Christmas is fast approaching, and I’m ready for it. It’s probably obvious that I prefer making Christmas gifts over buying them. Some of my best gifts from the past include a corduroy purse I sewed for my mom; it was tailored just to her to hang the right length off her shoulder & included a change pouch and a key holder in the top flap so you could find them easily w/o having to dig. I also made loops along 1 inside wall to organize ink pens, a pocket sewn to the size of her check book, and a pouch tailored to snugly fit her old Nokia cell phone. That year she also got a phone case which made the phone too big for its slot. I’m really pleased with that gift because she carried the purse every day for 3+ years until the fabric was completely worn out. Another year I made billet ink pens for everyone on a turret lathe in my machine shop class, they were a hit too. Last year I tried my hand at wood working and made a case for my parents domino set. I designed and cut out the box and a friend of mine did a beautiful job staining and sealing it. I think she turned the craft into a piece of art which will hopefully become a desirable family heirloom along with its contents. I suspect my making it will give me 'dibs' on inheireting the domino set ;)
This year we drew names and I got my dad. It was great; I immediately knew what I wanted to make for him, that’s so much nicer than when I can’t come up with a good idea until a week before the deadline. Now I have time to design
and refine. I got material for it this morning and during lunch made a program on the CNC lathe with the conversational controller for 1 of the 6 different parts that will require lathe work.. Since it’s not Christmas yet I’ll say no more about it, only mention that it’s a real blessing to work in a shop where they’re cool with me doing “g-jobs”.
