handmade holiday

in the months before christmas, i had done a lot of thinking about trying to go mostly handmade for our gifts. i had plenty of ideas for the kids in our life because there is so much more to make and they won't notice my beginner skills and are an easier audience. i struggled with handmade things for adults, even though i was pretty unenthusiastic about giving store-bought gifts to adults. i feel like everyone has everything they need and it all seems so frivolous sometimes, to me.

in the end i made things for almost every kid in our life and i was pretty psyched about it.

for the little cousins on D's side, i made a twirling skirt, a snack bag and some dyed silks:

i also made a set of silks for henny:

for bee i made a velvet curtain for her "stage". she always uses this one area of the living room as her stage and calls the doorway her "backstage". i sewed a silky back on it, added some sequined stars and hung it on a tension rod. here it is in the background (bad picture).......

for all of the little girls in our life, i made more skirts. i am loving this pattern and the girls all seem to love the skirts......
really early on, and before i thought to be taking pictures, i also made some matching stenciled and hand-dyed  shirts and a scrap wreath.

for next year, i have a few goals. i want to keep a running list of ideas that are good for kids as well as adults. i also want to make things throughout the year, as the inspiration strikes. i hope i will have more success this way, and maybe even be able to take the handmade pledge, for once and for all.

one thing that struck me throughout the christmas holiday was the amount of people in our life who gave handmade gifts to the kids. these were all things made by moms in our life, who have kids near our kid's ages. i observed the most amazing thing each time we exchanged gifts with one of these people. after one of the kids opened a homemade gift, the child of the woman who made the gift would proudly declare "my mom made that!" every time. i feel my eyes fill with tears as i type that because it is so pure, that pride in the homemade. i heard bee tell her friends and cousins, i heard her cousins tell me, i heard bee's friend tell us all. each time they said the same exact thing, with the same boastful tone. i just love that. i love that we are surrounded by that sort of love and effort. i love that bee asks first "who made this?" instead of "what store did we get this from?" that's what it's all about.