Projects I made for Christmas gifts!

At last, I can show you some of what I was stitching on the two weeks before Christmas. I made a few things for my daughter, Collette, and my son's girlfriend, Stacia. First up is what I made for Collette. This is just a mat that could be a hot pad for a 9x 13 pan or a candlemat. The fabrics are Fruitcake by Moda.
I really liked the fabrics on the bolt but when I got the mat stitched and quilted I wasn't so sure that it was the colors my daughter would like. I only made a mat for her as I had the funny feeling there was too much green in this for her decorating. Plus, there was blue in it and I had the feeling that wasn't going to be a color she'd want either. Not that she's picky. I just had a feeling. It was good I "had a feeling" because I was right. She loved the design but not the green and blue so we're going to pick some other fabrics so I can make her a set of items like I made for Stacia in the coffee print fabrics I used for her projects.

In the meantime, Collette is going to use this one as a candlemat. Both girls liked the projects. Stacia was exceptionally patient with my stitching plans for the coffee fabric as I gave her the fabrics for Christmas two years ago and it took me this long to finally do something with them!!!!
The mat that Stacia is holding and that is in the picture below is for her kitchen counter so she can set her coffeemaker on it.......although, I gave her a candle, too, just in case she prefers to use it as a candlemat. I like options. ;-)

I also made her a "mugrug" from some of the scraps and even had enough to make one for me, too. I also made double-thick hotpads/potholders from another coffee-print fabric that I bought for her last summer. I really need to make some of these for me, too. I have some round hotpads but they don't accomodate casserole dishes very well. And then, I made coasters, too. They were fun and easy to make. I just cut circles from 5" squares of fabric and cut bias strips of fabric for the binding. I used batting in each coaster and had fun stitching the swirls on each coaster.

So that is what I managed to stitch and finish prior to Christmas. I started a couple other projects but they didn't get finished. Look for them in a future post. :-)

Let's see.....I think tomorrow, I'll let you know what I got from Mr. Claus. Nothing fancy but something I will really use a lot. My librarian, Kathy, gave me the idea and Mr. Claus took the hint. :-)

See ya on Wednesday!
Sandi