Already Thinking About Christmas.
Yes, I am the girl that said something truly foul when I saw red and green melmac-ish plates in target in September. And yes, I am also the girl whose friend said in that moment, "Really? You're gonna get mad about this? Really?"
So, while I don't want to go all Christmas-in-July on you, the truth is . . . it's October. And according to my mother, you'll never be ready for Christmas if you're not thoroughly set to go by Halloween. It's true that in my mind I hit her the first time she told this to me (maybe because she was saying it at Thanksgiving and I had no $ and no clue what I was going to do for my kids/husband/friends/extended relatives/book club friends/co-workers/kids' teachers/mailman's nephew with 30 days left to budget, save, think, know, buy, wrap and deliver.)
But there's also some deeply annoying truth to it. And Halloween is the day after the day after tomorrow.
So, I'm trying to start planning now. I don't want to spend $17 on every person I want to give something to and feel out $442 and all hollow inside on the 26th. I want to make my gifts.
So I'm fooling around with the idea of the dop kit--you know toiletry bag, what my friend calls the ditty bag. (Which is easily the best name for this ever.) This seems like a fun and unexpected gift and something lots of people have one of that they don't like very much. I am, of course, getting everyone I know mixed up with me as usual, but I'm willing to live with that. And yes I am figuring out how to make these out of old polyester. Because why wouldn't I? Exactly.
So far, I like this tutorial a lot for a good basic take on how to make a boxy thing with a zipper, but I'm fooling around with making one about 5 times bigger, adding lining, a nifty loop and some structure without the horrid interfacing. Why is this horrid to me? Easy: because you have to drive to the craft store to buy it, and I will spend 19 hours upstairs away from my family to figure out an alternative to this before I will drive in my car with all three of my children to a craft supply store. That's just how I am.
I also like the idea of combining this tutorial for fabric garlands and this one for fabric alphabets to make MERRY CHRISTMAS garlands. That sounds fun. (Especially if you do this shortcut for the garlands so that you don't spend all of december making one gift and then have to buy everyone else a huge tin of cheese popcorn at walmart on the 23rd.)
Sew Mama Sew has a loaded wheelbarrow full of tutorials up right now for making things out of scraps and there are lots of good cheap-to-make ideas if you're looking for some inspiration.
Or maybe I'll just invite everyone I know over to watch the episode from Little House on the Prarie where they get all excited about the oranges in their stocking. And then I'll hand out oranges. And that will be that.
What are you all making this year? Any good ideas?
