Christmas has begun

I have already been working on Christmas presents and things for the Holiday Festival.  I decided this year to learn a new craft after doing it with my cub scouts.  It is wood burning.  I decided to make clocks for the men in the family this year.  I finished those and will start working on the project I have decided to do for the women, but will not blog those until after Christmas just in case someone reads my blog that would reveal something.

There is always a lot to do for the Holiday Festival, so I have been working on some of that also.  I have finished a few items which I will show below.  I have also decided this year to make some high end articles that might not sell, but maybe someone will see them and like them enough to give me orders like happened last year with my play mat sets.  I am going to make a woman's cabled cardigan which I have just started.   I am using a very difficult pattern, but the harder it is, the more I like the challenge.  I feel so good when I can make something look so nice.  I wish I could do as well as the one who designed the sweater in the first place, but I will be content to just follow someone else's pattern.  I will also make another men's 100% wool hooded sweater/jacket like the ones I have made in the past.

This clock is different because when I bought the mechanisms for the clocks, one of them had a very short unit that went through the wood to the front for attaching the hands.  I got another set for the thicker wood and used the shorter one for this clock.  This is a stand up clock.  It looks nice, but for some reason, it seems to not be keeping an accurate time.  It is for my husband so if it doesn't work, he can just sit it on his desk for the look.  The cowboy riding the bronco is like the Wyoming license plate which Tony has always liked. 

This one will probably be for Marty.  This is the one that has the newer mechanism.  It was still too short to go through the wood completely, so I had to bore out some of the wood from the back side to make it fit.  Because of being a different brand of mechanism, the hands on this clock are shorter.  I wanted to just swap the hands from the clock up above, but the mechanisms did not match up in such a way as to be able to do it.  I think the hands still look long enough and it seems to be keeping accurate time.

This is definitely for TW.  He loves to sail, so when I found this pattern for wood burning, I knew it would be his. 

My son, Tom is a landscape designer and works with all sorts of plants.  This has to be his clock.

This will be my son-in-law's. It is hard to see the pheasant in the corn field but that is what it is. It is easier to see than it shows in the picture.

 That is it for the wood burning.  Now, on to the projects for the Holiday Festival.  I always like to make baby things.  Last year I made a lot of toys and play sets.  This year, I will still make toys, but I have also made some cuddly friends blankets.

Borris Bear cuddle friend

Diggedy Dog cuddle friend

Rosey Rabbit cuddle friend

Katie Kitty cuddle friend