2011 Swaps!

Recently the Portland Modern Quilt Guild did a potholder swap with the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild. I showed the potholder that I made for my recipient Kristin back here. Below is the potholder I received in return from Kathy Hurley. I really love the quilting and the big grommet! 

At our December meeting we had our holiday gift swap. My recipient was Ale. I made her a ticker tape tote bag which I completely forgot to take a photo of. I received this COMPLETELY AWESOME table runner, zipper pouch, scrap bin and pin cushion from Cathy. She really knows my style. She knew that I loved to add ruffles to my quilts and put that super sweet little ruffle on the pin cushion for me. This table runner is PERFECT for my house. It will spend a long time on my table.

Thank you so much swap partners!

Beer-vent Calendar 2011

For the discriminating beer geek, no amount of craft beer awesomeness is too much. Following up last year's Twelve Days of Beer-mas I felt I needed to outdo myself.  I'm still not sure that putting this together and surprising the Mr. Craft wasn't more fun than him receiving it. I am happy to say I was able to enjoy a lot of this gift with him. I put together 24 beers for the calendar and then a bonus three beers for Christmas day opening. 

The back row

The front row

The list in order of days:

1. Dogfish Head Chickory Stout

2. Great Divide Brewing Hibernation Ale

3. Stone Vertical Epic 11.11.11

4. Fire Mountain Brewhouse Hangman Winterfest

5. Hub Abominable Winter Ale

6. Golden Valley Brewing Tannenbomb

7. Ninkasi Imperiale Stout

8. Dick's Double Diamond Winter Ale

9. Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws

10. Oakshire Brewing Overcast Espresso Stout

11. Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale Brown Shugga' Stout Substitute

12. Avery Brewing Old Jubilation Ale

13. Seven Brides Becky's Black Cat Porter

14. Firestone Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout

15. Oakshire Ill Tempered Gnome

16. Lost Coast Brewery Winterbrown

17. Heater Allen Sandy Paws Baltic Porter

18. Lompoc C-Sons Greetings

19. Bruery/Elysian/Stone La Citrueille Celeste de Citracodo

20. Laurelwood Gearhead

21. Anchor Brewing Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

22. Ft. George Brewing North V

23. Southern Tier Jahva

24. Shelton Brothers Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout

And on the 25th day:

Avery Brewing The Czar

Russian River Brewing Co. Pliny the Elder

Deschutes Brewing The Stoic

A little note: If you plan to make one of these for your beer geek you might want to put the days in order from top to bottom. When opening these some of the top days fell into the holes created by the lower ones that had already been cleared. Next year: beer tree? We shall see! 

I call her The Trophy Wife

I had the amazing pleasure of being able to participate in a Secret Santa exchange with my sewing circle gals, the Yams. This bag was designed especially for Heather, occasionally affectionately known as The Trophy Wife.

I perfected the pattern through many a trial and error and these two were created for my sisters-in-law for Christmas gifts. Mine is on the cutting table now and I can't wait to have it finished!

    

Look for the pattern coming in March!

Completely unplanned, I was also Heather's Secret Santa recipient. She made me a whole boatload of awesome goodies that I'll post about soon. Thank you Heather! It was THE MOST FUN being your partner :)