Handmade: A Year Long Saga

I have been mentally writing this post for a week now.  And I give up.  I am unable to give this experiment words that summarize how it felt to finish this goal.  My family handmade every gift last year.  EVERY ONE.  Yes, that deserves some all caps, if I do say so myself...  Mostly it was enjoyable, sometimes exhausting and only occasionally overwhelming.  (I have one suggestion for those of you who wished to follow in my footsteps: DON'T try this the same year you produce a baby, something about biting and chewing.)

The following are a lot of pictures of one gift and two pictures of two gifts.

Frankly, my only regret is not taking more pictures.

This quilt is the converging of two goals: "All handmade and teach myself how to properly make a quilt".   I measured, designed, sketched and sewed this bad boy all by myself.  Dustin did most of the cutting.  Our children provided the hand prints and footprints(Jeep) for the custom fabric pieces. 

I am sure that in a decade when I have a bit more quilting accomplished, I will look back at this quilt and cringe.  But for now... I have quilter's high. 

This quilt generously covers a queen sized bed.  So it's pretty big.  I mean really big.

 I free-motion quilted using unevenly spaced lines.  I was going to be all crafty and create some awesome modern design with the stitches but realized that would have been extremely difficult due to the size of the quilt.  

The back is simple and nice enough to showcase all by itself. 

I made Lou two of these pinafores.  I modified a vintage pattern that was originally for babies.  This one is reversible and has a pocket in front.  I call them shirt-savers.

This was made for my Brother's family.  Kids are cute in profile.  

Like I said.  More pictures.