am stuck in the 90's and I think that scrunchies are cute and also highly functional :)

I made each of the girls charm bracelets. I saw some at the store for $10 each and I just couldn't spend that kind of money, even if they would love them, so I made them some instead for about $1.50 each. I even added some little bells, so they jingle. Ally said this was her other favorite gift. I love to hear that!

Some new hair flowers for the girls.

I made the girls these fun scarves. Ally even made one for her Aunt Susan. They were fun and easy, and turned out super cute. They both match the new coats that they got for Christmas.

Perhaps one of these years I will do a completely homemade Christmas. I love to make my gifts, it gives Christmas more meaning for me.