Christmas Project Roundup

I had fun creating a few things for my family for Christmas. I also got a fancy new iron and decided to act as an angel swapper for the instagram mini swap. These were all great projects and I'm excited to share them with you today!

First up is a Makeup bag (tutorial here) and Two in One Zipper Pouch (pattern here). These are number 18 on my 2014Q4FAL list and were also my December ALYoF goal. These were so fun to make with their combination of Japanese canvas weight and quilters cotton from Joel Dewberry's Birch Farm line.

Here's another angle of the 2in1 pouch. This is the third one I've made of these and I just love them! They are so fun and useful and the pattern is really well written.

I really love how this one turned out too. I did the larger size from the tutorial and it ended up being a great makeup bag size. I laminated the lining with some Heat and Bond and I really wish I didn't. It seemed like a great idea at the time, easy to wipe and all that but the process of box pleating and turning and flipping the fabric made tiny perforations and tears in the plastic. It would have been much more durable without the laminating and could have just gone in the wash. Lesson learned.

I knitted my first Christmas gift. I picked up knitting about two months ago and just love it. This hat and cowl were for my Step-Dad.

Here he is all ready for the Massachusetts snow (that they currently don't have).

My kids helped with my last Christmas sewing project. We started a new tradition last year where they get a new pillow case to sleep on for Christmas Eve. I think it's a fun thing and they loved picking out their fabrics. All but the baby even sewed their own pillow case. They all felt so crafty and accomplished. It was a fun way to bring them into the holiday spirit and to teach them a little more sewing.

Oh and check out one of my favorite Christmas presents!! A pink itouch iron! Love! I have wrist problems so the repetitive motion of tipping the iron can be quite painful. This is such a cute solution! I did this hefty stack in no time and with no pain. As a quick aside I learned something important that I must share. Do not use distilled water in your iron! It said that on my users manual and I googled it to find out more. Apparently when you use distilled water in an iron it can superheat causing scorching and the mineral-free water will suck metal from your iron causing cracks and deterioration. There you go, my PSA for the day.

I had so much fun with my first IGminiswap quilt that when @mugirl113 was asking for someone to act as an angle to make a mini for someone whose partner backed out I jumped at the chance. This was so fun to put together and she should get it in the mail today or tomorrow. The extras were so fun to gather. I was poking around on her pinterest account and I found all kinds of inspiration.

When I saw this tutorial I knew it was going to be awesome so right from the start I decided to make one for her and one for me. Mine is the pillow. The spiral quilting isn't perfect but I love it anyway.

I've been loving this matchstick print from Cotton and Steel for so long and was just waiting for the perfect project before I snatched some up. I adore it on the back of this pillow.

Here's the tag on the back of the mini. This came from some yardage by Sweetwater for Moda. It has so many fun tags and I've used two already and I've only had the fabric for a week.

 Thanks for stopping by and checking out my fun sewing. It's been hard keeping all these secret projects a secret and I've loved being able to share them today. I'm linking up with my favorite Friday places...Finish it Up Friday and TGIFF.