a handmade kind of holiday

Christmas has already come and gone, and it doesn't seem possible.  It was a whirl of activity around here in the days leading up to the 25th.  Luke and I attempted to be industrious this year and set out to hand-make all (except for one happily received gift card and some picture frames) the gifts to family.  

My sewing machine graciously hummed along through 3 quilted blankets (in addition to Wren's quilt), a brightly colored, puffy-sleeved frock for a 3-year-old, and a tote bag.  I patched half a dozen pairs of Luke's favorite old pants (Luke and I agreed to keep our gifts each other at a monetary minimum, so I had to get creative) and even gifted myself 5 pairs of patched, repaired, and altered pants of my own!

All the sewn goodies were finished just in the nick of time, which means they were promptly wrapped and packed into the car for our Christmas travels.  And that means I forgot to snap any photos of anything except for the double wine tote bag which was the last of the holiday projects

My brother-in-law is well on his way to perfecting the arts of wine making and beer brewing.  Nearly every time we gather we are offered a sampling of the freshest brews and I do not flatter falsely when I say that I've never been disappointed with any said offerings.  I bought 2 bottles of his most recent wines (Coastal Red and Peach Wine) as gifts for an aunt and uncle, and decided to make a sewn wine tote to go with it.  

I found the pattern and tutorial here, and Luke foraged and whittled the bamboo handles.  And Wren enjoyed toting it around.  It was a crafty collaboration at its finest.