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 . . .

Christmas Postscript {two}

Web-surfing one night, I happened upon a darling apron that I thought would be a perfect gift for my new daughter-in-law. The Cloud9 post led me straight to my sewing book shelf, where luckily I indeed had a copy of i love patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale, and the necessary pattern for the Patchwork Bordered Apron.

I had just enough navy Essex, which I thought would give the apron a nice feel and weight, as well as be a sweet 'background' for the loulouthi I'd chosen as the main patchwork fabric. I added in a few coordinating prints to add to the patchy look, but you can get a little peek at the apron's lining below - pure loulouthi.

A couple of quilted potholders seemed to be in order so I used the same prints as the apron, mirroring the 9-patch pocket, binding in more Essex and quilting a la teaginny Designs.

This set was a really satisfying sew, and hopefully will be useful, while adding a bright, fun touch to the newlyweds' kitchen.

Christmas Postscript {one}

When I saw Svetlana's Christmas patchwork table runner, I wanted to make one for myself!

photo permission by s.o.t.a.k handmade

But being handmade gifts was high on my priority list at the time, I instead sewed one up for a friend.

I had a charm pack of cloud9 Cut Out & Keep that I had been hanging onto for reasons unknown, and I'm so glad I brought it out for this project. It went so nice with the flax-colored Essex I used, and of course, I always love how that Essex quilts up! I followed Svetlana's lead, doing straight-line quilting and used one of my newer favorite Aurifil 50wt threads - #2326. It's called 'tan' but seriously has a bit of a gold tone, and has gone so nicely with several of my recent makes.

Since there was no matching yardage in my stash for the binding, I went with the charcoal stripe from the awesome new Botanics collection. And I think it finished it off just fine. With the Essex and organic prints, the texture of this runner is just lovely.

Finished size: 15 3/4" x 41"

Svetlana's tutorial was a joy to follow, and being so pleased with my first finish, I went on to make another.

For the second one, I used a light and creamy Essex, along with a mini charm pack of V and co.'s Simply Color. Where the original runner used 2" squares for the patchwork, I went ahead and used the 2 1/2" mini charms as cut, and adjusted the sizes of the other fabric pieces as needed. This resulted in a slightly larger runner, about 20"x46". (The sashing between blocks was cut at 2 1/2" wide, the side borders 3 1/2", and the ends 4 1/2".) Again I straight-line quilted, this time using my stand-by Aurifil 50wt #2000 (beige) and there it is again - the most texture indeed. Backed and bound with Notting Hill, it's similar yet different from the original, and just goes to show where inspiration can take you.

And guess what? Santa left a mini charm pack of Moda's Blitzen in my stocking, so guess who's ordering up some more linen and may just make a Christmas patchwork table runner for herself after all?