Bathmat and Blanket

With Halloween costumes finally out of the way, I am headed into some serious Christmas crafting. Last year we decided to do more homemade gifts for Christmas this year in an effort to make the season of giving a little more meaningful to us and our children (and let's just say if you're on my Christmas list this year I am totally jealous!). I got the craft room finally whipped into shape last week (to finish up those costumes) and I am ready to get down to business. But before I start, I have a couple of projects to finish. I completed two of them this morning - yay!!!

First off is the lovely bathmat you see above for my kiddos bathroom. We finally got the thing painted, but have done NOTHING since then (we are talking no hooks for towels, no pictures hung, nadda). I think the mat will provide great color inspiration for the rest of the room. (WARNING: Do not blow up this picture to get a better look. Djeryd has been cleaning the upstairs bathroom by himself for the past couple of months - enough said.)

The other project I finished this morning was a knit patchowork blanket for Anna's dolls. I have had the squares done for months, but the idea of sewing them all together (something I have never done with hand-knitted fabric) was very intimidating to me. Well, I found some easy instructions in a children's craft book, took needle and thread in hand, and dove in. It turned out so great. I'm very excited because I have been knitting squares for a grown-up size blanket since March and I'm relieved to have reason to hope it may actually get made. ;>

And a final special treat of the morning is I think I found a new favorite picture of Annaliese.