It is pretty warm here in Holland. Not quite the crocheting/knitting/sewing weather I was hoping for, but hey, who am I to complain about sunshine and bright blue skies right?!

Because of the weather, all crafting came to an abrupt halt, which leaves me with little to blog about. I could tell you something about all of the books I’ve read in the last couple of weeks, but I don’t want to bore you with the details. You’re here on a craft blog after all. Just wanted you to know I don’t sit on my ass all day doing nothing, when I’m not crafting. Well I do sit, on my behind, and there is little movement, but luckily (for the arguments sake) reading is an activity 🙂

Enough about the books. I have craftsy stuffs to talk about! As I wrote earlier, I haven’t done much crafting, so I wanted to share some things I’ve made for other people a few weeks ago.

It so happened that my niece, my aunt and my mother celebrated their birthdays on the same day. So I thought it would be nice to make them all something. Hand made gifts are often as simple as a zippered pouch, but much more effective, because the receivers can really appreciate the time you’ve spent on making it. For me this is the holy grail of gift giving. It is worth every effort once you see the look upon their face.

For my niece I made a zippered pouch in the shape of a cat. Very cute and still practical for a 6 year old girl to use. I didn’t have a pattern, so I drew my own. I measured the length of my zipper for width and the length of a pencil for length and went with that. I fused all the fabric with interfacing so it had more stiffness to it. For the whiskers and eyes I used embroidery thread, being careful to thread all the ends in tight, so she could not rip them off. (If she really puts her heart in it, she could, but I hope she wont)catpouchS

Isn’t he awkwardly adorable!

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Looks like he wanted a pencil cigar! Silly kitty. Obviously enough, when my niece of 6 years saw this little kitty, she was over the moon. Mission accomplished.

For my aunt I made a little zippered pouch she could put any assortment of random stuff in. She is more of a natural colored type of lady, so that’s what I used. Again I used the length of the zipper for the width of the pouch and I fused the fabric with interfacing for stiffness. I had some beads laying around,(read: neatly presented in my letter box) and I used those with some brown embroidery thread to make a motif.

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I threaded some lace ribbon through the zipper runner and secured it with more brown embroidery thread and a wooden button I had left over from the mini skein wonders.

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I still love those buttons. Luckily my aunt was very pleased with here gift, so now I was running two for two.

Last, but definitely not least, was my mothers gift. Last year I gave her her very own handmade bag and this year would be no exception. I wanted to try a different technique this time. Something I never have sewn before. I don’t really know what it’s called, but you see it in wallets very often. bagsideS

At the side you can get a clue of what I’m talking about. This ‘accordion like thingy’ is the end of the divider, nested between two folds that come from the side panels. Just guess how much time it took me to do the math on all those crazy folds and creases! Humor me 😉

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Needless to say, my mother was over the moon with her new shiny handmade bag. Three for three guys!

Except for your average ‘warehouse giftcard’, giving is so much more fulfilling than receiving, don’t you agree?