gifts...

so now that my sister is 33,000ft up over russia or china somewhere

I thought I would post a little bit about the things I have been making for her.....

I didn't want to spoil the surprise by letting the cat out of the bag before she left.....

I had been making these fabric baskets and when I saw this classic 

Kaffe Fassett fabric in our local patchwork shop I knew I wanted to make one 

{or two} more with it.....

 I only bought a fat quarter of that and a fat quarter of linen/cotton mix 

and still had lots left over.....

I lined the baskets with a lime green sheeting fabric with tiny circles all over it......

the pattern for the basket is one I found here..... 

the dimensions that vlijtig gives makes the smaller of the two baskets

{roughly 5" x 5" x 3.5"} so I doubled the measurements and made 

one for myself {a nice big roomy one} and then I did one exactly

 in the middle of the two and the larger one for my sister is the result........

the second thing I have been making is a pair of slippers 

{as per a couple of previous posts}

I decided to use the lambswool and angora argyle sweater 

which I purchased last week and felted because it was so soft and cosy.....

I lined them with cotton flannelette and blanket stitched the two layers together.....

hope she likes them.... 

and hope they fit.....

these are just a little infront of the telly project, again in felt......

they are cupcake pincushions and a whole bunch of them on a 

plate would look great I reckon.....

they are made with a bottle top, some felt, a little hobby fill, 

embroidery thread and whatever embellishments you want....

I found the instructions for how to make them here.....

I also wanted to try my hand at carving with lino carving tools

 on pieces of eraser and this is one of my tentative first attempts for dottie.....

I was inspired by this very creative blogger/artist 

{who also makes the fabric baskets} to have a go and it is 

certainly something I would like to try more.....

and not wishing to limit that beautiful Kaffe Fassett 

fabric to the baskets, I decided to make a couple of fabric 

coasters for her bedside table too.....

ok, I think that is all for now..... I am very upcited about my sisters'

 imminent arrival and the fantastic amount of play time we are going to have together.....