Home Made Christmas: Part 2

Okay, I meant to write this post before Christmas, but you all know how life goes, right? So here are a few more gifts I made for my family this year.

First, a couple of pillows for my sister. She requested brown, cream and a hint of red. The first is a simple zig zag. For some reason I have a huge amount of that MM print in my stash, so I put it to good use. Background is Kona Bone.

The second is a simple wonky square, using up some of my red and brown scraps. It's my favourite. I LOVE it. And word is that my sister loves it too.

I also made my niece a wonky star doll quilt. I used some of my favourite Munki Munki for the centres of the stars and then raided my scrap bins. The background is an unknown light pink solid.

 

The quilting is very dense (probably too dense for a doll quilt). I wanted to practice my loops and stars. 

 

I just adore those Munki prints...perfect for a little girl. And a big 30-ish girl too.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday. I was so thankful to spend it with my family. But I'm happy to be home. Can't wait to read everyone's 2010 wrap-up posts.

Home Made Christmas: Part One

I tried my best this year to make as many homemade gifts as possible. Here are a couple of them:

A car cozy for my godson:

I used this tutorial with a few simple changes. I put an "S" for his name on the outside, and instead of ties, I added small tag and velcro for the closure. I also used a scrap of fusible fleece and quilting weight fabric instead of denim and canvas.

This is a fun, fast project. And judging by how much my own kids played with it before I got it wrapped, it's a hit with kids.

I also made a quick tote bag for my mom. She saw a bag she liked in Patchwork Style by Suzuko Koseki and this is my interpretation of it. (I'd already returned the book to the library...)

 I love the combination of grey, black, white and aqua. Okay, I love anything with aqua in it!

I have a few other things to show you over the next couple of days. Enjoy the holiday season.

Give Away Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for SMS Give Away Day. There were an amazing 513 entries.

The winner of the fabric bundle is #455:

Joanna said... 

For Christmas I am hoping for a new TV since our old one broke and for a few months we have been using an old 13 inch one!!! I am hinting quite strongly to the hubster :) Congratulations Joanna. I'll send you an email right away so I can send you your prize.

Give Away Day

The Give Away is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered. I'll post a winner asap.

It's the most wonderful time of the year....Welcome to Give Away Day at Quilting Barbie. Up for grabs are four Fat Quarters (Canadian sized...bigger...just like our football fields) from my stash.

***Sorry for the terrible photo, I just wanted to make sure I got this post up on Sunday so I wouldn't have to wake up ridiculously early to make the 9am Eastern deadline. It's dark here in the Great White North. I'll post a better one on Monday. I promise***

They are from top to bottom:

• Heather Ross Brown Flowers from Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries
• Michael Miller Owls
• MoMo Freebird
• Joel Dewberry Broad Stripe

To enter:

1. Leave a comment...tell me what you'd like for Christmas. Or just say hi.
2. Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Have fun entering all the give aways. And good luck!
4. Give Away open until December 17 and then I'll chose a winner randomly.
5. I'll ship anywhere in this beautiful world of ours.

Barb

Hmmm....

I just saw the announcement for the SMS Give-Away Day next week. I LOVE Give-Away Day (let's just say the kids watch at least one movie that day), and I've been lucky enough to win a few prizes too.

I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I'll participate this time. Are you joining in? If so, what are you giving away?

 

My Give-Away Package from May 2010. Granted the bag is pretty ugly, but the fabrics are lovely.

  

If I do participate, I'm also not sure what I should give away. What do you like to win? Fabric? Something homemade? If so, what? 

 

And finally thank you to all of those who gave great advice about taking pictures from my last post!

Finished Pillow

I finished up my pillow for Pillow Talk Swap 4 last week. I've had a terrible time trying to get good photos...the snow outside makes it impossible for me to do an outdoor photo shoot, and I can't seem to get good shots inside. Any suggestions from seasoned photographers?

I added patchwork border in aqua, orange and pink and then finished it up with some Kona Snow. You almost, just almost, need sunglasses to look at this pillow it is so bright. But I think my partner will like it...she said she likes colour and I took her word for it.

The back was inspired/copied from this gorgeous pillow. I used my new favourite colour combo of yellow and aqua and a heaping of Kona Snow.

The pillow finished just under 20" square. I only have an 18" pillow form, but I think it would fill out beautifully with a 20" form. Now I just have to put together some goodies for my partner and it will be in the mail.

Finally, because I'm curious nosy, I'm wondering, did you take advantage to all of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday fabric sales? I was so, so, so tempted. I even filled up a few carts over at Sew Mama Sew and Fabric.com only to cancel my order. In the end, I just made one impulse buy at Solidia's Etsy store for some hard to find fabric.

I admit, those sales were so hard to resist. But I really am trying to be more responsible with my fabric purchases. One look around my sewing room shows that I already have more fabric than I can use. And just when I was thinking about the expense of my hobby, I came home to read this fabulous post about money and crafting by Jacqui at Hazelnuts (an Edmonton girl living in New Zealand). Go and have a read (the comments too)...it is thought-provoking and it helped me to be thankful for what I have instead of lusting over all the gorgeous fabric on sale all over the internet.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!