The Christmas Sewing Round -Up

... and just in time for the End of Year Round-Up!

There hasn't been a lot of sewing this year, probably because my friend had my sewing machine for the entirety of 2008. I didn't mean for that to happen and neither did she but sometimes we just get lazy. I'd planned sewing projects, washed and ironed the fabrics but nothing happened until two days before I flew home for Christmas. First up were gifts for my lab's Secret Santa, which now I think about it was half-sewn half-knitted, but bear with me that it falls into my arbitrary two-post Christmas round-up thing, m-kay?!

My giftee was my lab manager, Jeff, who runs the lab while fixing all that is broken with general good humor, and also ran a marathon in five seconds flat this fall. This left him with an ailing foot that he has been heat treating ever since, hence - rice heat pack! Inside is a sealed cotton pouch filled with arborio rice (because it was all I had not because I thought he could make a risotto when he's done with it), and the outside is recycled wool felt (green on top, red on bottom) edged with vintage trim. I microwaved it for 30s and it got hot so I guess it's a winner :o) The second gift was also for Jeff, but the Jeff who cycles into work everyday with a dodgy foot in snow, in rain, in any post-apocalyptic weather scenario you can imagine. So I made him these:

... bike helmet earmuffs! (Made with less than half a ball of Cascade 220 superwash, no real mods on the pattern.)

Finally, the last sewing project had been a bee in my bonnet for a quite a while and I was finally spurred on to give it a go when my sister told me she had redecorated her living room in black and red. And really, every newly decorated living room needs a couple of log cabin cushions, right? A flurry of cutting and sewing and ironing and I had two of these!

I swear I ironed them but the crinkles just wouldn't come out. Never mind, I think they liked them!

There is one black and one white (because of gross underestimation of how much backing fabric I would actually need, and because this was all made from stash fabric), with a strip of patchwork along the back edge. They aren't bad for my first attempt but I hope they don't love them too hard or they might disintegrate!