I finished up a few last minute handmade holiday items. I believe that this will be it for this year, but one never knows.  I do have two more days!  I made this Leather Basket from Krista Fleckenstein’s new Beyond Cotton: Making by Hand: Stamp, Print, Dye & Paint 18 Modern Mixed Media Sewing Projects. This book is a great resource if you are interested in expanding your horizons to printing on fabric, dying fabric and sewing with leather, among other techniques. This project was a first for me in two ways. I had never worked with leather before. And I had never used rivets. So it was a fun sense of accomplishment! This will be going in my husband’s Christmas stocking.

I stitched up this little sleeping bag for my goddaughter. My daughter’s well loved bear is modeling here but we bought her a new bear to go inside! It’s such a fun project and a quick sew. I used Florence’s pattern found here.

And finally, I made this ornament for our tree from Kerry Goulder’s Mrs. Tufty die for Sizzix. I thought that this bird would be much more fiddly to sew than it was. It actually went together quite easily. Kerry’s directions are very clear and complete. With the die cut accuracy, the curved pieces fit perfectly. I had always wondered how to sew knotted eyes like this. I used the instructions found in Kerry’s book, Sewing Tales to Stitch and Love: 18 Toy Patterns for the Storytelling Sewist. I was happy to learn just how easy they were!

I hope you are having fun putting the final handmade touches on your Christmas!