Christmas Memories - 2011 the first year we stitched all our gifts and cards

When Glen and I decided that we were going to sew all our Christmas gifts in 2011 we did not really know what we were getting ourselves into.

Many years ago my aunt Carole had given me a paper piecing pattern called "Christmas Memories"

I had never really done much paper piecing before and it seemed pretty strange to me, but after we got started WOW did it ever open my mind to possibilities! Making one of these wall hangings is fun and it is usually pretty safe to assume that it is going to look pretty good in the end, so Glen and I decided to use that pattern... and make 12.  Of course we also had the bright Idea of instead of my usual card making that year (I do a painting every year and then get Christmas cards printed off with the design, but 2011 was a very overwhelming year and I just never found the time to do a design that year) we would make Little snow men holding little business sized cards - so cute... and we would make 35 of those. It's June, no worries right? Ha. So we divided up the work - I cut and machine stitch and Glen would hand stitch and do the little extras.
This is Glen and our Sphynx cat Odd sitting on the balcony in the middle of some July evening heat stitching on bells, or bows

The good part is that we did manage to get every thing done by mid October! We are doing the little snowmen again this year so I will post picture of them as we work on them, but here are some pictures of our completed 'Christmas Memories' - some of the fabric used was brand new and some I've held onto for 20 years!

Santas

Angels

The body of this Angel was actually done by my aunt and the wing (oops upside down) I appliqued and is made from a bunch of vintage napkins I found while roaming a second hand store - it is my favourite.

Bells

Stack of gifts

Trees