Little Gifts

Christmas will be here before you know it. As you're rushing around this weekend, facing crowds, getting shopping done and taking advantage of sales - don't forget that the best gifts are often those we make ourselves. Make someone a little quilt (or a big one if  you have the time!).

I made this quilt for my friend Julia. We share the same birthday and I was in the hospital for the last birthday in September. After that, I became so involved with my recovery for such a  long time. But I still wanted to give her a little something I made.  She broke her wrist and her right arm has been in a cast for a long time so she hasn't been able to do any quilting at all. How awful would that be? It took me awhile with everything else I had to do but I finally finished it and gave it to her last week. She liked it (!) and even forgave me for giving it to her so late.

I think even a simple little doll quilt makes a great gift. Or should I say, for many of us, a simple little doll quilt ESPECIALLY makes a great gift. I'm still working on a copy of this antique doll quilt I started while I was recovering. This one may be going to someone else . . . Don't you love the muted colors? So easy too.

I'm a little behind with all this birthday stuff. I visited my friend Linda recently to celebrate OUR birthdays, which are two days apart, and had to show you this tiny quilt - made many years ago for her by her aunt. Even before I became a quilter, I fell in love with it, so cute and small. I had forgotten about it for a long time. This is so funny, because one of Julia's other gifts was this pendant, which I bought BEFORE I saw Linda's quilt. I wonder if I may have unconsciously been thinking of it and my upcoming visit when I bought the pendant? ("You think too much," my husband, Mr Practical,  says. "Maybe it is what it is.")

I will make this into a  small quilt someday, with repros and black background fabric - wouldn't that look cool?

You can see just how tiny the quilt is (on the wall, behind her).

Serendipity? I think so. I may be seeing Fan quilts everywhere I go now . . .  By the way, that movie - "Serendipity" - starring John Cuzak? One of my all-time schmaltzy favorites, I'm not embasrrassed to admit. A good, sentimental chick flick in the vein of "Sleepless in Seattle" if you're in the mood for something light and romantic. I like good films too, just so you know (and in case my son, a film buff,  reads this and shakes his head . . . "Oh Mom, c'mon." ).

If you don't have time for a quilt, you can always make a small quilt accessory. Like one of these "huswife" needle cases from Remembering Adelia. I even give them to non-quilters to use as credit card or gift card holders - just omit the felt flap. Lots of pockets.

They make good secret Santa gifts too.

Or try this small needle case from American Doll Quilts - the book is out of print, but is still available in a digital version, which you just download to your computer as a pdf file, now on sale  here  for only $5.50! This weekend only, Martingale & Co. has a sale on all of their books. Such a  deal. So make a friend happy - make her something!