look- i sew!

back during the 1st week of December i hosted a Handmade Holiday Christmas Party. last year for Christmas i attempted to make all of my friends handmade gifts, and well.... got burnt out. all of us are learning new skills in creating, and i had this idea to have all of us make one gift and then have a white elephant type party and exchange our creations.

well- the party definitely had a couple of hitches. first of all, it was supposed to be co-hosted with my friend Jana, at my friend Jana's house. 2 days before the party, she and her kids got pretty dang sick with the stomach flu (this is the flu that i later got on my birthday just 5 days later). so 2 days before the party, no location. so i called my mother-in-law who has let me use their home in the past for these things, and she happily agreed. of course, the second hitch was that she was supposed to watch my kids at her house while i went to the party. so instead, she and Paul (my father-in-law) came to my house and watched my kids (and sadly, mason got sick while i was gone, so she signed on for vomit as well).

another small hitch? i had left an open invite on facebook. well, the open invite got kind of crazy. i think we had over 20 women there. and several ladies i didn't really know.

but- it was a fantastic time! we had amazing food. in fact, my friend Becky made the most amazing flour less chocolate cake with espresso chocolate glaze that i had ever eaten. in fact Becky, i'm pregnant, and you did promise me a cake.... i think i need to collect on that. soon.

i was surprised that there were only 2 sewing gifts exchanged. there was a lot of jewelry, TONS of sweet treats, several Christmas ornaments....

this is what i made:

this is the "i'll take one of everything" bag from Anna Maria Horner's Seams to Me book. i didn't construct the sides correctly, and i actually made 2 more of these bags as Christmas gifts, and each one went together a little differently. i think i will try one more, see if i can do it a tad better.

so see, i do sew!

the party was so much fun, i can't wait till next Christmas.

oh my, i will have a brand new baby then. oh my.