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Handmade holiday presents 2014: shopping totes and more

Alisa's shopping tote

Here are the rest of my handmade holiday gifts for 2014.

I started out with the aprons featured in my Dec. 2 post "Handmade holiday presents 2014: Hot Cider apron panel" . For one of my favorite gifts, I used that same apron panel to make a shopping tote for Alisa using the Metro Shopping Bag pattern from Bags: the Modern Classics by Sue Kim (Stash Books, 2011) p. 81. I used a coordinating fabric from Wilmington Fabrics "Hot Cider" line, and for a touch that I really love, I added piping to the seams of the front and back panels. If you add piping to your project, don't forget to strip the cording out of the last one inch of both ends of the piping to make the top seams easier to stitch. The tote handles are made of webbed belting available at JoAnne Fabrics.

Tote in cotton twill by Project by Cotton, made in Japan

I also made this tote in a cotton twill with a multi-colored, stylized cat design by Project by Cotton, made in Japan. This tote also has webbed belting for the handles. I used iron-on batting for the front and back panel interlining and DecorBond for the side and bottom panel. Those cats are the cutest!

Harper Rose's Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas pillows

Harper Rose's Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas pillows

I made two pillows for Brandi's one-month-old niece, Harper Rose, from Andover's "Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas" panel, copyright by Eric Carle. The ruffle is made from "Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas Scribble Red" yardage and the pillow backing is "Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas" allover print (below). I hand-quilted the design on both pillows, inserted a zipper in the bottom seam of each pillow, and used 20-inch pillow forms from JoAnne Fabrics for the filler.

Andover's Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas detail

12 Days of Christmas panel crib quilt

And for Kaden's first Christmas I made a hand-quilted crib quilt from the "12 Days of Christmas" panel by Gingerbread Angel Fabric for Benartex.

"12 Days of Christmas" panel detail 

That was a lot of fun!


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