Gifts!

You know what I love about making gifts? You get to try new stuff. Stuff you would never otherwise attempt. And a deadline can be a good encouragement to make a decision and move on. I tend to grind to a halt if perfection gets in my gears. No so with Poppy's adorable doll quilt. Below is the back, which I actually made first. Those aren't polka dots in the upper right corner...they're raindrops! Love! Big thanks to my quilt model, Mr. Awesome ;o)

I whipped up this little envelope purse last week. Happy Birthday to my best friend! Yup, that's a hand-quilted "A" to hold to magnet in place. Magnet closures are so satisfying.

 

The perfect card holder for a note to my BFF. She's running the San Francisco Marathon tomorrow...amazing!

And a rear view...I followed this tutorial for the Scrappy Pouch on One Shabby Chic's blog. Super quick and easy.

My friend's mom is run/walking the half marathon. (Inspiring family, huh?) What better way to celebrate than with a mug rug for her post-race Gatorade and power bar? I saw this pentagonal mug rug over on Flickr and was inspired. My idea was to make an unfolding flower. Not sure if that happened, but I like the result nevertheless. I'm eager to try an improv pentagon again.

And the back. Seems like a good setting for a story about Anansi, the trickster spider.


















When making something quickly (like the mug rug, which took about 3 hours), I have a lingering consideration: Is it done? Without time to really sit with a project, I often wonder if I'm sending it out into the world incomplete.

But perhaps the answer is ultimately unknowable. Where is the line between overworked and underdone? It's like taking bread from the oven-- very difficult to tell at first glance. I wonder if certainty will come with time.

What with all the inspiring and the gifting, I decided to do a little something for myself and give my scraps a better home than that hideous plastic bag they've been living in. Lo and behold, Salvation Army had gobs of these beautiful glass containers. I took ten off their hands for only $15!! Score! (The other two hold ribbons and elastics.) They pretty up the room and I can see what I've got...which is a lot more scrap-busting to do. And I'm not complaining :o)