Christmas Gift Bags

This year we are going to my neice's new house for Thanksgiving dinner and it is the first year in awhile that I am not responsible for most of the food. I only have to make corn bread dressing and potato salad. While many are cooking for tomorrow's dinner, I took the time to make Christmas Gift Bags. I filled them with treats for some people on my list.

I wish all of you a very blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.

Birthday Gift for a 1 year old boy

My daughter ordered a book from shutterfly for Cooper's 1 year birthday. You upload a picture and some basic information and they create a book. The child's picture and name are placed on every page and some basic information. It is very cute and comes in different styles. She got the alphabet book, but there is also a Dora the Explorer & Sesame Street book available.


She wanted something to put the book in so I made this bag. He can later use it to carry his "stuff" around.
This was some fabric I had in my stash that I purchased almost a year ago at a huge home decor fabric store sale. I really liked the fabric and have been waiting for an opportunity to use it in a project.


I don't have an embroidery machine (although it is on my "I Want" list), so I used printable fabric for his name and appliqued it on the front for a personal touch.

New Purse

I finally made myself a new purse last Friday. The previous one I made was a smaller than I needed so I made this one a little bigger and slightly different. With the flap over the front, I guess you would call it a messenger style bag.

Unlike the other, this one has sides. I also added some plastic canvas to the bottom between the main fabric and lining and used fusible interfacing on the main fabric for a little extra stability.

I put pockets on both sides. One side has two small pockets for a pen, one for my checkbook and one for miscellaneous papers. On the other side is two rows of pockets. I put my camera, cell phone, cell phone charger and other miscellaneous items. I know I carry around more stuff than I really need but I can't seem to leave it out.
I've only worn it for a couple of days so far the size seems to be working, at least for now.

Totes for Christmas

My oldest daughter and I had a marathon gift making weekend. Friday afternoon we shopped for fabric, came home and cut out about 14 totes. We started sewing after cutting but were tired from the long day so decided to start again Saturday. We helped my middle daughter with the APIL event Saturday morning which was a huge success. Even though it only lasted a couple of hours, we were pretty tired but determined to get some sewing done. My oldest daughter started sewing while I pinned, ironed and got the pieces ready. It worked out great and we managed to get about 5 of hers made before she had to leave for work. After she left, I started sewing again and made 8 more before I quit for the night. Most of the ones we made are for gifts but I am making a few extra to put in my Etsy shop.

I spent another 1/2 hour or so cleaning up my mess. When I sew, I have stuff spread out everywhere. I really enjoyed the two days sewing with my daughter and feel relieved that most of my handmade Christmas gifts are done.