Things the Beadboys Have Used as Ornaments on the Tree

Various toys
A spoon
A fork
A bowl
My car/house/office keys
Scraps of paper
Used tissues
A pair of Diego underpants

Cookies!

Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprints (the Martha Stewart website does not have the recipe yet):

Pan de polvo:

Misshapen Pepparkakor (from Prairie Moon, in 2005's Christmas Ornaments):

Mint M&M Cookies (my own "recipe," by which I mean the Tollhouse cookie recipe with m&ms instead of chocolate chips):
They'd be prettier if I'd added the m&ms in one by one after the cookies were partially cooked, but that would have been too much labor on a Monday night.

Christmas Pudding

Mr. Beadgirl's father is from England, so this seemed an appropriate ornament for the Bead-in-laws:

It is made from wool felt and hand-sewn, although had I used the machine (it's in the shop) I think I would have been able to stuff it more firmly. The design is from the 2009 issue of Holiday Crafts.

Gaspar

Dear Jane Part Deux

Beadmom liked my Dear Jane quilt so much she hasn't stopped talking about it. I had a few squares left over so I thought I'd make some more so she could have her own Jane. But she's running out of wall space . . . what to do? Bags are always useful, so I used nine squares for each side. I used a heavyweight iron-on interface to protect the stitching and add heft to the bag. A three-inch piece of doubled fabric serves as the bottom and sides, so the squares don't get distorted when there is stuff in the bag. I lined the bag with a cheery yellow batik, Beadmom's favorite color, and I used strips of black webbing for the handles (fabric wears too easily). And just in time for Christmas!

Good thing Beadmom is skeptical of blogs, and never reads mine.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Monkeys, and in particular sock monkeys, are very popular right now. My cross-stitching allotment is being taken up by the Three Kings so I could not cross-stitch this and this (this year), but what about making the actual monkey? I don't knit, so these adorable guys were out of the question, but I do sew.

I took two pairs of this:

And turned them into this:
I added buttons for eyes, to match the eyes of the Beadboys. Astute viewers will notice that one monkey's arms are inside out; oops. I'm a little apprehensive as to how well these will hold up given the rough play the boys subject everything to, but the monkeys will look adorable peering out of the top of stockings on Christmas morning.

O, Christmas Tree

The Beadboys tend to clump ornaments together on the lower third of the tree, so over the next few days I need to shift some of them around.