No longer a wip – these three hotpads/trivets are finished!

Machine quilted with hand sewn binding.

Washed and pressed.

With a twill tab on the back.

Now to get some really good photos,

and then they’ll be in the shop.

Jenn : )

This year, I’ve gotten it in my head to start preparing for the holidays early. I know that I’m going to be very busy as it gets closer to the end of the year, who knows what the economy will bring, and with many friends and family on the other side of the country – it wouldn’t hurt to start setting aside gifts now.

Last year, in keeping with the Buy Handmade pledge, we did alot of our shopping on Etsy and local small businesses. This year I’d like an even greater percentage of our gifts to be handmade – including some made by me!

Not too long ago I posted about this great canvas fabric that I purchased at The Quilting Loft.

The one on top is called “Sprig Canvas Green: 2007 Jessica Jones for J. Caroline Designs”.

The blue and green is called “Peapod Blue/Green Circles: 2007 Jessica Jones for J. Caroline Designs”.

Both of these fabrics had washing instructions on the bolt,

and the clerk recommended serging them before washing.

Here is what I did with them:

I cut them…

I stitched them…

I ironed them…

I pinned them…

And by the end of the day I had made four Market Tote bags!

Two will be Christmas gifts for my mom and two will be gifts for my grandparents.

They hold alot!

Two in this gorgeous green sprig pattern.

And two in this eye-catching peapod pattern.

The pattern I used was fantastic.

The bags were fun to make and not difficult at all.

These bags are reusable and washable, so my relatives will not only have a handmade gift from me, but they will be helping the environment by not using plastic or paper grocery bags.

By following the easy, step-by-step instructions, before I knew it – I had made French seams! That’s a technique that I’ve been hearing alot about but I had never tried before. Now I know how to create them and they are wonderful!

I got this great pattern from my friend Ginny and she has made it available to everyone through her iSew shop. I made the very basic bag, but her pattern also includes instructions for various pocket sizes and an additional exterior decorative band.

So, if you’ve been looking for a gift for that hard to buy for person – well, get ‘em going green with a gift of a reusable Market Tote. They’ll thank you, and so will the environment! : )

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Just one more quick note: I am getting ready to send out Issue #1 of my e-newsletter,so if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up!

Cheers!

Jenn : )

So… Say you bought a canvas curtain from Ikea to hang infront of your washer and dryer so that when company comes over they aren’t looking at your laundry space. And say that canvas was about two feet too long. You would cut down the curtain and hem it…. and save the canvas. But what to do with it?

Well – last night I had an “a-ha” moment and came up with a quick project to put to use that perfectly good material.

I was in my studio and happened to glance over at my Cotton Time calendar (I know, anyone who has read more than a couple posts on this blog is like “shut up about the Cotton Time already!”) But I can’t help it. I practically did a happy dance when I was reading the latest issue and discovered that it came with a 2007 calendar and each month has instructions for a different craft project – yippee!!!!!

So anyway – inspired by February’s project I hunted around for that canvas and made up this little… what to call it… ah, “little basket” ( ? ). It’s about 4 1/2 inches tall.

Now, if you look closely you might notice that there are some problems with it. I posted before that mistakes happen and I am not too proud to admit to making them. A couple goofs were from never having made one of these before… and a couple others happened because I was watching Futurama while I was sewing this.

I’m going to use it anyway in my studio to hold little doo-dads. I have quite a bit of the canvas left still – I was thinking of maybe making a couple more with different dimensions and colors, maybe adding some pockets on the outside and posting them in my Etsy shop. Do you think anyone would want one?

Have a great weekend -

Jenn : )