Gift Handmade

Over the years, I've gone in and out of making and giving handmade gifts. A maker sometimes gets clues about whether a recipient appreciates a handmade item or not. Not always, of course, but sometimes. So I was pretty sure that one particular friend would appreciate the recent gifts I made for her.

For one, she had commented when I made a Small Booklet Pouch for myself using Aneela Hoey's pattern, that it would be handy to store crochet hooks in.

Of course, I made it as cute as I could....

My friend has been a bunny owner more than once, and because of that, the Rifle Paper Wildwood Woodland fabric seemed fun to use for a gift for her. I couldn't resist, and I hope she doesn't feel inundated by my bunny-focused gifts.

Because I also made her a Small Maple Street Pouch by Svetlana @sotakhandmade using the same fabrics. For the pouch, the bunny print was on the exterior, and the floral on the inside.

There are other instances, though, where someone close to me asks outright for me to make them something, such as my daughter, Rachel @snippetsofsweetness, asking if I'd make her some fun pillowcases for her birthday. My reply was an instant, "Yes!" I always use the tutorial by The Twiddletails Blog, this time making the queen size pillowcases. By now, I know that for anything larger than regular, you need to take care if you're ordering a directional fabric. I did, and ordered fabric special for this project, as I don't keep the lengths needed on hand, plus I really wanted all of the fabric to somewhat coordinate, and to be BLUE.

Lizzy House is one of Rachel's favorite fabric designers, and all this fabric was from Lizzy's Constellations line.

Cutting the fabric the right way can be a bit confusing, especially with directional fabrics; so this time, I made myself a little cheat card, and am posting it here in case I can't find it next time I need it. Ha!

Of course, I made a drawstring giftbag for Rachel's gift - it's tradition! This time I used the Easy Going (Single Fabric) Drawstring Bag pattern from Jeni Baker's @jenib320 Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern. I was glad I had enough of the Pearl Bracelet fabric, as it's one of Rachel's very favorites.

So I was really happy to be able to give these handmade gifts - as well as the scrappy potholders a couple of weeks ago. Now back to some serious scrap-sewing.

More Small Makes

Soooo.... there wasn't much quilting going on this last month, but small random projects - oh yeah. I've already shared about all the gift bags, the hand-stitched oven mitt (which I am really enjoying using!), the embroidered snowflake ornaments, and the Quilted Fabric Basket. But there was also a pair of cute pillowcases for my granddaughters using my favorite tutorial by The Twiddletails Blog. Thanks to my friend Sharon @redapplestitches for sharing the print fabrics with me, which I subsequently paired with Kona Petunia.

There was another hand-stitched oven mitt inspired by the workshop with Aaron Sanders Head. I stitched the back with a different stitch than the first, which I really like. The exterior fabric is Essex Homespun, just like the first, and I really like it for this particular project.

And then there were a whole bunch more stitched ornaments, though quite different from the first. There were Bitty Brush Trees....

  

  

  

  

and a pair of Snowflake Season, both patterns by Cheri @tinkerellen.

 

The designs fit in 3" wooden hoops, and were lots of fun to stitch and gift. Using beads isn't my norm but perfect for the little trees! You can see somewhere along the line, I changed from 'potted' trees to trees on a stand. For some reason, the simplicity of those stands really charmed me.

So that's it for finished projects in 2022! I have just a couple of WIPs moving into the new year with me, and a new quilt already going up on the design wall. Looking forward to what the new creative year holds for all of us!

Note to Self

After making a pillowcase to take on retreat a while back, I was in the mood to make more! So with Island Quilter on site with us, I took the opportunity to purchase some fabric to make a set for my mom, and also a fun seasonal one for grandgirl to use through October. [Guess I really should have consulted her mama first, as it turns out the ghosts and googly eyes on the Halloweeny print were a bit scary. oops.]

Anyway, I used the same tutorial as before - the one by The Twiddletails Blog - which I really like. But.... I learned a couple of things in making these.... things I need to remember for next time!

1) Pay attention to directional fabrics. Unfortunately, I did not, and on all of these, I'd really intended for the pattern to go the other direction. Just remember that the WOF (41") goes around the pillow, so depending on the orientation of your print, you may want to purchase a little more fabric.

feature fabric is Joel Dewberry's Bungalow

2) The other thing, is that the seam where the main, contrast, and trim fabrics all meet is thick! I found using my walking foot for those final couple of seams worked really well.

both focus fabrics are from Cotton + Steel Lil Monsters

3) Lastly, just a note that if you are wanting to make queen or king size pillowcases, see the pdf version of the tutorial, as it gives the measurements for those larger sizes. The purple set above I made king-size and they turned out more than generous.

So just fyi! I really want to make more!