Start to wrap it up!

I had a very productive Christmas Making end to last week...motivated as I was by my extended family that was visiting over the weekend!  I've actually been getting a lot done around here, but with family visiting and children going to bed late I haven't had the time to document my doings with photos.  Tsk tsk...such a hard balance isn't it?  Anyway, here are some shots I managed to take to update you with.

I finally experimented with wrapping!  As I mentioned here I really wanted to do the plain brown paper with fabric rosette wrapping.  I love how it turned out!  What do you think?  A bit crafty...so I might want to have make different fabric color choices to create a more elegant look but these gifts were for some young ones in my family.



And what is inside these lovely packages?  Crayon rolls!  But silly distracted has too much on her plate ME forgot to take formal photos for the blog.  Ooops!  Not to fear though...these were the first of a few I have to make and I am going to revise my design.   Luckily I snapped a few photos of the crayon roll being opened by my sister-cousin's daughter.





I really wanted to do rainbow pockets with the DS Quilts fabric I collected over this year and I really do love the result of it.  But...the fabric doesn't hold down the crayons well...they seem to slip and slide a tad.  So...I think what I am going to do in my future rolls is have the backing (the black in this photo) be fleece to secure the crayons from slipping as much.  Also, I might make my pockets less wide...but this roll was for my youngest crayon roll receiver and I wanted her to be able to get the crayons in and out easily.  The older kids have more dexterity and I think more narrow pockets are appropriate.

Well the time has come for me to really create a list and stick to it.  It is, after all, December.  The clock is ticking.

MRL Christmas List
- decorate tree
- hang garland
- hang advent calendar(s)
- create christmas cards
- MAIL christmas cards (need to buy envelope labels)
- sew crayon roll [1 done, 3 to go...]
- silver ball chandelier
- rosettes for presents [need more]
- brown paper for presents 
- sew stockings
- cookies
- hang outside lights [Mr.'s Job]
- sew table runners (started)

Actually not that bad all considered!  I just need to get going and FINISH MORE MORE MORE!  I'll have more photos soon of a new gingerbread house, the silver ball chandelier, and my latest acquisitions from a antique shop run!   (<-- I'm not even going to edit this instead I'll just share my embarassment.  I'd just like to point out that that was three ! in a row.  I haven't even had coffee.  What is going on over here?)  How are your holiday preps going?

Do visit Making Christmas over at Rainbow Hare Quilts...perhaps everyone's projects will inspire you to start playing Jingle Bells too...

- rebecca lynne