It's Never To Early For Starting Handmade Gifts

With the good weather here you'd have to be crazy to be thinking of Christmas and Christmas presents.

Well, crazy - yes!

A planner - definitely!

Organized - sometimes a bit too obsessively!

For the last two months I've spent a LOT of time sitting on the sofa next to my cairn terrier, Bud, who was recovering from his spleen removal surgery and his recent stroke. He wasn't allowed to jump on or off the sofa's - which is his favorite place to be - so I sat there with him until he wanted to get down. Then I'd barricade the sofas with pillows so I could leave and he wouldn't jump up on them.

Since I hate idle hands ( i.e. I'm a multi-tasker) and don't like watching TV during the day I decided to kill two birds with one stone and get some of my crafting done. You might also say that I'm an obsessive crafter - I always have some craft kit or sewing project in my hands. You know how it is!

Earlier this year I decided that from now on the bulk of my Christmas presents were going to be handmade by me. And, since I have a lot of Christmas presents to give that means I need to start creating them way ahead of time.

So, I decided to start on some of the punchneedle, cross stitch, needlepoint, wool felt, and beaded kits that I'd bought last year or even years upon years ago. I searched throughout my house to find all my "works in progress" and "unfinished projects" - and there were a LOT of them. You know how it is!

I gathered them all together, sorted them into different categories, put all the kits for a particular category into its own tote bag (I just LOVE tote bags for this!) and sat down to decide which to do first. Since I just LOVE punchneedle I decided to start on those first. Maybe I'd even sprinkle a few cross-stitch in there as well. The needlepoint's would definitely be last.

Weeks later and I'm thrilled to say that I got 18 punchneedle kits finished and two cross-stitch kits finished. I'd forgotten how tedious and time consuming cross-stitch can be. Punchneedle is just so much faster to complete than the cross-stitch. That's probably why I love it so much.

I've already mounted and framed two of the large 8 x 10" punchneedle creations. They came out really nice - if I don't say so myself. And, I managed to mount all the rest of the punchneedle and cross-stitch kits I'd finished on self-stick mounting boards. Some were mounted on the harder self-stick mounting boards and some were mounted on the self-stick foam mounting boards.

Since they're all mounted this means that I need to ask my dear, loving brother to help me, once again, create shadow boxes and frames for all my punchneedle and cross-stitch creations. Hopefully, he won't mind! This time I have a few ideas that might challenge his skills - which he loves to do.

Last year he helped me create shadow box frames for some of the punchneedle gifts I gave last Christmas . We had a lot of fun doing that and I just LOVE working in his workshop. Maybe I'll take a picture of his workshop so you can all see why it's a GREAT place to create.

In any event, I've made really good progress on some of my handmade Christmas gifts. Of course, I have a LOT more to complete - just don't tell my brother! I'll have to work on him to help me with these later on in the year.

My house is a mess and I have tote bags all over the house. Each has some project in it that is in some stage of completion. All can easily be picked up and started whenever I sit in that chair or on that sofa - you know how it is! All can easily be moved from the house, to the car, or wherever I might be at the moment.

Of course, once everything is done I'll be sure to take pictures so you all can see what I've been working on. That may have to wait until after the holidays - unless, of course, I decide to keep some of my creations for myself - which I may just do. You know how it is!

In any event, it's never to early to start making your Christmas gifts. At least not in my house! Now where did I put that tote bag with the beaded kits? I know I put it...... You know how it is!


Graphic Copyright © 2008 Denise Bailey of  KKL Primitives