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i hope everyone had a lovely thanksgiving. my sister and her boyfriend flew to kansas city to spend thanksgiving with his family, which meant that i stayed the weekend in la pet sitting. my thanksgiving eve was very frustrating, i went to 3 grocery stores to find all the ingredients for the 2 dishes i was making, after a few tears of frustration and a glass of wine i relaxed and went to be early. the next morning i made a last minute run to find some brioche and spent the rest of my morning cooking and sewing.
the two dishes i made were artichoke dip for an appetizer and roasted-parsnip bread pudding for a side dish (i got the recipe from martha stewart's thanksgiving issue). 
{preparing} 
{fresh from the oven}
while the dishes baked i found time to whip up a birthday present for my best friend laura. i made her a camera cozy (a tutorial from sew mama sew), and a small carrying case for the gorilla pod (a flexible tripod) i bought her. 
here are the "baskets"; i plan on finishing the edges with some bias strips and the handle will either be out of canvas or a fabric that coordinates with the baskets.
these were easy to make, but i wasn't terribly happy with how the double-sided interfacing went in and i had to deviate from the pattern a bit.
also, here's one of the easter egg's with a pocket. it looks a bit wonky because it's stuffed with tissues (i left the stuffing at home). i also sewed this on the machine, i think i'll sew the other ones by hand.
i have felt so relaxed and relieved since christmas. in the early hours of christmas day (4am?) i put the finishing touches on my gifts and had them all wrapped and under the tree. it was a lot of hard work, but i was so happy and satisfied with how my projects turned out.
here are some highlights...
madison with her backpack, i filled the bags with coloring books and pens, and for a last minute addition, made crayon holders. i made the backpacks and crayon holders for aislyn, madison, little john, and emilee.
emilee with the pillow i made her, the fabric is by heather ross's "mermaids and sea creatures" collection
a mail bag and some project bags for jasmine
lavender filled birds for robbie
the little deer bag for my aunt jamie and the bottom two items are travel tissue covers for my grandmas
i also made; kiki a scarf and gloves, a scarf and check book cover for my mom, hand embroidered dish towels for gina and gary, a "tool" roll for my friend robin, a little box bag for serena, gloves for veronica, and pillows for laura.
phew! and even after all that, i started knitting a scarf christmas eve and gave it to my aunt jamie when i finished christmas day.
a glimpse into my present making... i still have a lot of finishing touches to put on everything, but i'm pretty happy so far.
i'm really into making quilted pillows, the second one will be for my dear friend laura, she loves russian nesting dolls. 
christmas seems to be coming at a rapid pace and i feel like i have no time left! luckily, i had all day saturday to myself. saturday morning i was able to sleep in, and after getting up i drove to joann's for supplies. the rest of my day was spent attached to my sewing machine. i was able to put a nice dent in my christmas presents, but it still doesn't feel like enough. i've also developed a sanity-saving system of precutting all my fabrics the night before i sew and stacking them with their directions, it makes life so much easier and organized.
sunday, my friend talia was hosting a tree trimming party. i was hoping to make her some ornaments from these really cute nesting doll embroidery patterns, but alas i ran out of time. instead i made my aunt gina's artichoke dip and gave talia a darling penguin ornament i bought in claremont village. i'm happy to say that the dip was a huge hit. 
i'm really looking forward to christmas and being able to share pictures of all the projects i've been working on. as a post christmas treat, i think i'll tackle this project for myself...
i was also pleased to see that a number of the contributors planned on making their presents this year. speaking of homemade, i finally (for the first time in a few months) pulled out my sewing machine. last night, while i watched grey's anatomy, i sewed together all of the backpacks i've been working on. it's such a feeling of accomplishment to look at finished stitches! i only made one mistake, by the time i was on my 3rd bag, i accidently sewed the open part of the bag shut. whoops! luckily i realized half way through. there are still a few more finishing touches (the drawstring) so i'll post pictures later....
these were made from small squares of japanese fabrics i had purchased. i had bought a bunch of buttons used for making fabric covered buttons, cut some circles, and voila! i plan on buying some magnets and attaching them to the backs. these should be a nice small gift for one of my friends...
some more embroidery, this will be a drawstring backpack for little john.
also check out design*sponge's gift guide. i want just about everything listed, and it's all under $25!
spoiler alert!
the question that has been plaguing me the last few weeks (what crafty thing can i make for the gentlemen in my life??) has been answered!!!
mom don't look!!!!!
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