Little bits....

Before Christmas, my husband was attending a white elephant gift exchange as part of a work get-together.  He ultimately decided to take a bottle of homebrew as the gift, but he thought it looked kind of lame, since he'd forgotten to buy a bag to put it in.  I asked how long he had before he had to leave, then brought him a couple of Christmas fabrics from the stash.  He chose this one, and I whipped up a quick lined bottle bag, which we then topped off with a red ribbon tie.  He told me later that the bottle of beer was the hit of the party, and that everyone was surprised and impressed to learn that his wife made the bag, let alone so fast!  (This is why we sew....and keep a stash!)

Thing 2's teacher is due any day with her second child and second girl.  The room moms decided to throw a baby shower for teacher and kids, and so of course I had to contribute some dinosaur appliqued onesies!  But I also thought it would be fun for the older sister to get to "match" her new baby, so I did matching appliques for the little girl.  Unfortunately, WM is down to very few long-sleeved no design shirts, so I ended up with two shirts of the same color - but one is a turtleneck and one a crew neck.

While I had the Jeep fabric out, I also appliqued two onesies with Jeeps, to go in with my sister and brother-in-law's Christmas box.  These are for their first baby.  I hope to be the first one to give them Jeep baby stuff. :)

Box bags!

I've made box bags before (pattern here) - they're very useful gifts.  Cute in and of themselves, but good for storing things - maybe for traveling, maybe just for organization.  But I've always made them for females.  This time, I asked my brother whether he thought that, in appropriate fabrics, they'd also be good for males.  He thought so, even though I hadn't told him he'd be a recipient! :)  These first two are for him - computer keyboard fabric.  I went to the quilt store hoping to find the print that looks like USB plug-ins, but no such luck.  I think these are just as fun, though.  Both are lined with the bright green you see peeking through the right one.

I had actually asked the question with the intention of making some for my brother-in-law, who loves his Jeep.  I found this fabric at Nancy's Notions and thought it would be perfect.  The one with an orange zipper is lined with a dark green, and the other has an Army green zipper and is lined with bright orange.  I used a heavier weight of interfacing for this set, and it does hold its shape better.

Flannel pillowcases!

While I was fabric shopping at JAF on Black Friday, I spotted this adorable camping flannel.  I have a friend who loves camping, so I thought it would be perfect!  I already have flannel (from the prior Black Friday!) for a new pair of PJs for her, so I thought pillowcases would be great.  These worked up really quickly.

On another trip to JAF, I walked through the flannel aisle "just to see," since they had a great sale going on.  Oops!  I have a friend who is completely into tae kwon do, and she'd love this flannel for pillowcases!  Total impulse purchase....

Which also led to these monsters - found on the same sale.  They are just so cheery that I had to get some.  I didn't figure my DH would go along with them on our bed, so I decided that the Things needed new cheery pillowcases.

More yarn-y goodness

First up, slippers from a different pattern!  These are for my aunt.  I thought she'd enjoy the same purple variegated yarn I used for my niece.  (Actually, I started with my aunt's, but ran into difficulty on the braided cuff - more on that later - and then used the leftovers for my niece's second pair.)  The pattern is the Knit-Look Braid Stitch Boots, from Bonita Patterns.  As I mentioned in my last blog post, I thought that the Crocodile Boots pattern was very well written.  I'm not quite as happy with this pattern - partly my issue, partly theirs.  The sole is done in such a way that it feels very flimsy - in fact, the pattern even suggests making two soles per slipper and then stitching them together!  (Yep, that's what I did.)  The sole on the other slipper pattern feels much more sturdy.  Then the instructions for the braid stitch cuff are very fiddly.  I love how it looks, but I quickly realized that I was going to lose my mind trying to make it as directed.  So instead, I adapted the cuff instructions and did it my way.  I think it turned out pretty well.

I realized that I needed another portable hand project to keep myself occupied over Christmas, so I decided to make a pair of slippers for my grandma.  I don't know her shoe size, so I had to email a cousin for a guess.  Here's hoping that they fit!

And for my mom, I was looking for a more plain slipper pattern that looked really warm.  This fit the bill.  I was guessing at size here, too, but went larger so she can wear them over socks.  This pattern was pretty mindless, once you got past the toe, and I enjoyed working it up on my lunch breaks - easy to talk and stitch!