This is a nice little idea which I got from Life with Evie, the first 3 fellow bloggers who reply to this post will receive a cute handmade gift from me. What they have to then do in turn is make a Pay it Forward post on their blog and then make 3 gifts for their first 3 respondees. You must have a blog to be eligible and you then have 365 days to make and post your gifts.
So in the spirit of Christmas and Pay it Forward, who would like a little gift from me?
Happy Birthday to my mother in law who turned 60 this week. As previously mentioned I was making her a bag. I'm really pleased with the results. It was my first time using wooden handles, which made it a little tricky to move around the machine to finish the bag off. It was also my first time creating flowers by freestyle applique. This was the second time I'd attempted a bag patter out of a magazine and hopefully next time I will remember that they are not always the easiest or clearest patterns to follow. My only drama really was sewing the lining and bag body together while adding the handles. The wooden handles (great quality handles by the way from Kelani) made it almost impossible to attach the lining and body in the regular way, due to the size of the bag, which was disappointing. But we got there in the end - so Happy Birthday Patsy!
Ok I'm a tiny bit late this week but my excuse is that we went away for the weekend. We went to Sydney to see the Monet & the Impressionists exhibition which was wonderful. And then for added excitement we went to the Taronga Zoo on Sunday. It was Baby Guy's first trip on a plane - let's just say that he flies much better than his mother does!
So my stash this week is a bundle of fat quarters I picked up at a great little quilting store in Beenleigh, south of Brisbane. I just love the way it's now ok to mix spots with stripes and patterns. I think this stash is going to become my mother in law's actual birthday pressie - a cute little bag.
Here's my first entry for the Sunday Stash. Four fat quarters I purchased from Sanshi Japanese Fabrics at our recent Quilt and Craft show in Brissie. These beauties are destined for a bag for my mum for Chrissie. I just love the texture of these Japanese cottons, just a little bit thicker than regular cotton.
I think I'll call this next pressie the Kitchen Kit. It contains a table cloth, 4 placemats, an apron and 2 tea towels with patchwork detail. I got the idea for the tea towels from a Sew Mama Sew tutorial. And the pieces are all presented in a patchwork bag made from the tutorial on the Pink Penguin site. I was going to make the basket up in Chrissie fabric but I thought if I used the co ordinating fabric it could be used to hold bread rolls or cutlery etc on the table.
I made up these 4 Christmas stockings for Little Guy and 3 of his friends. They are made out of flannel so I had to find flannel backing - not so easy in summer in Australia! They're lined with red cotton and have some batting in for support.
My friend Mel has been admiring the bags I've been making, so I thought I'd whip her up a little shopping bag. It's pretty crazy as it's made from Jelly Roll strips which is perfect for me as I can't cut straight! But you could make it from strips cut from fat quarters or left over pieces of fabric. It's a great 'stash-busting' idea. I did however make the bag reversible so if the stripes are a bit much, she can always go with the polka dots.
So here you go Mel. And I promise to make you one of my nicer bags in the future!
Here is pressie #3 - it's for a 2 yo girl child of a friend of mine. Another wall hanging but this time with hand sewn sequins, buttons and beads.
This hanging features some more of Nikki Tervo's cute handmade buttons including large yellow stars. Inspiration for this gift came when I found the fabric in a remnant bin, I just knew I'd find something to do with it!
Just a little aside to show off the Melly and Me Dolcetto bag that I made for myself out of the new Amy Butler Daisy Chain fabric. This one is for me because I love the shape of the bag and I adore the Daisy Chain fabric. Thanks to Melly for her advice too.
As part of Sew Mama Sew's annual Holidays at Home celebration I thought I'd join in with the fun. Being in Australia our Christmas is a little different to that in the Northern Hemisphere. Christmas day is really hot and humid (about 35C) and we usually have a storm in the afternoon. Our day is spent usually eating cold meats and salads, drinking cold wine and beer and having a swim in the pool of an afternoon.
One of my favourite Christmas traditions is making Gingerbread with my mum. We make christmas trees and stars and bells and the traditional men. One year I iced the Men and Women with the appropriate 'bits'. Mum was amused but warned me not to bring them out when my grandparents were around. But when she wasn't looking I slipped a few of my rude gingerbread onto the plate and she didn't notice until she saw my grandfather examining his gingerbread lady a little too closely! Anyway thankfully they thought the whole thing was a scream and we always make sure we have a few naughty gingerbread people tucked away now in memory of my grandparents.
You can find the Sew Mama Sew Holidays at Home discussion at http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=637
