Gifts Received

 

Here's a bird's eye view of all the great gifts I received from friend Jaye for Christmas.  Too many to list, but the Cutterpillar glow magnets that are for using with a light board are super interesting. I need to think of which project to try them out with first. Maybe something with the Charley Harper bird fabric.

I'm so excited about the new Bluestem bag, the purple with polka dots fabric is perfect. The size and shape is so different and very very useful. In case you're interested, the pattern is from Sew Sweetness.

The zipper pulls are so wonderful and colorful. Look at how professional this looks! Not surprising of course, but always impressive.

It unzips so nicely with the double zipper pulls, like almost all the way. I've got all of my teeny tiny HSTs from making the Old Town Mystery stashed in here at the moment.

I like the inside fabric and the very nicely color coordinated maker tag.

It's really terrific and I'm so happy to get another great bag to use.

Pyramidal Surprise

 

A lovely surprise thank you gift from Bamq for helping out on the retreat committee. A fun pyramidal zip bag. 

I love the great Tula Pink fabrics and the little ribbon loops at the top and bottom of the zipper.

What a thoughtful and useful gift. It was really great to get an acknowledgment of the time and work it takes to make the retreat happen for the group.

Gift Bag-Case-Pouch

 One of the best presents I received this holiday was another awesome gift bag, well maybe I should call it a case instead? The pattern is called the Hackney Pouch, so I suppose it's a pouch. A pouch with a very handy handle on one end.

Friend Jaye gifted me one of her beautifully made Hackney bags. It's so gorgeous, and I was so pleased to see how well it matched some of my recently dyed fabric. She wrote a post about it on her blog here with more info about the pattern and construction.

The very slightly contrasting zipper is such a great color choice, it highlights the edge like a frame when you see the pouch top from this angle. 

I love that the purple couch fabric got used again for this one because it matches the great Mini-Maker case for the mini Oliso iron she gave me in 2020. 

Match-y match-y is definitely my jam sometimes.

I  really love the two interior labels, aren't they both great?

And the interior pocket is made of a clear sparkly glitter vinyl so I can see what I've stashed in there. It held a whole lot of great gifts inside, so this bag-case-pouch is both spacious and capacious. 

In my opinion friend Jaye is no longer practically a professional at this bag making thing, she's a full-on for-real professional at this point. Amazing what making bags for years does for your skills mastery isn't it?

A Gift Bag

I received a really lovely birthday gift from friend Jaye, she made me another Project Bag! This time it's a big one, the "Jumbo" size 16.5" square of the ByAnnie Project Bag pattern. I love the fabrics she chose and the really nice purple zipper.This is the solid back of the bag. 

The black and white striped binding is really great. And the same fabric is used as the handle which is a visual treat.

For size reference and to see the lovely coordinating fabrics that have been used in the two bags. The first one is the large size 13.5" square. I've been using this bag as a to-go bag in the car for nervous highway passenger stitching and it is a great fit between the seat and the console.

Look at this perfect-ness on the corner and zipper, it's truly amazing. I love that sparkly glitter vinyl too.

I highly recommend having a practically professional bag maker as a friend. Thanks Jaye!

Fabulous Bags

This year for Christmas friend Jaye made me two amazing new bags, first is this one which is called Take A Stand.  The pattern is by By Annie.  I'm definitely going to use this one when I travel, such a great size.

Here's the inside, with lots of space.

Look at this awesome colored pencil fabric Jaye used. I love those mesh pockets, things don't disappear when you use them.

The zippered exterior pockets have the pencil fabric too.

I really love the end of the bag, everything is so perfectly matched up. The zipper opens all the way which means you can utilize all of the interior space. The buckles and mesh webbing are great colors that suit the fabrics. So cheery!

The second bag is a super useful zip up flat project bag with a clear vinyl front. Jaye has made several of these, using the By Annie pattern.

This is the back, I love that purple ammonite fabric and the black/white stripe binding.

Here's what it looks like with something inside, which makes it a little easier to see!

Both of these gifts are so great, I love having a friend that is practically a professional at this point at bag making.
 

Label This

 An advent calendar is always fun, and they seem to be all the rage this year. Off the top of my head, I've of course seen the normal terrible chocolate shape ones. But now there are advent calendars that have daily treats of yarn, tea, spices, pet toys/treats, wine, cocktail, beer. 

But an advent calendar full of sew-in labels? Hey, why not? Labels are all the rage in quilting/sewing world so it makes a lot of sense.

I gave the holiday version to friend Jaye, and bought myself this one that is not decorated for the winter holidays. Presumably it could be for any occasion, birthday, etc. n

I have to say that, four days into it, I'm loving what I've gotten behind each little sort of hard to open door. It will be interesting to see if the labels are the same in my box vs. Jaye's. I really hope she likes it!

Check these out, but don't look if you don't want the surprise spoiled.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3: Surprise! It's an embroidered patch instead of a label:

Day 4:

I really love this one!

Surprise Hello Pouch

What a nice surprise to get in the mail, friend Jaye just made me this adorable see-through pouch that stands up all on its own. I absolutely love the fabric and the very pretty glitter vinyl. She used the Hello Pouches pattern which she didn't like all that much, but I think it turned out quite fabulous. Then she went back and thought about the pattern a bit more.

Closer up so you can see that awesome glitter vinyl and the really nice purple trim piece.

A picture of the nice fat bottom that helps this stand up all on its own so well. I really love the quilting on this.

Now to figure out how to put this lovely bag to use. I think it would work for a ball of yarn and a crochet needle very well, I have to see if I can take that to Jury Duty next week. For the first time in my long life I'm actually having to go in person on Tuesday....

 

Locals Mostly

 

We tried really hard to "shop local' this year for our holiday presents. I wasn't terribly successful on that, but my DH really was, thanks to a little craft/fabric shop that's located in our own little town, The ColorWheel. He got me this adorable pink unicorn sparkly fq, a new measuring tape and a layer cake of black and white fabrics. How fun to have this cute little store right here in town, very handy.

Mini-Maker

 

One of my very favorite Christmas gifts this year came from friend Jaye, it's a mini-maker case, with an awesome surprise inside. Let's just say there was a lot of squealing on my part as I opened it which greatly amused my family.

The fabrics she chose are just so perfectly perfect for what the case holds inside.
The Paris print on the top really reminds me of one of my favorite picture books as a kid that we had, This Is Paris by Miroslav Sasek

The back of the case.

And inside, the most adorable mini-iron, the new one from Oliso.

Close up of the pull tab which says refresh.

Top down view. I really like how she used the fabrics for the various pieces of this case.

For instance, the bottom has a davenport perfectly centered.

The inside has a really nice print set off with a lovely raspberry.

I love it so much, and can't wait to actually get to go to a class or sew day with Jaye to use it outside of my house. We live in hope, right?!

Mega Pinnie

Check this wonderful thing out, it's a Mega Pinnie that friend Jaye made for me for Christmas. It has a Mini Pinnie attached via that awesome giant purple button. The handle on the top is so great for moving it around your workspace or from room to room. 

It's kind of like having a bucket of your most necessary tools, but you don't have to dig around in the bucket to find certain things. Oh and it's a giant pincushion too. The triangular zipper bag that's clipped on holds a big pair of scissors.

The fabulous purple fabrics that she used are so perfect for me. Thanks, Jaye!