Pretty burp cloths

My sister hand-dyed me some Gerber prefolds and they are absolutely beautiful. Miss E and I have been oogling them for well over a month now, but since Little Miss e has finally begun to have sloppy burps, I am now using all those burp cloths and am ready to make more. To my chagrin, she has been a non-messy burper for the first 8 weeks (doesn't even burp much!), and here I am with all these fancy burp cloths! Finally, messy messy spit-up. Can you believe I am excited about such a gross thing?

I started with the lovely grass green prefold and added some brown floral Heather Bailey fabric that I had left over from a scarf for my other sister. Very pretty, eh? Bring on the spit-up!

Christmas presents

As promised, here are ALL of the Christmas presents I made this year. Believe it or not, I was in a panic when we arrived at O'Hare only to find out that the suitcase with every gift was ... missing. My fabulous husband spent three hours on the phone the next day, and then five more hours driving to retrieve the suitcase. He was the hero of Christmas, without a doubt.

Max got a pirate crocodile with button eyes.

Sam, two months old, got an alien baby, who doesn't mind at all if he's covered with baby drool. He can be washed, if necessary!

Molly got a Molly Dolly. She's based on the pattern I've been using for the Ella Bella dolls, and she matches the skirt Miss M got as well. Love that crazy hair!

Simon got a 14-inch felt pizza, loaded with toppings. YUM!

Mary got a scarf and matching pin. The pin is a Heather Bailey mini pattern, the fabrics are Heather Bailey Pop Garden.

Vicki got a tote bag based on the charming handbag pattern from Amy Karol. I have requests for three of these now!

And Miss E? She got a cute little turtle buddy (Amy Karol book pattern) using scraps of Amy Butler fabric; a little worm named Stella, with pillow, blanket and mattress (she claims to be Slimey's girlfriend); and a twirly skirt in, of course, pink. (Molly's is the apple print.)

Crafty gift exchange

Wednesday night, my friend organized a group of 10-12 crafty women and we had a most amazing gift exchange. It had to be handmade, and I was stymied by the unique and interesting gifts and the talents of my friends! Even my sister, who claims not to be very crafty, made a beautiful silk flower arrangement. (Um, when do *I* get one of those for my house?!) ;)

I used Amy Karol's "bend-the-rules" book and the pattern for the Charming Handbag, along with some Heather Bailey fabrics I had left over from the purse I made for myself. I was really happy with the way it turned out, and to top it off, instead of making a bow with the ribbon (on the side of the purse), I made a La Fleur Debris (I love that name!) from the mini pattern by Heather Bailey, and added that with a safety pin so it can be removed and used as a pin on a hat, scarf, sweater, etc. as well.

Happily, it was a hit with the person who received it, so I'm thrilled! I was extremely happy to come home with a plate of scrumptious lemon-raspberry cookies plus chocolate peanut butter balls. YUM. I had been craving Reese's Cups, so that was absolutely perfect. And I got the lovely snowflake platter, a small spatula (which I needed, as mine have all been confiscated by the cardboard kitchen) and the recipes to boot. What a blast!

The purse

I have these moments when I just can't wait to sew. It drives me nuts to not be able to just attack a project at any given hour of the day or night. So, I woke the other morning and started a purse. I had the pattern from Sandi Henderson and a bunch of Heather Bailey Pop Garden fabrics sitting here, and though my sewing skills are not as awesome as my friend Gayle's, I did manage to create a lovely market bag. Lots of lessons learned here, but since I am forcing myself to overcome my fear of making things from real patterns, I was proud that I turned out a real purse.

I adapted the pockets to hold a pen, cell phone, and other stuff, instead of just being one huge pocket. And I added a key fob since I love having that on my purse right now, and that was simple to do. Don't ask about the magnetic snap. The dang thing didn't come with instructions, but I realized once the purse was finalized that I didn't install it correctly. Oh well. It will work for a while; then I'll just have to either rip the thing apart and fix it or live without it.

It's big, but it should be the right size to serve as a Mom Tote while on vacation! And when people ask if I made it myself, for once I can say "YES". (And then they will see the lame stitching and realize that my skills are still building. ;)