::Tis’ the Season::

Wow!  Everyone is generally so quiet here, but you all come out of the woodwork when someone says they are quitting their job.  Thanks to you all.  It feels pretty good after going back to work to help the transition of Jefe going back to school (and let’s face it, supplying insurance) that I can pursue what I devour daily.  I wish I could spend time visiting everyone’s wonderful sites, but I guess I’ve got a new job and I’m sure you are all crafting awesome stuff.

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Tis’ the season People, and the gerbil is already running, thinking about my line up of gift classes, but I wanted to add some techniques that students could absorb while learning to craft a professional looking gift item.  Forget Anthropologie.

I got an idea when I grabbed these the other day.

Right?  I know, shameful, but Jefe caught my Orla Kiely ones on fire.  Living in a house of my size, I am a lover of beautiful utilitarian objects, so I’m not sure what took me so long to see these needed to go.

Simply crafting an oven mitt seemed boring, so I got excited with thoughts of adding the improvisational technique of strip piecing.  So here are my Strip-Pieced Oven Mitt class sample,  a pair of strip-pieced oven mitts.  The class will offer an optional Christmas stocking too (thanks Sue Perry for that idea).

Face it, who really needs another junk gift.

I always have a problem making just one of anything.  If humans had three hands I would for sure have made three.

I learned something about quilting oven mitts after I was done with these.  Less is more.  Once I had them cut I spent some time with my seam ripper to make them less quilted and more fluffy.  I can get my quilting on with the stocking samples I guess.

All said they are lovely and ready to go.

I’ve also added a zip pouch class to the same day.  It’s been way to long since I’ve taught this class and I love to make them.

It’s pretty much endless what you can do with combining patchwork and a zip pouch, but I think my favorite part is picking out the coordinating fabrics for inside and out.  So with respect to time we’ll be doing just that.

I remade my extra large “Good Girl” and “Dirty Girl” travel bags.

These are perfect for friends that travel and need to keep track of their clean and dirty skivvies.  You can even toss them in the wash.

And my favorite, Add Zip to Your Pillow Class is there too.

Tomorrow brings aprons.

What are you crafting/gifting this season?

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I’ve got one space left in my Whole Cloth Quilt Workshop that starts this Thursday and two for the awesome Psychedelic Baby Block Workshop on Saturday.  I’m pretty excited to see what people design with this versatile block.