Making Christmas, Part I

We had a very crafty Christmas gifts this year, with much secret sewing in the dining room and routing on the porch.  There were some group efforts and some individual projects, all done with much care and love.  In fact, that I don't know who enjoyed these handmade gifts more, the givers or the receivers. 

Here is the finger labyrinth Matthew carved for me, modeled after the one that I've walked at Shrine Mont, which is based on the one at Chartres Cathedral:

A little bit of that Shrine Mont peace and quiet in my own home.  Perfect!

The mini-quilt I made for my mom, loosely based on a picture I took while backpacking in Shenandoah National Park:

For years I've looked at those mountains and dreamed of rendering them in fabric for my mom.  This was my first attempt, and I am so glad that I finally tried it.  The mountain laurel proved pretty time consuming to embroider, so there's a little less of it on the quilt than in the picture.  Oh well, she knew exactly what it was when she saw it, so I felt like it was a success overall.

A special cat pillow that Betsy made, complete with catnip inside:

 

Betsy accompanied me on a trip to the fabric store for blue sky fabric for the quilt and saw this fabric and knew that the cats needed a pillow for Christmas, and that she was the girl to make it.  Just out of frame: another cat lurking, waiting to claim ownership of the pillow.

I'll post more pictures soon of some of the other projects.  I told you we made a lot of things!