Crafty Christmas goodies

Hello, and happy New Year's Eve! I figured I'd end the year with updating this with the newest toys I've gotten recently.

One thing I posted on Instagram, but not here, was that back around Thanksgiving, my Grandma (on my dad's side) was in the process of cleaning some things out of her house. She decided that she wasn't going to do any more yarncrafting. So she let my sis-in-law and I take her entire stash of knitting and crochet needles. Since sis crochets and they were mostly knitting needles, I did get the bulk of it, but she did get a couple of things, too! Grandma also let me look through her old craft books, and I did take a few booklets of some cute 60s-ish vintage knitting patterns. Thanks, Grandma! So I should be good for awhile on double-pointed needles and circular needles....but I might need to sew new cases for them, because mine are stuffed!


As usual, my mom gave me some fabric for Christmas! In particular, she gave me about 4 yards of a funky knit print, 3 yards of this oh-so-cool Japanese teacup fabric, and a couple of yards of a lightweight denim. I don't have quite 4 yards of the knit anymore, since it shrank a bit in the wash, but that's why we pre-wash, right?  I'm thinking a Tiramisu maxi-dress (a la Cation Designs) for the knit, a "real" Cambie for the teacup print, and maybe some wider-legged jeans with the denim--since it's thinner and non-stretch, I think that would put less strain on the fabric. Plus a looser leg would be more comfortable for warmer weather here.

But what? you say. There's four fabrics in this picture! Well, Doug completely spoiled me this year. Not only did he get me a new computer-- and a Kindle Fire, which I'm still completely in shock over since I already knew about the computer--he also bought me fabric! With TARDISes on it! He got it off of Spoonflower, with the disclaimer that since there were a ton of TARDIS fabrics on there, he basically got the one he liked best. Love that guy. It's a quilter-weight cotton, so I'm thinking this would make an excellent lining for the Colette Cooper bag, which I recently acquired the pattern for. The best part is that, although I'd have to buy contrast, I do have a blue canvas-type fabric in the stash already that should work quite nicely for part of the bag!

Mom made a couple of things for my sis-in-law and I, too. She made each of us a new beach bag with some meshy fabric (hers was in a different color scheme, but same idea). And she also made each of us a TARDIS wristlet--so cool! (And this would be perfect to throw into that Cooper bag that already exists in my head!)














The best part, other than the fact that it's a TARDIS, is that she lined it with Van Gogh fabric. If you watch Doctor Who, you understand why this is great. My mom rocks. 


















My mom also put a few fun new sewing toys in my stocking. I now have a buttonhole gauge, a Chaco pen, and a double-wheel tracing...thingy. She also got me this amazing wooden pressing tool, which I saw on A Fashionable Stitch and promptly put on my wish list. This will be so handy when I make that new winter coat!




I even got something for the scrapbook--my mother-in-law spotted a Project Life kit on my Amazon wishlist and got that for me. I think this one will be fun, because it's so colorful! I love those constellation cards in particular.

So that's a wrap on 2013, and I need to get back to trying to figure out the 3-D puzzle that is currently trying to get my craft room optimized to actually use this stuff!