Project: Christmas Gifts

Screen Printed Flour Sack Towels

 For the last several years I have been making Christmas gifts for friends and family. This year due to some time constraints we decided to screen print most of our gifts and limit the amount of sewing time. This ended up being a good decision because my foot controlled died a week and a half before we left to visit family out of state. Making the screens still took a lot of time, but the actually printing was over in a matter of minutes.

Queen Anne's Lace

 We have been inspired by so many things since our move to Pittsburgh. This Fall I marveled at how beautiful Pittsburgh becomes as the leaves change colors. It reminded me of the time I lived in Canada. Ah... seasons. We designed the images for our screens based on some of the Fall foliage that stood out to us while we were traveling and walking all over the city. Looking out our window was also pretty inspiring due to the beautiful view of the park across the street. I took pictures of various leaves, sketched, and collected samples as they fell from trees.

Japanese Maple Leaves from the Yard

 We were able to complete three handmade screens using acrylic paint. My next challenge with these screens is layering the design with detailed accents. Ginko leaves have these fine lines that fan out to the ends of each leaf. I imagine lawn creatures using them as fans or shade when the sun is high.

Ginko Leaves from Our Yard

We heard our nephews were getting a kitchen for Christmas. They love to "make" food when they play together. Just the other day Sebastian was opening a candy store and made me soup out of blocks. I thought it would be fun to make them some play food they could use while playing in their kitchen.

Felt Bacon Strips

Se

Sushi Roll

 It seams like we rarely have a weekend breakfast without bacon; therefore, the boys needed to have bacon, too. Although the boys are young, 2 and 4, they have incredibly cultivated palettes. I think it is great they both enjoy eating sushi. The sushi was a little experimental, but I was happy with the results- especially the "mock-i". The place mats were an extra-special touch contributed by The Architect.

Different view of the sushi roll

Tuna "Mock-i"

Tuna "Mock-i"

We also made a couple of turkey legs just for fun. It was an opportunity for The Architect to practice sewing. That was a lot of fun. He did well, which makes me hopeful for our next sewing project- his new messenger bag.

Turkey Leg