more christmas crafts

a month post-xmas i’m finally getting around to posting more of the gifts i crafted. this still isn’t all of them...believe it or not i still have a whole box full of unopened gifts lying around.

i made these dachshund pillows for laura. she has a pair of mini dachshunds named rusty and dexter who she and her fiancé treat like their children.

both fabrics are snuggle flannel so they’re soft and comfy. i picked out the blue fabric to try to match the rug in their living room. here they are installed:

and here’s roo checking things out:

i also made her a dachshund-themed coffee cozy, with a sculpey dachshund button.

i planned to make dozens of these cozies and give them out to everyone at christmas, but i only ended up making like four. i still have pieces cut out for about 10 more that i never got around to sewing up, just like i never finished the coffee cozy i knitted myself about three years ago. maybe i'm coffee cozy cursed.

here’s the arrow i framed for my dad:

i found this little obsidian arrowhead buried in my backyard when i was planting corn last summer. he thought it was so damn cool, so i gave it to him...then stole it back to frame it.

and for my mom, a case for her new laptop, designed to take up minimal space in her bag. the purple fabric is quilted moleskin with a thin layer of batting and the outer layer is flannel. i put another layer of batting in between the layers to make it softer and more protective.

also for my mom, this cute little strawberry sundress for the sock monkey i made her for her birthday.

i made this ex libris bookplate for jessica, then scanned it in and photoshopped it a bunch of different colors. i printed them on post-it paper so the backing is adhesive. this was one of my favorite projects--i think i’ll probably make other ones later on, each one with a theme of something the giftee is interested in. i’d like to make myself some too.

i know i already posted this pillow i made for jason, but...

i wanted to post it again because he came up with a fabulous name for it. it’s his “rumple tuffet.”

also recently named is the BSU sock monkey: “curious george boise.”

i made a couple bags for jeanne, but my favorite part of the gift was the “toe tag” gift tag (she works for the coroner’s office and, like me, has a fine morbid sense of humor.) she’s also an incredible halloween décor artist, so everything i made her was death- or halloween-themed, even the little seed packet. (i wanted to give her “bloody butcher” tomato seeds but didn’t have any.)

jeanne is the first person from blogland i’ve ever hung out with in person. you never know if someone’s personality is going to differ online from real life, there’s so much you can’t tell from words alone, so meeting folks from the internets seems iffy (or maybe that’s just my residual attitude from growing up alongside the internet--when i was 13 my friends and i used to go in AOL chatrooms and assume every person we met there was a sweaty, disgusting, 40-year-old chomo typing one-handed, which, of course, we found hilarious and fun to mess with.) but anyway, in this case she’s even more awesome in person, and certainly not a predator waiting to take advantage of me. when we started talking it was like we’d been friends for years. we already have plans to swap seeds and seedlings and tour each others’ gardens this growing season.

last but not least, a kindle cozy for my friend jan. she hardcore lusted over the one i made my mom, so even though i somewhat dislike making these i knew i had to make her one.