DAYS OF CHRiSTMAS CRAFTiNG

“The greatness of a craft consists firstly in how it

brings comradeship to men.”

~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Well I did a ton of Christmas crafting this year. I think, I again, bit off more that I could chew...but I chewed...and swallowed...and actually completed most of what I had on my list. I failed to take pictures of most of my completed projects. Call it delirium, or exhaustion, or both.

Fortunately I have now slept, and traveled south with a couple of works in progress. My peeps in Texas are patiently awaiting their finished products.

I began my holiday mania, with a trip to Marshall Dry Goods, in Batesville. It is like a thrift store of designer fabric. Oh, how I love this place. I have to pace myself because it is a bit overwhelming. There are stacks and stacks of fabric to choose from. In addition, there is a whole other gigantic section that is open to wholesalers only. This will hopefully, someday, encourage me to get a tax number for my little fledgling Wild Violet Goods business. In the meantime, I am sated by the great deals I can find in the public warehouse.

So you ask...What were my Christmas projects? They consisted of...

...three art wraps...

The inspiration and basis for my pattern were culled over at Soule Mama's blog...have I mentioned yet that she is one of my personal heroes? They were pretty simple to put together and fun to design. I made them a bit bigger to hold a large moleskine sketch book, and some drawing pencils. I added an extra pocket on Mimi's to hold stationary (perfect for throwing in her bag as she is whisking away on one of her trips to New Mexico...or Arkansas, yes please).

...two Wild Violet aprons...

a pattern that I created by morphing a couple of vintage apron designs. I am still perfecting it, as I add something a little different every time I make one. The recipients of said aprons were pleased. That is always rewarding.

...a check book cover...

I broke out my stash of felted wool sweaters and my felting tool and Bam, I had a check book cover.

...a fairy baby in a hickory nut shell...

This turned out cute. I am working on a Daddy and Mama. They were supposed to be accessories along with this adorable mushroom fairy furniture set, (that we picked up over at Willow Tree Toys) for a fairy house that Kalin was creating. We had a lot of other things for her and sometimes you just have to let things drop off our list, for the sanity of it all. Violets fifth (oh my goodness) birthday is rapidly approaching. We are going to complete our project for this event.

...and Art Magnets...


I bought magnet sheets, cut them into smaller pieces, gave Violet my Bic permanent markers (Man I love these), and let Violet draw little pictures on them. She was inspired by an episode of Mr. Rogers that we watched, where he visited am African batik artist's studio, and made a "batik" magnet for her Grand Daddy. I don't know if he has this effect on anyone else, but to this day, after 30 years of watching him, Mr. Rogers still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

...clothes for Berry Sue...

With the falling out of the fairy project, I decided to make Berry Sue a few new duds to go with the baby sling and baby set we purchased for her (also from Willow tree).

I made her shirt and hair ties with a some old t- shirts, a pair of tights from one of my stripy socks, and a new coat from a felted sweater.


This year I resolved to use only wrappings that I had on hand, and recycled objects. I found some vintage patterns at the neighborhood thrift store. I used the instruction sheets for wrapping paper, and the patterns themselves for tissue paper.

All in all a very crafty handmade holiday season. Thanks for sticking with me in my ramblings and run on sentences.