Sunday, December 29, 2019

holiday gifting and swapping

I haven't been sharing much lately because all of my recent makes have been gifts.  Now that they've all been gifted, here we go...

Market Bags
First up:  2 market bags for 2 dear friends.  Pattern by Anna Graham and available in her book Handmade Style. I used Essex linen/cotton blend, Denyse Schmidt prints 💛💚💙and LEATHER!
This was my first time working with leather.  I purchased unfinished straps from a local Tandy Leather shop and dyed them myself.  The dying was much easier than I was anticipating.  
It went on smooth and even.  When I sprayed on the sealer some of that even tone disappeared.  I was disappointed at first, but actually, it just looks a little worn in now and hopefully will just improve with use and age.
I used heavy weight polyester thread and a leather needle in my Juki TL2010 to sew the handles on  v e r y  s l o w l y.  It worked beautifully!  Now I want to switch up the handles on my own market bag!

Sew Together Bags
I finally made my first Sew Together Bag at a guild sew-in.  As per usual, I don't know what took me so long.  I LOVE this pattern by Sew Demented.
I've made three more since then and another is in the works.  Fun to make and fun to give!


My mom has a kitchen towel that hangs on her cabinet.  She bought it years ago in France.  It's seen better days and she requested a new one.  Basically, a 24" diameter circle of terrycloth with a binding and hanging loop (which I oversized in case she wants to hang it over a door knob). She loved it - well, she said she did.  Hey, she's a mom!

Guild fun!
This year the Detroit Area Modern Quilt Guild decided we would all make a byAnnie Easy Does It bag and have a Yankee swap with them for our holiday meeting.
First, I made the one on top.  Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed that all the hard work of that binding is hidden on the inside of the bag.  

When I got word that we weren't supposed to use holiday fabric I made another.  This time I used AnnMaria Horner fabric and changed it up by sewing the binding on the outside of the bag.  Bottom right is the sweet bag I received in the swap.  It was made by our incoming president Jenny Draeger, @jfodraeger on Instagram.  Thanks Jenny!

The AnnArbor Modern Quilt Guild had a notions swap.  I gave an add-a-quarter ruler and gingher snips wrapped up in a Jeni Baker drawstring bag that I adjusted the size of to fit the gifts.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get a photo of it.

Here's what I received!  This was made by the super talented @emmmylizzzy.  She was inspired by Making It on NBC.  It has already found its spot on my sewing room wall!

I hope all your hand made gifts were finished in time and as well received as each of these!