Well, we’re here. The holiday season is upon us and I am happy to report that I did one of the things I set out to do this year. I pulled out my stash of handmade holiday items. My stash! Way back in January, I had the idea to dedicate some time over the year to making a little bit of a handmade Christmas so that I could enjoy handmade items around the house.

Looking back over 2020, I’m amazed I accomplished much of anything. I spent a solid month on a near complete crafting hiatus – I’m looking at you Animal Crossing. I knit more socks than anything else and I still have a sweater on the needles that I cast on in March. But! I set out to make 12 holiday makes – one each month. I fell off the month by month pace, but in the end I’m happy with the results.

I wound up putting much of my efforts into quilts and quilted things. I knew that I wanted to make a tree skirt and a Christmas tree quilt. I started both last January and finished them in the summer. Other than that, I just let the Christmas whims take me as they would. Let’s have a look back over the year.

January – Christmas Tree mug rug – free pattern by Threadbare Creations, various scraps (1)

February – Christmas Socks – A Homespun House in Whobilation (2)

March – Granny Square mug rug – block pattern from Lori Holt’s Granny Squared book (3)

April – Christmas socks – Plies & Hellhounds Yarn in Christams Like It’s 1882 (4)

Imagine a music montage here where I work on Christmas things but definitely don’t finish any until August.

August – Happy Christmas mini quilt – Pattern & scrappy kit from Maker Valley – (5)

September – Happy Christmas quilt – pattern and scrappy kit from Maker Valley, yeah I like her stuff (6)

September – Tree skirt – Joyful Jelly Roll pattern by Fat Quarter Shop, Little Tree fabric (7)

October – Christmas pillowcases – Kits from, you guessesd it, Maker Valley (8)

November – Joshua’s Christmas Quilt – Fat Quarter Pile Up pattern by Knot & Thread Design (9)

November – Astra’s Christmas Quilt – Fat Quarter Pile Up pattern by Knot & Thread Design (10)

November – Christmas Kitty mug rug – inner prim star unit from Prim & Proper book by Lori Holt (11)

November – Scrappy Stars table runner – Prim star blocks from Prim & Proper book by Lori Holt (12)

Well, there we go! I made it to 12 with that little mad dash in November. It’s been so nice to see these little pieces around the house. The cats are big fans of the tree skirt. I’m glad I made it a quilt, it’s been through the wash a bunch already thanks to all the sweet soft fur.

I’m going to tag in one more little holiday make, though. The kids decided they needed Christmas pijama pants to really set the scene. We are usually travelling to visit family over the holidays, so we’re really trying to brighten things up and make the holiday at home special. So of course, I relented and sewed them up some snuggly pjs.

December – Christmas plaid fleece pj bottoms – Walk the Plank PJ Pants by Patterns for Pirates (13)

Ok, now we’re done! I really enjoy setting a good arbitrary goal and getting there is just icing on the cake. I hope you are having a lovely wind down of this crazy year and if you celebrate one of the many beautiful holidays this season brings, I hope you are enjoying it. I’m getting ready to cozy up with my last day of advent knitting and dream up where my crafty heart might take me in the new year.

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Happy {joyful} making!