Can A Dove Be A Turtle?

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

~Burton Hillis

I will have the best gift this Christmas!  My entire family will be here - altogether in our tiny little home with only one bathroom!  It has been a couple of years since our oldest DH and her family have ventured across the miles to our home for the holidays.  We will be able to share all of the joy and wonder through her two sons eyes.  What a splendid time we will have with an 18 month old and a 4 1/2 year old in the house.  Our youngest DH and her husband will be joining us too - an aunt and uncle for the boys to enjoy!  I am counting the days but not wishing them away.  The wait is what I must endure for the happiness our house will be filled with.  Besides, I'm not ready for them yet - lol!

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

Two Turtle Doves

Doves are a common symbol for love and peace, two Christmas themes. Turtle doves are a common species of dove found in France and England and they were often kept in cages as pets during the Middle Ages and earlier.  The turtle dove is a species that mates for life, so the giving of two turtle doves could be a way the lover is expressing his intention of love and marriage.  Does that make me and my DH turtle doves?  Mates for life - that's us!

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Yesterday I finished working on a Christmas gift for my house cleaner.  She loves hummingbirds and I just happened to have some hummingbird fabric in my stash.  I've had this fabric for a couple of years and just could never figure out what to do with it.  I decided to make a Reusable Market Bag from a pattern I loosely followed from allpeoplequilt.com. 

First I made two of the panels.  I really wish the colors would have photographed more true - the colors are much more vibrant than what they appear in these pictures.

The pattern said to put in interfacing but I wanted something quilted so here it is sandwiched and ready to go.

You can't see it very well but I did straight line quilting in varying widths.  The red was quilted with a primary variegated (red, blue, and green); the blue was quilted a blue variegated, and the yellow was quilted with a gold variegated.

Next I had to sew the seams, right sides together, of course.  Next came squaring the corners.  I also zigzagged along each seam so that it would minimize the puffiness of the seams.  The yellow piece is the part cut off from the squaring of the bottom.

Here it is right side out with the straps attached and before the lining was put in.

This is one of the lining panels.

And here it the bag completed.  I put a binding around the top instead of just seaming the lining and the outer bag together.  It made for a much better finish of the top.

Here is a picture where you can see the lining.  You can see that I carried the hummingbird fabric to the inside as well as on the front pockets.

And then I made a matching travel-sized tissue cover from some of the left over scraps.  I found the pattern in a tutorial from Kim over at An Oft Traveled Road.  I made the tissue cover to her specs but ended up cutting off 1/4" of the length to make the tissue packet fit securely.

So here is the final product/gift - bag and tissue cover.  I hope she likes it!  And, get this.  Right as I finished up with this project, my cleaning gal called and asked if I knew where you could get hummingbird fabric!  However, I don't think this is the kind she is looking for because she wants to make curtains for her laundry room.

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Just a quick reminder about the Block Swap Adventure.  We are still accepting membership for this swap.  I think I will leave it open indefinitely - the more the merrier.  If you are interested in joining, you can either click on the link below or on the button in the right hand sidebar, or just leave me comment below that you are interested.  Please make sure that your comment is not a no-reply blogger as I've already had one person miss out on joining Let's Bee Together because she couldn't receive the information before both groups were full.  I hate having to disappoint people like that :(



Block Swap Adventure

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GIVEAWAYS

Canton Village is giving away two fat quarter bundles to two lucky winners.  These bundles are from Sarah Fielke's new line, "From Little Things" by Lecien.  This is open until midnight on December 12th.

Sew Unique Creations is having a great giveaway of Shelburne Calico Garden Fabric Bundle.  This bundle is made up of 28 fat quarters - that's 7 yards of fabric!  You must enter this giveaway by December 16th, at 9:00 AM CST.

There is less than 48 hours to enter my BIG GIVEAWAY!  Wouldn't you like to be the winner of a Thimbleberries BOM kit?  (Well, most of one).  Hurry, you must enter before Friday, Dec10th at 9:00 PM PST.....................  It looks like I will have to have another giveaway soon - I now have over 300 followers!!!!  Thank you!!!!!z

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FINAL THOUGHT

Are you confused on what to give someone?  Lucky for me, my shopping is done.  Is there an elderly person that you need a gift for or someone disabled?  Have you ever thought of offering to cook a meal, maybe to clean their house, do some yard work, or run some errands.  Many times these can be much more welcome than a wrapped gift that may possibly be put in a closet to collect dust or forgotten in a few short days.  There are many out there that could use some sort of physical labor help.  Just think about it what you would like if  you were them.  And, of course, everyone could use a hug.
A hug is a great gift - one size fits all, and it's easy to exchange.
~Author Unknown

Think the day through and have a very thoughtful Thursday!