Christmas Postscript {three}

Pretend briefly that it's Christmas morning and there's a flurry of gift-opening. Instead, a final flurry of project reveals . . .

I'd seen and heard about the Jane Market Bag and boy am I glad I went and found the pattern and tried it. It sewed up like a dream, and I'll definitely be making more. I really wanted to use a linen print from my stash, an Echino Fabric by Estuko Furuya, but realized that it was a border print. Not to dissuade myself, I made it work, putting the birds on the front panels and the dots on the back. Since the recipient is a writer I used  a comma print for the pockets and lining. My favorite feature of the bag is the sewn-down corner seams, though next time I plan on using some interfacing to stabilize the bag. Though sturdy enough, mine doesn't stand tall on its own, and I would really like it too. Meanwhile, I highly recommend this bag - check out the Jane Market Bag flickr group for lots of lovlies.

We gifted my mom with a Kindle, so of course it needed a quilted cover! I had used the Kindle Case Tutorial by Ellison Lane once before so I knew exactly what to do. A floral from Ruby Star Shining seemed perfect as the main fabric, especially once it was straight-line quilted. Luckily it fit mom's Kindle like a glove.

For grandgirl, I started off intending to make the log cabin slippers from Ayumi Mills on Interweave. {By the way, there's Interweave coupons right here.} But they were sized for adults and time was getting tight. So when I came across a toddler's pattern by ithinksew, I kind of merged the two. As a substitute for the grippy fabric that was called for as the soles of the slippers, I used Pellon Peltex wrong-side out. That worked fine, but the final project isn't as cushy as I'd like, so next time, I'll used some fusible fleece in both the uppers and soles. But the cute factor - totally right on.

I wanted to make some potholders for my coworker, and used Jeni Baker's hst potholder tutorial which worked perfectly with the mini charms I had on hand. With Essex as the 'solid' and a layer of both batting and Insul-bright, these stitched up quick and sturdy.

Lastly, I tried a couple new gift bag tutorials in my race to Christmas. Both happened to be by s.o.t.a.k handmade, and I was more than pleased with them both. There was a Drawstring Bag with an easy to install casing . . .

and an altered version of The Big Apple Shoulder Bag, with only one side tie. Here's a few of my fabric-wrapped packages (clockwise from upper-left): Lined Drawstring Bag, a Ruby Star Pillowcase Pouch, a fat-quarter-as gift-wrap, and the Big Apple bag.

Very festive, yes? Now forward to the new year . . .