Wow! December Always Flies By!

Seriously.  I never get caught up.  Right now I'm trying to remind myself that I set this whole week aside for cleaning up everything that I let slide during the month of December, but my patience is wearing thin.  We have gotten tons of laundry done in the past few days, but the house is still a wreck, so it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I had a few cool projects this month, so let's see if I get them all blogged right now.

OK, so this isn't exactly a sewing or even a craft project, but I did a search online for homemade teethers and came across a mention about peeling a carrot for babies who don't have teeth yet.  So we tried it out.  It was OK.  I think I loved it more than she did. She was just starting to grasp things well, so it was interesting to her, but not enough to keep it in her mouth long.  We've done it a few times since then too.  She's showing more interest, but not as much as the interest she shows in the teether she grabbed out of the bin at IKEA.  She goes for this thing every single time she sees it.  Santa put one in her stocking.

Then I also made her a teether. 

It's called a knot teether doll.  Pictured here are the two I made for Annalee and Preston.  I made one just like Annalee's for Carolina.  The black one with pink and green polka dots.  I made them using this tutorial.

Very easy and they were a complete hit.  Turns out Annalee likes to gnaw on washcloths & blankets.  The fabric used for hers is Joann's Soft and Cuddly line.  It's a medium pile.  Here it is on their website.

  

I got the flannel for the doll on the left at Joann's also.  I believe I bought it there over 5 years ago at a black Friday sale.  It was 96 cents a yard.  Those were the good ole days.  Snuggle flannel it's called.   

These dolls were more age appropriate than the ones I had planned to make.

They were much larger dolls.  Due to time constraints I decided to search some more for a better, easier, more age appropriate doll for the babies on the list.  I'm so glad I did, now.

For Kai, I continued finishing the doll I started for her.  Nana gave me the pattern, back when Kai was a baby.  It's McCall's CRAFTS 2445.   It's no longer in print. 

 I made three dolls.  Two like the one on the left, with straight legs and one with bent legs. (The one on the right)  I ran out of poly-fill, so I cut up a couple of old sheets into  confetti squares and used that as stuffing.  It worked great, but took a long time and made for some heavy doll parts. 

I finished and gave Kai the one on the right, with bent legs.  It's doll B in the pattern (top left on the pattern).  I didn't have time to make the bonnet or the wings. The hair I had to use was strands of curly synthetic hair.  There were no wigs at the craft stores we visited.  Guess I'll have to order those ahead of time from now on.

Here I am still working on sewing on the hair at 7AM Christmas morning.  I was exhausted from working and taking care of the baby as she woke often through the night. 

I still can't believe the kids didn't catch us in the act. 

They walked out, but I just told them we had to wrap presents, which we did and so did they.  They didn't wrap the presents they bought the day before, so I had them do that before seeing what Santa brought. 

So bad, I know.

Here's a picture of that doll, from afar, leaning up against the kitchen cabinets, behind our sweet Prince.

She's got curly blond hair.  (I'm terrible with sewing on this type of hair.)

She's also got a white satin ruffly and lacy top with white satin footed pants. 

Very cute, and loves it.  That's nice. She's already put make-up on it, in this photograph.

Christmas dresses.  Originally I made Kai this dress on the left, with the red ribbon trim.  But there wasn't enough ribbon to go around the bottom.  Kai didn't like that, neither did I.  So I made a few changes before making her little sister and big brother coordinating outfits.  To the left is a picture of this dress before I made the changes.   In the photo with Santa you can see the top of it and one sleeve.  You can't see that the bottom matches, with an added flounce of white crushed velvet at the bottom too.  So cute.  I wish I had another pic, but don't feel like taking one right now.  I used patterns for Kai and Carolina's dresses. 

I used this pattern, again, and basically the dress went from a dress A to a dress B.

I made my own pattern for Delsin's vest.

For Carolina's dress I used this pattern again. 

I made dress A this month, but with long sleeves again.  They turned out better, this time.  I made her matching booties with my own pattern. 

Then when I went to make Christmas pajamas I had to use the same fabric.  So for Kai I made a pillowcase dress with a mauve satin ribbon around the top.  It was more like a body pillow pillowcase because it was long enough to reach the ankle.  I think it is pretty.  Delsin's was a sleeveless footed pajama jumpsuit, but no bottoms in the feet.  He said he liked it that way. 

I didn't use a pattern I made my own for both of these pajamas.

I think that's all I did.  It's all I can think of at the moment.  I need to get some rest now.

I totally forgot that I made Carolina Jane's stocking.  Complete with the same Christmasy flannel lining that all the girl's stocking's have.  Boys have a different Christmasy flannel lining.  Of course I forgot to take a photo of that.  But then, you would see the flaws in it.  I could not believe how many times I had to or should have ripped out the seam in this simple stocking.  That's what happens when you are sewing instead of sleeping on Christmas night.  I made the pattern by tracing Delsin's stocking.  His is the best one I've made yet, since having kids.  I still think the dog's stockings are the best ones.  I may take pics of all the stockings, later.  Well, I can't actually.  The kids have lost mine and two other stockings since before Christmas.  I do remember them playing in the backyard since then, and pretending to be Santa by taking pillowcases full of toys back there.  I shutter to think that 3 of the stockings I've made are laying in mud or dog poo.  Ugh!  I don't even want to look today.