Grandmom Craft: holiday edition

Ok, the Santa Bag is really, really fun to carry around.  It gets comments everywhere.  Some don't see the pompom tassel immediately and then squeal again when they see it.  I've even had a grown man tell me "I like your bag"!  Like Gwen said happened to her daughter, a coworker told me she wants to steal it!

I don't know if I will sew this weekend or not (today was a "chore" day of the non-standard variety (try to fix a lamp--I will know tmw morning if I was successful/fill car tires/change furnace filters/repot a plant/remove a different planter stuck to my kitchen floor) plus some regular chores. Tomorrow is cookie making in the morning, then off to visit some friends for a very long lunch, and then watching the season finale of The Amazing Race at night (Brook and Claire or Nat and Kat for what I hope will be the history making win (first female team to win TAR).

I am also fighting off a cold with all my might.  I'm trying to keep it from developing!

So, in lieu of my crafting/sewing here's some Grandmom craft, holiday style.
First up is a snowman game that I don't think I've ever successfully completed. I have it out on my desk year round. Here the "buttons" are filled in, but eyes are not:


One eyed snowman:


I'm not sure what she used as the base of this game, but it says "made in the USA". The lid and base are taped together with red electrical tape. She used red felt for the background.  For the snowman, she cut white felt and then used a marker to color in the snowman's hat.  She also used green yarn for the scarf.

I think she made this but now I'm not sure. How would she have done that decorative edge stitching? Hrm.  I think it's a decorative bottle bag.


I've shown this before, but it's perfect for the season. It's a shadowbox of Christmas pins that she made. After all these years, I still LOVE the skate pin, where the blades are made from paper clips.  She hand stitched the skates together, but used glue for the sequins.  Securing the sequin by stitching it on with a bead would have been more effective.   I love the snowman pin too which is lightly stuffed and glued on the edges.


And then, of course, there are the Santa bow ties (the left are garters she made for my parents wedding as favors).

She was a Boy Scout troop leader and I think a lot of her crafts were for the troop.  When I was little she gave me her crafting supplies and I'd play with them for hours:  wooden beads in the gold and blue Boy Scout colors, a box of 1000 Popsicle sticks, tiny carpet samples (mostly red but the turquoise samples were my favorite), blue tassels, round pieces of flat cork,  a tube containing little round wooden doll heads, and lots of sequins, glitter, and beads.  She died more than 20 years ago but I think part of her still lives on through me and my crafting and sewing.  I think she would have been a fan of the Santa Bag too.

Good night!