the last 3 miles

I am in the final stretch of Christmas gift making. It's like the last three miles of the half marathon I ran with my friend Emily. I need her standing next to me almost pulling me along. But that doesn't work so much in this context...I've resolved to make everything this year. I have made an exception and have purchased a few hand-made things, but I knew that I would seeing how I love to do a little Christmas shopping every year at the Bizarre Bazaar here in SF. So it's probably not the best year to make such a promise to myself, seeing how I have a new little man who'd rather cuddle and play and eat and sleep right next to me than have me do anything else that involves, well, anything else other than him. And I'm right there with him! Who could resist such a cuddle bug? He's getting cuter and bigger every day! He just fell in love with his feet, which is an adorable romance to observe. Sitting, tummy time, on his back...it now all involves finding those feet and trying (which involved many grunts) to get them to his mouth. Adorable.



Back to projects...although I can't quite divulge all the stuff that is crowding our dining room table, I can share some snippets about the advent calendar that I am making. I am using the tiny patterns that Mollie at Wild Olive posts on her blog. I should say that since I don't have a printer I've just drawn them on my own, but they're pretty darn close, if I do say so myself. This inspired me to jump into an advent calendar that can be in our family forever. We had one growing up, which I've seen in other people's homes as well.

Anyone have this?



Since it's in the works, here's a tiny sneak peak...



(That figgy pudding just melts my heart.)

The rest is going to involve a little of this and a little of that (specifically felt and ribbon...and metallic floss...ugh, that's a real peach to work with! ugh!)



It's a bit more of a complicated project than I should be devoting my time to, since I've still got SO MANY gifts to make! And next week is our last week here until we get head off to Michigan! As I am stealing away for moments that Jack is off spending time with his daddy, or napping, or happily playing with one of his favorite toys, I am off getting in a few stitches and just kicking myself for not getting all this done while I was lounging around pregnant all summer counting down until baby time!

WISH ME LUCK! Anyone else in a bit of a pickle-Christmastime-present-making-crunch? Somebody has to be a procrastinator too!!!