ABSS Sew Along

The other I mentioned a sew along that I'm participating in. Actually, I mentioned a couple, but today I'm going to tell you more about the Amy Butler's Style Stitches Sew Along.

For those of you who don't know, Amy Butler is a fabulous pattern maker and fabric designer who recently released a new book, Style Stitches, with tons of new bags made with her gorgeous fabric. There are 12 main projects in this book, so my bloggy buddy, Bree, decided to host a sew along where the participants would do one project each month. At the end of each month one completed bag will be chosen and the maker of that bag will win a prize. I am donating the February prize from my soon-to-be-open shop. I'm just excited to be donating a prize, not to mention how fun it will be to join in on the sew along. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with over the next year.

And, Bree is giving away a copy of Style Stitches to one lucky winner! Entries are open through Thursday.

So, pick up your copy and head on over to the sew along and by the end of November you'll already have 11 Christmas presents finished and ready to go!

Christmas Gifts for Jake's Family

Here's what Jake's family got for Christmas.

Miss Madeline dress for our niece. I call it a prairie dress.

I had so much fun putting this dress together. It's fast and easy and just so darn cute!!!

Father, son, and son BBQ aprons for Jake's brother (Ben) and our nephews.

These were also fast and easy to make and I absolutely love how they turned out.

Necklace with cream-colored glass pearls and red beads for Ben's wife, Serenity.

White glass pearls on red wire necklace for Jake's mom.

Now it's off to go make the final Christmas presents of 2010 for my co-workers. They'll be getting them New Year's Eve, as long as we can get off the ranch. We're supposed to get a good snow storm over the next few days, but we haven't seen much yet.

Christmas For the Family

Since Christmas is over I can now share the gifts that I made this year.

Hand quilted picnic covers for my mom.

Every summer my hometown does a Concert in the Park series and my parents spend their Friday nights in the local park with their friends and a picnic dinner. I thought these would be fun little covers to keep the bugs out of their food. Here's the tutorial I used.

Travel money/passport pouch for my dad.

Now that all of us kids are out of the house and my parents are closer to retirement age they've been doing a lot of traveling. Over the past few years they've been to Great Britain, have visited us twice in Wyoming and once now that we're in Montana, went on a fall foliage tour in New England, and visited family in Denver a few times. Their next trip they plan to take is to New Zealand. Dad mentioned that he wanted a neck money pouch so this is what I made. This is my own design. It has a clear front pouch which, as you can see, is large enough for his passport. It also has a second pocket for money, other papers, whatever. It has a button closure.

Green glass pearl elephant necklace for my sister.

She loves elephants. Enough said. :)

Friday Night Apron for my sister.

When I was living in Paso Robles, California (actually I was on a vineyard outside of Paso) my mom discovered a great little fabric store in town and decided that I needed to take a sewing class. She signed me up for an apron making class and got me all the materials. (Thanks Mom!) For some reason I missed the second part of the class so I never got it finished because I didn't have my own sewing machine. Fast forward to this summer, my parents came up to visit and I decided that it was time for me to learn to sew. I had a sewing machine now (Thanks Sally!) and I was ready to learn. Mom helped me make a cute top that I wore out to dinner that night. After my folks left I figured I should finish the apron I started a few years ago. I had a few mishaps, but I got 'er done. I think it's very cute, but it's not really my style. My sister doesn't cook, but she makes candles so I thought she might like something cute to cover up her clothes while she's working on her candles.

Tea light candle sets for my mom and sister.

Jake also make candles (well candle holders), and he made a few sets of these tea light candle holders for my family. He made a set of three, that are from the bottom of our Christmas tree, like the ones above. He also made four sets of two from an old cedar fence post he found on the ranch. They smell wonderful and look nice even without the candles.

My brother got a gift certificate from me and my sister to our family's favorite restaurant, Domenico's. Yum! We thought he might like a nice date night with his girlfriend.

Well, that's what my family got this year. Tomorrow I'll share what my In-laws, nephews, and niece got. For now I'm off to finish my first ever attempt at sourdough bread. So far it's looking good. :)

Ready for Christmas?

I think I'm finally ready for Christmas. All gifts have been made and shipped, and hopefully the packages intended to be delivered before Christmas are. I can't post pictures of gifts yet, but here are a few teasers in the meantime.

And Jake modeling my Dad's gift. :)

I still need to make gifts for my co-workers, but I don't see them again until New Year's Eve so I have a few days to put them together. How's everyone else's presents coming along? Have you been ready for weeks or have you been frantically packing stuff up to be shipped across the country like me?

Now it's off to work on my first quilting bee block. More on that another time. Until then....

Happy Solstice!