Handmade sewing caddies/needle folders for friends' winter birthdays

January of 2012 I was busy making gifts for friends.  My birthday is December 24, my s-i-l on January 22, our three friends in February.  We get together to quilt when we can, though I have been on hiatus at times while working on grad school.

I let them decide who got which one, but it ended up being pretty much what I predicted, which friend would pick which one.

Inside pages are made of wool felt, to hold those needles and pins; pockets of coordinating/contrasting hand-dyed fabrics keep smaller scissors, and other essentials.

One of my favorite fabrics, Bolero, I think it's called.

These batik pinwheels came from a UFO tablerunner I got at a quilt store "garage sale" for $2.  I unsewed, then resewed into these:

The Asian print has some shiny gold in it.  I love it.  The red and gold on the bottom of this pic is the one I wanted, and the one that was left for me.  The two blocks came from a local church garage sale.

Now I have to think of a gift for my four friends for this winter!

new bath mat

I checked out a few books from the library, and love "Handmade Home" by Amanda Blake Soule.  She has a lot of ideas for repurposing items that you likely have around the house. 

Our rubber-backed bath mat is falling apart, mostly because I have to wash it a few times a week as the family dachshund uses it for potty when nobody notices she needs outside.  Or when it's raining and she doesn't even try to tell anyone.  I am not loving the rubber backed type rugs anyway, because they smell bad when wet, and take a long time to dry!

Amanda has this project in her book to use a towel that is no longer being used, and some fabric--perhaps sheets that aren't used anymore either.  I took advantage of the possibility that I'd find something at our church thrift sale, and I found a towel bath mat (the size of a bath mat, but made out of the loopy towel material), and a really cool print on cotton, but thicker than quilting fabric.

The mat cost $.50, and the fabric $1.  Not bad!  And no more yucky rubber smell.