Brendan & Tiffany Sullivan

Sewing has been my new hobby since taking a class with Lelia in the summer. This Christmas, I really wanted to return to simpler things and make most of my gifts. Well, that really didn’t happen as I’d hoped. I think I still need more sewing practice and more time to gather inspiration and ideas for people. With that being said, I did manage to make a few gifts this year.

For family, coworkers, and friends, I made little bird ornaments with a pattern found here. The website talks about stitching them by hand, but I used my lovely friend Kenmore 15408 to sew 74 of the little birds. I used some scraps from my quilt and other projects and I bought some fat quarters for the little birdies.

74 birdies!

a closer view

Some of the little birds have eyes (extra beads that were used to embellish my wedding veil about four years ago), but most do not. It seemed to be hit or miss in whether or not the birds looked better with or without eyes. I happily opted out of that extra step.

To make so many, I ended up doing it assembly line style.

cut birds

partially sewn birds and ribbon loops

my assembly line

last step - slip stitching the tails

Christmas tags

tagged and ready to nest in someone's Christmas tree

This chipper little robin is one of my favorites. I have a soft spot for robins since reading The Secret Garden as a little girl.

little robin

This gentleman is made from scraps from my quilt. I love that blue fabric.

blue bird

This bright little bird is made from fat quarters that I bought specifically for this project. I love the burgundy color and little “watercolor” spots.

watercolor bird

I kept 11 of the birds for myself (I couldn’t help it, I love them so much). Our tabletop tree is much too small for them, but I will gladly save them for when Brendan and I have a house and can get a full-sized tree.

For Jeanette, the best little sister a girl could ask for, I made a roll-up pencil case:

roll-up pencil case

I got the idea from a few website tutorials and winged it pattern-wise. The plaid is perfect for Nette and I love that the dusky rose color fabric is almost like burlap. Nette really isn’t a pink girl, so the industrial texture strikes a perfect balance. The colored pencils are decorated with little snowflakes in pink, green, blue, and purple. I thought they’d be perfect for winter.

ready for pencils

extra space for Batman pens?

all rolled up!

Next year, I hope to make more of my Christmas gifts. Considering this was my first year sewing, I think I did a decent job with handmade gifts.