Semi-Handmade Holiday

Just thought I’d give a brief update since I haven’t posted much lately. With my self-induced stress over both kids’ birthdays and Christmas in the same month, I didn’t even try to make gifts this year. But I managed to clean my house, have family over and even got a few holiday cards mailed, so it was all fine. This time of year I’m frequently reminded of our excesses in both food and goods consumption, but I just roll with the traditions while griping about how disgusting it all is. As you can tell, I’m loads of fun during the holidays!

Anyway, I did buy a few handmade gifts, so thought I’d share.

Santa brought this adorable tic-tac-toe stamp set made by Yellow Owl Workshop for my older daughter and the little tiger purse from Giddy Giddy. I featured both of these in an earlier post.

Plus I ordered my nine-year-old the Harry Potter birthday card below from Sophie Wilson Design, since Harry Potter is the kids’ latest obsession. For my younger daughter’s birthday, we gave her a sweet locket necklace like the one below from Nest Pretty Things Kids.

Of course Legos and Barbie were the main events for the kids this year. I’m dealing with it. I even made one of those strange Barbie cakes with the Barbie torso sticking out of the “skirt” cake, and man, my kid loved it. But I totally agree with this kid about pink stuff. Of course toys were gender specific when I was a kid, but it wasn’t this bad (the Barbie camper was yellow, after all). And although I have been wanting more female characters in Legos, I’m not thrilled about these little skinny-legged dolls. I expected more creativity from Lego.

Moving on…I also bought pretty bowls from Whitney Smith for both my mother and mother-in-law and sent some of these salt samplers from Salt Farm to relatives.

Tomorrow I’ll share some of the handmade gifts that I received. How about you? Did you make or buy your gifts this year?

 

Moda Designer Blog Hop

Today I’m excited to be part of the Moda Designer Blog Hop! If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I have a fabric collection called Quilt Blocks that will be available in stores in April. If you’ve just found The Long Thread through the Moda blog hop, be sure to check out my book, 1, 2, 3 Sew.

For the blog hop, each participating Moda designer is sharing a quilt block and a recipe on their blog. My contribution is the quilt block above and a recipe for Honey Pound Cake. The 12″ block uses some of the fabrics that will be available in the spring, but I just had strike-offs to work with, so the colors may be slightly different. It’s a straightforward block using three different fabrics, and would work well with solids or any pattern.

As a Southerner, I’ve always been a big fan of pound cake and its versatility. You can serve it with fruit, ice cream, whipped cream, or just on its own with coffee. Pound cake freezes well and makes a nice holiday gift. You could make this drawstring gift bag for a loaf of pound cake to make it extra special.

Just click on the image below to print the .pdf file with the recipe and block instructions. Happy Holidays!

Follow along with the other stops on the Moda Designer Blog Hop. Here’s the full tour schedule:

Monday, December 5th:

Minick & Simpson

Anne Sutton

Me & My Sister

Deb Strain

Tuesday, December 6th:

Kansas Troubles

Fig Tree & Company

Cosmo Cricket

Lucie Summers

Liz Scott

Wednesday, December 7th:

Bonnie Olvason

French General

Liesl Gibson

Sweetwater

The Long Thread

Thursday, December 8th:

Camille Roskelley

Kathy Schmitz

Laundry Basket Quilts

Kate Spain

Primitive Gatherings

Friday, December 9th:

Basic Grey

Jan Patek

American Jane

Pieces from my Heart