Dear Santa: A Haiku

Dearest Santa Claus
You've always been kind to me
Even though I'm old.

For Christmas this year
Some new fabric would be "Swell."
Yes, I've been Nicey!

Maybe I could sew
Something nice for Mrs. Claus?
You've been working late.

A nice springy bag
To bring on the vacation
She so much deserves

It's hard for Mama
When Daddy works extra hours
(Assuming you've kids?)

A fat quarter pack
Of lovely Swell Nicey Jane
From Heather Bailey

Wrapped under my tree
Would be the most perfect gift
For this sleepy Mom!



Wondering why I wrote a rambling haiku?? Check out the Fat Quarter Shop's awesome Dear Santa Giveaway!!!

Holiday Gifts... so far!

I am so excited to be hand-making lots of Christmas gifts this year. Last year at Christmas I had just started sewing and my confidence level only extended to rice bags- Which were nowhere near as fancy as the ones in that link! But this year I am feeling more confident and am making bags, an apron, a wall quilt, some capes, oven mitts, a kid-sized Snuggie (Yes, really!), a hat/mittens/scarf set... And I am sure there's more I'm forgetting. Not exactly sure how I'm going to get all of this done, but I'll figure it out somehow!

Here are a few things I've finished or nearly finished so far! All of these are for a handmade gift swap. I don't think my swap partner reads this blog, but if she does... Um, act surprised Serena!

Oven mitts from Lotta Jansdotter's book Simple Sewing. One is for the swap and one is for ME! The fabric is an Alexander Henry Christmas print from a few years ago, "Merry Modernica." I only had a fat quarter and it was just enough, and now I wish I had more! I love the colors.


A "Little Forest" quilted wall hanging. I got the instructions from The Purl Bee and it was so fun to make! I copied their layout but did only 6 rows instead of their 8, simply because I didn't have any more green scraps I liked enough! I think it still looks nice this way. It's about 15" by 22", and it went together fairly quickly, even for a beginner like me.

So far I've only pieced the top, and I think I am going to wimp out and finish it by turning, topstitching and tying. I just can't get quilting and binding to look nice. Anyone have a favorite tutorial?

I made an apron using Butterick/See & Sew B5125. For the life of me I cannot get a good picture of it! This picture at least shows the fabrics, but I really need a dress form to get better pictures of things like this. The red is the body and the other print is the ruffle at the bottom and the ties. It's really cute, I hope she likes it!

And the winners are...

Using the trusty old Random Number Generator, I have chosen the three winners! Thank you SO much for all the comments, I will definitely be taking your advice and sharing lots more pictures, tutorials, and detailed information. A number of people said they liked to hear about the "not-so-perfect" projects, and I can DEFINITELY share lots of stories about those!

On to the winners!!! The winning comments were:

10: Coralee of The Angry Turtle wins the black and white FQ set.
259: Greta of Because I Sew So wins the dots and floral set.
130: Lil Bean wins the Lila Tueller set.

Congratulations, winners!!!

And a HUGE thank you to Katydid and Kid for the tutorial on how to number comments! This was my first giveaway and I started manually counting comments and... well, it got old really fast!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!!!

~~~COMMENTS ARE CLOSED~~~

Thank you SO much for all your comments!!! I will be choosing and notifying the three winners tonight!!!

I am SO excited to be participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day!!! I won some nice gifties last time around so I am looking forward to sharing the love in this round.

I had a hard time deciding what to offer up for this. I decided to go through the stash and see what jumped out at me, and THREE separate bundles decided they wanted to be offered up! Three winners! Yay!

First we have a set of four black and white fat quarters.


Next, there are two coordinating fabrics, a half-yard of each. These are the same fabrics I used in Allison's First Day of School dress, and those dots are some of my all time favorites!


And finally, we have two half-yard pieces from Lila Tueller's Woodland Bloom line. I love these colors, and this fabric is SO soft!

To win, just comment on this post! I won't make you jump through any hoops, but if you're so inclined I'd love to know what you like to see in sewing blogs. My blog is not connected to a shop or anything, it's just for me to share my own little projects and cool things I see around the web. What would make this blog more interesting to you? What makes you decide to click that "Follow" button when you visit a blog? I'd be ever so happy if you'd follow my little corner of the blogosphere! Good luck and have fun visiting all the fabulous Giveaways today!

This giveaway will be open through December 6, and I'll post the winners here and e-mail them as well. Be sure to leave an email address so I can reach you! Winners will be chosen by the old fashioned names-in-a-hat method, or Random Number Generator if I don't have a willing name-drawer around when I close up the giveaway!

(Apologies for the poor pictures, I had a two year old "helping." Snowman, basket and peace sign not included!)