Friday, January 8, 2010

a partridge and a pear



**This design is now available as a PDF pattern!**

Carrying on the (short) parade of handmade gifts: I made these two wool felt ornaments for my bosom friend, Robyn.

My seven year old Thing 1 was very taken with the whole idea. I showed her the ornaments and she said "Oh, oh! Like the song." Counting exaggeratedly on fingers, "You have a partridge, then the pear and then you put it on the Christmas TREE. So the Christmas tree is the pear tree. Is that it?"

Yeah. I have to admit, I didn't think of that. I just knew I'd tried to make a pear tree ornament last year that was too complicated and super ugly, so this year I dumbed it down to just the pear.

I also ended up making a second pair (haha) of them for my sister, Leigh. I say for my sister, which is really how it is, but it was supposedly a 'family' gift. We drew names for families this year instead of individuals, and it was decided we'd all do handmade. So Leigh saw these ornaments under construction at Thanksgiving and instantly demanded to have a pair just like them for their family's handmade Christmas gift.

I said, 'Are you sure you want to speak for your whole family, they might not--"

"Yes." Her steely look cut off any further discussion.

So, here they are. They are almost but not exactly like the ones for Robyn. I can't seem to make anything EXACTLY alike twice in a row. That's boring. I also threw in some handmade candy so that the rest of her family got some enjoyment from 'their' gift. *wink* Love you, Leigh.



Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Asher's Mikey

"How YOU doin'?"

This is the Mikey monkey I made for smiley baby Asher's Christmas gift. He got to hang out some with Katy before I boxed him up. Asher's too young to appreciate him now, but maybe his older brother and sister can enjoy Mikey until Asher is old enough to suggest "Mine! Mine!".


And here he is in his pirate get up, ready to pillage bananas and swing from the main mast.

He's very similar to the Mikey I made for Tucker, I think the only difference is the eye, tie and hat colors. More handmade gifting to come. I have to string this out you know, since I didn't get to make much this year.