'Tis the Season . . .

Well, it's not . . . not yet . . . but with this rubbish weather it jolly may as well be! I'm really beginning to think that if it can't just be glorious wall to wall sunshine in August, then summer may as well give up and let winter take its place - at least we'd all know what to wear then! 

One of my Facebook friends noted earlier that it's only 19 weeks until Christmas! She runs a small business making things she sews and knits, so I suppose making time for Christmas orders must be on her mind, as I'm sure it's on the mind of several of you who are in the same boat.

19 weeks still feels quite a long way away - it is after all, four months away. My goodness actually - that means it's only three months until Astrid is one! Where has that time gone?

So, 19 weeks. That got me thinking about making Christmas presents. I think I'll try and go for it again this year. Last year, as Astrid had only just been born, I bought most of the gifts we gave to people. However, the year before I made all of our presents and really enjoyed the process, so I think I'll try to do the same this year.

Unfortunately, it was just before I began writing this blog, so I didn't take any pictures of the finished articles, but things I made included a Scrabble inspired cushion similar to these:

Image from here.

I also made a plectrum pouch for my Dad using an old tie. I used a guitar plectrum for the button on the front rather than this maritime motif.

Image from here.

I spent hours in our kitchen making various types of homemade curd, and vanilla and cinnamon sugar, which were actually pretty easy but just took a while and lots (!) of stirring to make.

For other people I took inspiration from artists like these below and filled frames of homemade artwork.

Image from here.

Image from here.

Image from here.

It gave me such a sense of achievement to make things for people, and they seemed to be very well received. I managed to work on making these gifts while Torin was napping or in bed at night. I think I was even finishing the cushion I made for my brother on Christmas Eve! I guess now I've got two little ones, if I'm going to make presents this year I'd better try and be organised and get started now. It's probably lucky that we've got 19 weeks to go!

What about you - do you make your own gifts? From where do you get your inspiration?