Bags and books for Christmas . . .

 

 . . . perhaps I shouldn't be putting pics out in public till after they've been given! 

 

I found a pattern at the Festival of Quilts for these bags, made with strips, but went for the single fabric for these presents as it is a lot quicker and I started making them a bit late.  They are a sort of box substitute - put your bits and pieces for a particular job into one and carry it off with you to do it.

 Here's my original effort, on the right, using strips from my leftovers collection.  There is scope for a lot more interest with the strips, but the single fabrics I've used all come from Africa - the top two from Uganda and the others from Togo in West Africa -  and for me that gives them a special interst all their own.

 

And then books, of course.  These are made from pill packets, slit down one narrow side, all the flaps stuck down, and the whole covered with coloured paper, on both sides.  It could be collaged, but I'm not much good at that so tend to use a large enough piece of paper I've painted and printed myself. 

 Pages for the signatures have to be cut to fit, which can be a bit tricky when one's mathematical skills are weak, and a tendency to do things back to front is active, but once I start I get into the swing ok.  I've been trying out different styles of long stitches and arrangement of holes or slits.  Weaving across plain long stitches is fun, as is the linking across the stitches, by sliding the needle under the previous stitch as you come by on the next signature.

 

Some packets aren't very big, as the hand shows.  It's a mixture of pills, asthma inhalers, throat lozenges and, oh yes, the packets Tesco sardines are sold in!  Well, omega 7 is good for you.

The print block used for the one in the hand was made by incising the pattern with a biro onto stuff like the polystyrene backing pizzas sit on.  It's worth saving!