Secret Pals

In 2018 I joined a new-to-me guild. It's pretty big and does a lot of projects. But it is pretty far away from where I live, so I will not be joining up again in 2019. It was a fun year with them, though. One thing in which I participated was the Secret Pal project. The person who was assigned to me was someone I know, which is funny because I only knew 2 or 3 people in a guild of over 100 people. It was fun finding gifts for her over the year. The idea is to make a bigger gift for the person's birthday month and also for the Christmas party which is the end of the Secret Pal year, and then smaller gifts throughout the regular months.

This is a small quilt I made for my person's birthday month. I couldn't show it to you at the time, in case she would stumble upon my blog. So here it is, long after I gave it to her.

For Christmas I made her this big bag and had other gifts inside it. This pattern is from Amanda Jean Nyberg, Crazy Mom Quilts. The pattern is called Show and Tell bags, I think. There is a large size and this is the medium. Did you hear that Amanda Jean is closing down her business, Crazy Mom Quilts? I'm sure she will enjoy having more time with her family. I have really appreciated the ideas she has shared with us, and her inspiration that she has shared with so many quilters the world.

This is the gift I received from the person who was Secret Pal to me. Isn't it beautiful?? It is the Barbados bag pattern. I love it!

We'll have a quiet Christmas at home with our daughter, and missing our son who is far away in South Korea. Happy Holidays, everyone!

More Little Bags

I have been making a lot of these little bags. I got on a roll. I own about 4 million zippers, so I might as well use them up. Right? I enjoy making these useful little things. Then I love when I give one to someone, and later I see them using it.

Two More Bags

I should say that I was inspired to start making these bags by Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts; but finding my zippers also was a key part of the equation. :-)

Two more bags. I might claim the bigger one for storing my camera.

Found My Zippers!

About a year ago, I ordered 50 zippers from somewhere online. They were super cheap at that quantity. Then I misplaced them after using maybe one or two of them. I found them recently (carefully tucked away in an organized fashion -- no wonder they were lost!). I immediately got busy using them.

Here are two little bags I made using 2.5-inch squares. I used the same backing fabric on them, but different lining fabrics.

Then I made a long, skinny one. Can you guess what it is made for??

Did you guess this.....

... recorder? How wise you are! Yes, this is my soprano recorder. I even sewed the little spit-cleaner-outer into the bag so I won't lose it. (I also own an alto recorder, but it doesn't yet have a fancy, quilted bag to sleep in.)

Here's a quilt top I made for Quilts Beyond Borders, and then two Lotto blocks for Sunshine.