Handmades

This is just a smattering of the handmade gifts exchanged this year, based on the pictures that I put on our computer from my dad’s camera.  Overview:  The Rush family raised the bar for handmade gifts this year. 

Starting a quilt in November for a Christmas present seemed like a terrible idea all though December when I had a quilt to finish, right up until December 22 at midnight when I finished it.  Now it seems like a great idea.  I thought the lesson learned was going to be Start Projects Early, but instead it was You Can Do It!  I hope my brother will remember that I’ve never made a quilt that didn’t make my fingers bleed and I also finished it while watching It’s a Wonderful Life, so I cried onto it as well.  Quilts very literally contain the quilter.  Also, it’s machine washable.

My sister knit a coonskin cap for my Dad.  For most Davy Crockett admiring boys born in the 50’s, a coonskin cap will always be the height of fashion.

She also knit the warmest, most fabulous cowl ever for me.  So far while wearing it, I’ve miraculously eaten a fish po’ boy and spaghetti without turning it into a giant bib. 

My dad made this wreath for me, and it’s already hanging in our kitchen.  He said it required 160 corks and he and my mom had enough that he could have made two wreaths if he wanted to.  Shocking.  (Not.)

My brother made this sign for Trent’s office, but I might sneak it onto our bookshelf as soon as I finish this post.

My mom made fencepost fish for my brother to hang in his yard.  It has already inspired me to make sharks for our own yard, which are completed and will hopefully be hung up this weekend.

My brother-in-law’s mom made him a set of washers.  I know what we’ll be playing at the beach this summer.

My sister and I discussed gift giving among cousins back in November and determined that for now each gets one gift that must be either a book, pajamas, or handmade. We both ended up making costumes.  Looking through the pictures, it seems like we made ridiculously gender stereotyped gifts, but really we just made gifts that we knew the receivers would love.

Our Uncle Peter worked at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in Washington D.C., and Casey took his old police badges and sewed them onto blue shirts, making policeman uniforms for Rush and Tate.

I made what every mother of two boys makes for her very girlie niece, a hot pink tutu.

Here’s the very best part of making a gift for someone:

The elusive moment when someone opens a gift that you made for them and you can tell that they love it.  That’s my Merry Christmas from Carolena.