Better late than never, I wanted to show what I gave and received at our annual Secret Santa exchange at work - we take it pretty seriously and it's always lots of fun with some verrrrry creative gift giving.
So, I was Santa to one of our performers - Lauren, who in her questionnaire mentioned that she loved travel and all things French (see? questionnaire? told you we take it seriously!) Among other things, like a French gossip magazine and an Eiffel tower necklace, I made her a matched set of passport case and zippered bag from this fabric:
I used this tutorial for the passport case, which I thought was really clear and well written. The one I used for the bag is here, and while it's beautifully photographed, it's slightly more vague in some of its instructions, and I wasn't crazy about leaving raw edges inside. I do love this shape, though, and I'll probably be making more of these, but with a separate lining.
Anyway, they came out looking super cute, and Lauren really liked them. I wish I had taken photos before I gave them away!
My santa turned out to be my buddy Michael (who runs marathons, bakes, and crochets like a madman) He had me totally fooled, with his clever misspelling of my name and crazy cards! He's also an amazing quilter, and my final gift was a table runner in my fave color, green:
It's living on my ugly radiator right now. The gradation of the colors is just so cool, don't you think? The photo really doesn't do it justice. Michael was so pleased with how this turned out that he's teaching a class in how to make it!


