a bounty of burp cloths!

So I will say even though I haven't been progressing in the quilt world as fast I would like, I have managed to put together two different gifts of flannel burp cloths for lovely ladies I go to church with, each having their first babies this winter.

The ones above are jungle animal themed to match the nursery. I had fun pairing the animal prints (zebra! giraffe!) with fabric featuring the critters themselves. Most of them look soft and cuddly as you would expect. But I couldn't help myself and had to throw in some Hipster Zebras!

The nursery of this recipient is neutrally decorated in gray and white so I had my fun with the monster fabric. I thought it was quite funny. I've got the burp cloths neatly arranged in our baby bathtub since little dude has outgrown it. I quite love it when I come up with some useful packaging that becomes part of the gift itself.

frugal festive food gift

The past few years my husband, our household chef, has whipped up multiple batches of a delicious chai tea mix. We give it as thank you gifts to various service people: the mail lady, the newspaper delivery people, our family hair stylist, the staff at our branch library, our pastors, our dentist, our pediatrician, and so on. I think my favorite was the time we gave jars to the women who were preparing our Christmas morning breakfast at the hotel we were staying at over the holidays. They were so pleased to have a gift. No matter how many jars he makes I find more people to gift them too!

I was getting them ready to go when I realized how very fabulously frugal this gift was. Since I just entered November budget data I can confidently say that the jars cost about a dollar each in grocery costs. And the packaging costs me next to nothing.

The glass jars with cheery red lids are from my favorite peanut butter of which I consume quite a bit. Some people start their day with coffee; I start mine with peanut butter toast.

The tags are punched out from old greeting cards. The punch was a gift to me and I am quite pleased to have it. I imagine I will get years of use out of it.

And, I will confess, I even bought the curling ribbon at a thrift store years ago. Hee.

Beautiful burp cloths!

Whipping up a batch of double-thick, oh-so-absorbent, flannel burp cloths is my go-to baby gift these days. The beauty of this group came in the sweet packaging, don't you think?

Hint for you: If you need baskets, don't buy new for heaven's sakes. Instead, head to your favorite thrift store. There is always a wide selection to be had!

sweet treats in a simple stitched bag

A friend treated me to this lovely little grown-up goody bag made of waxed paper, a zig-zag stitch, and a bit of love attached with a safety pin. So sweet!

Christmas gifts from the kitchen: bread of the month club

This year I gifted my in-laws with membership to "bread of the month club." So every month of 2013 they will receive a fresh loaf of bread baked by yours truly. I have seen a lot of fun "of-the-month" clubs advertised in catalogs and online however, I think the homemade touch is especially nice. Plus, you get to show your love all year long.

So take a moment to think about what you might be good at and who might appreciate the fruits of your labor. Then give the unexpected, homemade, and loving gift of a membership!

Christmas gifts from the kitchen: chai tea mix

I hope you had a lovely Christmas, dear readers!

My husband had the brilliant idea of gifting jars of chai tea mix last year and we have continued the "tradition" this year. We like to give these small, simple gifts to those who take care of us all year round: our mail carrier, the newspaper delivery family, our pastors, our teachers, and so on. It is a sweet and simple thank you.

Last year we bought some beautiful canning jars. We spent just as much on the jars as we did on ingredients. This year we saved and sterilized the glass jars from my peanut butter addiction, which conveniently have a red lid. Not only were we doing some earth-friendly upcycling, but people did end up with a little bit more chai tea. I am sure they are not complaining!

I stamped the tags at a Pinterest party, where we were experimenting with various crafts and recipes found on the famous website. The original idea was to use the base from celery to stamp roses. The snowflakes on these tags were stamped with a slice of okra. I made the tags themselves from a red paper bag from a store. I already had the glittery stars on wire, which worked especially nice because it could be twisted firmly around the neck of the jar (no ribbon slipping here!).

chickies for my baby chick!

 My baby girl turned 1 today. For her birthday I sewed up a Henny Penny with her six little baby chickies from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby. I am not going to claim that I "whipped them" up as there was much more head-scratching, improvising, internet-consulting, tutorial-watching, and just plain winging it involved.

I did manage to learn how to do a French knot for the eyes of the mama hen. For a beginner sewer like  me it was very confusing to read the instructions that started with the thread emerging from the chicken. How does that happen to a fully formed stuffed animal? I ended up knotting the end and going in through a seam, very carefully pulling the knot through, and working the needle through some of the stuffing so the end would get stuck. Then I poked the needle out where the eye should be. This online video saved the day for me. A special thank you to Mary Corbet of Needle 'n' Thread.

I never did figure out how it would have worked if I had "stay stitched" shut the opening (is this the same as basting stitch?). If it was sewn shut, even loosely, I am not understanding how it would have been possible to turn the creature inside out. So I just skipped all that stay stitch business. I am also not sure what a "blind stitch" is and I imagine it would have been tidier than my improvised version of sewing the chickens shut. However, they are done in time for the birthday and that's what mattered to me!

In case you are wondering about the wings – the mama hen has strips of velcro under her wings. The velcro wings on the baby chicks will stick to her so they can all tuck up underneath. Very cute.

my go-to gift for baby showers

 Hello dear readers! I am still alive and well and crafting if not blogging.

Some crafts are not post-worthy (finishing an update to the family scrapbook just in time to clear off the dining room table before guests arrive!).

And some, like the flannel burp cloths below, I did not adequately document with photos. Mostly it was because I was trying to get it done at the last minute and then got derailed by the stomach flu (my children, pause a day, then me). So I guess I have been slacking a bit. It does pain my perfectionist heart to miss regular post days. In the end, I suppose it does not really matter how well I follow my self-imposed blogging schedule!

So about these burp cloths. If you are the least bit craft inclined and have learned to sew a straight line, you can do these. I promise. They are fabulous for several reasons – flannel comes in adorable prints, homemade gifts are great, and man do they really soak up the baby-produced liquids. I know from experience! Plus, the way they are assembled makes them super sturdy so they hold up despite weekly tumbles in the washing machine.

I was going to write up the instructions myself but here they already are on other blogs. This one uses a different fabric for each side. And here's another tutorial. She made hers a bit wider than I made mine. The only thing I do differently is to snip the corners before turning it inside out. I think it helps when you are poking them out. And I didn't bother to iron them again before sewing the final stitching on the outside. Although I can see where that would have been helpful as I had a few that did not quite lay flat.

Now there is no photo of the lovely presentation so you are just going to have to visualize it with me. First I folded the burp cloths lengthwise, then I rolled them each up into tidy swirls. Then I tucked them in an open box (about the size of a a photo storage box). They looked like cheerful little flowers all nestled in there. It was so cute that I didn't bother to wrap it up.

sweet treats

Last year I participated in a cookie exchange and gave away adorable little boxes of the type of seasonal delights that one only bothers to make this time of year. This year I wasn't so much in the mood for cookie making and tried to think of an alternative. My husband, chef of the house, suggested chai tea mix. Since that is something I love to indulge my sweet tooth with during our cold winters, I thought this was a splendid idea!

He very efficiently got his part – making a zillion batches of the mix – done the very next weekend, which was still in November. So I have no one to blame but myself for completing this project at the very last minute!

To add a festive touch to the jars, I traced a circle of scrap fabric to place over the lids. I was going to glue it down but found holding a finger on top of the fabric while screwing the ring in place was all that was necessary. My favorite fabric was the fleece. It didn't wrinkle and puffed up nicely. A very cozy look. That would be my recommendation.

I also designed a tag on the computer (the graphic designer in me couldn't help myself). I used a star-shaped paper punch and a bit of ribbon. I discovered tying it to the ring instead of looping it around the jar was more secure and used less ribbon. Perfect!

We've been having fun giving them to friends and to the people who help make our lives run smoothly. I like to honor people who provide us with services – the cashier who greets us by name every Friday at the grocery store, our mail delivery lady, the young men who deliver our newspaper, the employees who pick up our garbage and recycling, our favorite librarians, and even our doctor and dentist.