Homemade with Love Baskets

Lately I’ve been obsessed with making fabric baskets.  After making the first few in the same sizes, the last go-around I tried to make baskets that would nest together.  And voila, it worked!!!

Thee of the baskets were gifts for friends and my sister, and my daughter claimed one of the strippy baskets for herself.  It is the perfect container to hold all her ponytail holders and hairclips on her dresser.

My sister had a birthday this past Monday and so I thought a scrap basket would be a fun addition to some beginning quilting books I sent her for her gift.  She’s sure to have plenty of scraps soon because we are doing a quilt-along together!  Stay tuned to see the fabrics we picked.  They are going to arrive tomorrow.  Bea is going to make the same quilt my sister is making, so we just ordered half yards of all the fabrics and I’ll cut them up, add in a few from my stash, and mail them to her.

The lining fabric of this basket is one of my favorite prints, so pretty for summer, which by the way it was still summer when I sewed this thing! 

And last month Bea went to a birthday party for a friend who loves horses.  We picked out some store-bought gifts, but then I decided to make her a basket for her hair ties, to0, and I just happened to have these great carousel prints.  I picked the polka dot handles to give the fabrics a little edgier feel since recipient turned 8.  My oldest will be 8 next year.  I am not ready for that yet.

I did have a little hiccup getting the lining to fit perfectly this time, so I remedied that situation with a little “handmade” tag in the back of the basket.  Yay for little victories like this one.  It just worked out the fold was perfectly centered.

I also wanted to thank my friend CeLynn for the handmade flower headbands she sent my daughters (and all the other goodies, especially her caramel apple jam which was such a treat on toast).  I took a few photos of Bea wearing them to school the past couple days.

This purple flower headband is her favorite!  (and mine too…purple is a popular color at our house)

And pink is always a safe bet too!  Bea and I made the mistake of getting matching haircuts on a whim the day before school began (never, ever, ever do this, just don’t!), so we are both in the process of growing out bangs right now.  These headbands are the perfect accessory for taming those locks till they grow out.  Thanks, CeLynn!!!

Linking up to Quilt Story’s Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Finish It Up Friday.

Holiday Handmade Challenge

Jennifer at the blog Taken Patiently is having challenge to make at least 5 handmade gifts this holiday season.  Here are my entries:

For my sister-in-law: 3 jams, a quilt, and homemade dog biscuits for her dog, Elmo.  There is also a skein of yarn I bought for her at the local Maker’s Market called “crayon box” and another skein of yarn from Michael’s (neither made by me).

And here is the quilt on her bed in South Carolina:

For my sister:  a cute chicken pillowcase (I never got around to making a match, but I will) and a tablerunner made from Rise n Shine, Glenna Hailey’s chicken repro fabric, and 3 jams.  Bea picked out the chicken dishcloth at Kohl’s and said she had to buy it for Aunt Jody since my sister raises chickens.  Hence the chicken theme…

Here’s a close up of the tablerunner fabric:

And here it is on her table in Maine:

And here’s a close up of the pillowcase fabric (this was a remnant I picked up at Joanns—the fabric is kind of cheap and thin, but super cute, so cute won out!).

For my best friend:

She asked for a tablerunner with extremely specific dimensions for under her nativity scene.  I made it with really cute and fun Christmas fabrics since she has little kids. 

Here’s a close up of the star fmq.  I am pretty happy with it.

I had to have this mitten fabric!  I love the hearts on the mittens.

And the backing is this Santa Claus fabric:

And since she now is into canning and buying at the farmer’s market, I got her this Farmer’s Wife magazine inspired cookbook:

And the cutest ever apple dishcloth from Target (she is a teacher AND her favorite color is red).

A gift to my mom:

The Farmer’s Wife Pony Club book (my mom does not sew, but she did have her own cart and pony as a little girl, and we moved to a horse farm when I was 7), dog biscuits for her 3 dogs, and a set of flannel teacup pillowcases.

For my dad:

Various jams, two kind of pickles, and two jars of canned tomatoes (his favorite) and a set of pillowcases.  My dad is an outdoor writer and his nickname in college was Drako, so he goes by a nom de plume last name “Drake” so I thought he’d like the duck fabric.  I’m not really sure what kind of fish they are, but it’s from the same fabric line.

So, for my entry, in a nutshell:

• tons of canned jams, pickles, and tomatoes I made this summer
• homemade dog biscuits
• a sheep/knitting themed lap quilt
• chicken pillowcase
• chicken tablerunner
• Christmas tablerunner
• teacup pillowcases
• fish/duck pillowcases

Giveaway Winner!

Warning:  this post contains a gratuitously cute baby photo.

Congratulations to commenter #238,  Barbara, who won the Sew Mama Sew giveaway!  I have emailed you for your address and will get the jelly roll of Christmas fabric out to you this week.

I finished up another quilt this weekend, dubbed the “Knitting Sheep.”  It is for my sister-in-law who has knitted tons of hats and accessories for my kids, keeping them warm and in style!

I quilted it in fmq squiggles with light gray thread and machine bound it with a Moda Pampered Pooch black, red, and white plaid fabric.  The batting is Warm and White, which is my favorite to use.   The back is semi-pieced and has a custom fabric label.  I am pleased with how this quilt looks.  It is one of my better attempts at making a modern-looking quilt.

Lastly, my littlest girl Veronica turned one last week.  We had her party yesterday.  Here’s a photo of her taking her nap yesterday, still my little baby.