Gettin' ready for the holidays...

So Jack and I have decided that a few, well chosen gifts are the way to go this year. Not necessarily the most expensive, but thoughtful and really in tune with the intended recipients. I broached the subject of perhaps not getting each other any gifts since we usually just go get what we want anyway, but he's already got one for me picked out. Well, rats... now I have to find something he'd like that he hasn't already bought. Hmm....

I spent much of Friday on the computer, doing my Black Friday shopping. The people that get out there at 5:00am can have it. Every time I've attempted to get those "deals", the one I went after sells out right before my turn in line gets there, and the stuff that I do find and buy, I find cheaper 2 weeks later.

I'm making some of our Christmas gifts this year, mostly quilts for the little ones on the gift list. Jenna is a Backyardigans nut, and I came into a piece of Backyardigans character fleece that will make a very nice backer for a flannel top. I'm thinking some large patches, ragged together on the top, and tied instead of quilted. The fleece will limit how big it can be, but it will be the perfect size for a 2-1/2 year old to drag around where ever she wants to.

For Kayla, I have pink flannel with white kittens on it (of course I'm going to do kitties for the new baby! Mawmaw *is* a cat-nut after all!) along with some purple and white flannels. I'm thinking about rag quilting this one, too. Flannel makes such a pretty rag quilt, and it's quick.

I also drew one of our nieces' new baby in the family drawing. Kennedy is 5 weeks old now, abosolutely adorable, and her room has been decorated in, get this - Pink John Deere Camo. Some strange looking stuff, to say the least... I got the last of it that the fabric store had.

I need to finish the quilt I'm working on for the couple at church, too, before I can start any of the others. I should have the bulk of it finished tomorrow, just need to do the binding. It's a neat design that I thought up after seeing an afghan done similarly. I quilted 6" wide strips, 7 of one fabric, 7 in white, then wove them together. The "quilting" is consisting of stitching the strips together to keep baby from getting caught inside them, and some colorful buttons at the intersections.

So yeah, I'm gonna' be busy...

Jack thought of a great gift for our son-in-law. He is the head baseball coach and an assistant football coach for the local high school, along with some little league referee tossed in there in his free time. We ordered an engraved whistle for him, in a nice wooden box that will be engraved with his name, the high school name, and the mascot's paw prints (bear).

For Jack's mom, I took a picture of her with all of her kids that we took this summer and put it in a scrapbooking layout. Part of the layout included all of their names in a Scrabble letter layout. Then I sent it off and had it made into a puzzle. She loves Scrabble, and she likes puzzles.

I have gifts for my mother and Jessica, but sometimes they read my blog, so I'm going to keep mum on it.

Now to figure out what to make/get for my father, Jack's father, my sister & her boyfriend...