Another pretty, practical gift

Here's a second handmade gift which my daughter Carrie gave me this past Christmas. Again, I am not sure where she found the pattern, but I expect she found it online somewhere. What a great resource the internet is for crafters!

This is a holder for my crochet hooks. Here's a look at the inside.

You can, of course, tuck the hooks under the flap to protect them. I left some of them out just to show the hooks.

Here's the outside.

What a super cute fabric she used! And I love the leather button that holds it closed. It's a great, secure way to store crochet hooks, and I love the fact that something so useful can also be so pretty.

A lovely, useful Christmas gift

Thought I would show, rather belatedly, one of my handmade Christmas gifts from my daughter Carrie. I really need to get the link from her for this super cute project. It's a little wallet to hold tea bags and whatever else one might like that would fit. She put tea bags in one side and index cards in the other.

Here's the inside of the wallet. Isn't it so beautifully done? This year is the first time she has done much embroidery; she has pretty much taught herself. I am envious of the perfect look of this blanket stitch!

And here's the outside (I saved the best for last! Love this cute bluebird!)

I think I will use this next time we go to the cabin up north. The index cards will come in handy for devotions and list-making, and the wallet will be a neat way to take along an assortment of tea bags.

Repurposing a small cross stitch sampler

Here is sort of an unusual gift I just made. This stitchery piece, originally intended to be a birth sampler, had been languishing in my stack of UFOs for more years than I even want to think about. I think I didn't finish this until the baby in question was around 6 or 7 years old. I kept thinking I would frame this for her wall anyway, but it didn't fit a standard frame. So I thought this year (as she is graduating from high school) that I would frame it in fabric. Then that seemed not a great idea, since she will be heading off to college and it would just be something to leave behind at home. I thought a tote bag might work, but then it would have to be a very small tote bag in order not to overwhelm the size of the stitchery. Looking through Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing, I came across a pattern called an Artsy Clutch. So I decided to try making one, using this stitchery for one side.

The project was easy and fun to make. I used a vintage green floral slipcover fabric for the lining.

The closure is a stitched-in elastic loop and a vintage green button.

I'm still not sure how much I like the result, but the recipient seemed pleased. I thought she could use it to hold jewelry, or socks, or even a Bible or other book.

I would definitely make more of these clutches, though, from regular fabric rather than a cross stitch sampler. They are easy, and would be cute in many variations of color and fabrics.

A pretty Christmas pin

This beautiful pin (sorry the photo is slightly blurry) was cross-stitched by my friend Ruth. I don't know what size Aida she used, but it is tiny. I placed it on a white background for the picture so it would show up better. I love the detail in the snow scene on this pin!

Fresh-cut pine

Here is one of my newer Christmas decorations, and one of my favorites. I found it for a bargain price a few years ago at Jo-Ann Fabrics after Christmas. What fun!

A dish towel gift idea

Recently I made another set of those fabric-trimmed dish towels for a gift. I decided to post about it here, because of the "gift packaging" I did with these.

If you wish to see other sets of them, check my regular blog, Across My Kitchen Table . I have made several different sets of these towels, which are so quick and easy!

I found the pattern at Sew4Home , which is a new favorite site of mine. Sign up for their emails and see what's new each week. They have some fabulous projects with very clear instructions.

For the towel part I used Bistro Towels, which have a sort of birds-eye weave on one side and terry on the other. I found these towels on clearance (a set of 3 for $3) at Wal Mart.

This gift was for a dear friend of mine. With her youngest child graduating from high school this year, she has completed over 2 decades of home schooling. I thought it deserved a little remembrance, but wanted it to be a useful gift. I remembered I had in my stash a scrap of school-themed fabric. As it turned out, there was plenty to make 2 of these dish towels. For the narrow trim I used some scraps of Mary Engelbreit cherry fabric from my stash.

I decided to add a seed stitch dishcloth to the gift, since I had one on hand. (Incidentally, the pattern didn't call for an edging, but I decided to add one by simply single crocheting around all four edges.)

I packaged the items for gift giving by tying some pretty sheer ribbon around the stack of towels and dishcloth.

I think my friend enjoyed the packaging as much as she did the gift!