Festive.

So I haven’t posted in a week or so, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy!
I finished these pajama pants last Saturday. And while most if it went together nicely, the elastic casing proved to be a bit more of a pain than anticipated. The first problem was, I didn’t realize until I got to that step that there was no elastic that was wide enough in my stash! So I had to run out to Joann’s (on the Saturday before Christmas) to get some. Thankfully, the line was not as long as I expected it to be.  Then there was the issue of trying to get it in– apparently I stitched the casing just a little bit too narrow, so it took me awhile to wrestle the elastic into submission. Even then, there’s a spot in the back where the elastic didn’t gather properly (right where I left the opening– I ended up just having to stitch flat over the elastic.) So not the most professional-looking pair of flannel pajama pants I’ve ever made, if the term “professional-looking” can be applied to pajama pants, but they’re done, and they’re very comfortable, and the flannel must be a really good quality because I’ve been wearing them for about a week and they haven’t gone all wrinkly on me from being slept in.

And here’s a closeup of the fabric–a very cheery print! As it turned out, I had a long-sleeved knit shirt in my refashion pile that perfectly matches the lighter shade of green. I’d gotten it at the thrift store awhile back because I liked the color, but it was a bit big for me, so I had a thought to use a dress I’d found on the same trip that matched it well as a trim, and cut it down to size. But it’s been relegated to pajama use instead, which works for me– I’m silly enough to want the top half of my pjs to match the bottom half! Plus one thing out of the recon pile is always a good thing.

I also made this necklace for one of my cousins for Christmas. (She won’t see this post.) On my mom’s side of the family, for years each of the cousins has drawn another cousin’s (or occasionally a sibling’s) name, and that’s the one they buy a present for. There’s enough of us that it was just too much for the aunts and uncles to buy a present for every niece and nephew. Even though we’re almost all adults now, it’s still pretty much a gift from the aunts and uncles, but I wanted to contribute something this time. My mom’s been making a lot of bags like this one that I made several months ago lately, and she had the idea to make one each for the cousins that I and my brother picked (since both of us drew girls), and fill them with handy things. The cousin I got is still in college, so she got things like a pack of purse-sized notebooks, pens, a water bottle, snack food like chocolate and mini bags of popcorn, etc. And the print of her bag has butterflies on it, so for a fun addition, I made this very simple necklace to match–it’s just a chain with some iridescent beads scattered in it, and then the butterfly pendant. (My cousin who just started working as a nurse this fall got something similar, and my sister-in-law made her a scarf to go with it.)

Aside from that, I spent some time earlier this week decking my room with some of my ornament collection– I love my mismatched ornaments, because almost all of them were handmade or given to me by friends, so there’s memories with all of them. But I’ve never really gotten to use them, until this year. So this is what I ended up with:

It extends to the end of the hutch, too…a bit busy with my dvd collection in the background, but between the impromptu garland (a very thick piece of jewelry-making hemp that I’ve never been able to figure out what to do with, held in place by extra-large binder clips) and a few other places I found to scatter them, I was able to use nearly the entire collection. Since I’m still living at home, it was really nice for me to have a way to decorate my space that’s just mine, you know?

Anyway, that’s all for the moment….though there will likely be another post today, since I’m very close to finishing a project I started on yesterday!