More handmade Christmas gifts!

Here are two more gifts I did this Christmas: a Wine Cork Trivet and a Re-usable Shopping Tote.

I had been wanting to make a wine trivet for quite some time - see the post from last spring about all things wine!  For this trivet, I started with a wooden tile frame that I bought at Georgie's Clay and Ceramics, a shop in Portland that I went to some free teacher clay classes.  Anywho, I saw these frames on sale for $6.99 each and thought they would be great for wine corks, too.  Good thing I have been drinking lots of wine collecting lots of corks! ;)

I had Ben measure and cut a thin piece of plywood for each frame as I grabbed my glue gun and a vase full of corks from my fireplace mantle.

I hot glued the plywood inside the trivet, so it sits on the lip.  I then arranged the corks how I wanted them, and started gluing.  I did have to cut some of them shorter and cut a small piece off of one to fit in the middle.  See?

I made one for my friend Kara (the same friend who got the silhouette ornament) with all Oregon wine corks.  One for my cousin who lives in San Diego got all California corks.  Another one was for Ben's brother and his fiance with all Washington corks.  They live in Kirkland.  The one above is for my brother, and he got a combo of Oregon and California, since he has lived in both states.  Another friend saw Kara's and has already requested one for her birthday.  Looks like I'll be going back to Georgies for the trivets, since Amazon sells them for much more!

My other project was a re-usable shopping tote.  The pattern is actually from Ikea.  I found it in the fabric section.

The first step is to cut 2 pieces of fabric for the handles.  I used a pink and white striped fabric from the Home Decor department of The Fabric Depot in SE Portland (if you live in the area and haven't been there, you need to go!).  The handles need to be 28" long and 3.5" wide.

You iron a small hem on both sides, then fold it again.  I folded the fabric in half first so I would see the center line as I ironed the hem.

Pin the hems down and zig zag stitch down the middle to secure.  I used white thread.

Next, you need to cut the fabric for the bag.  The dimensions are 18" x 36".

Iron down both sides,

 Then fold and iron again to make the hem.  Pin and straight stitch close to the left edge.

Attach the handles 2.5 or 3" from the edges.  Pin and make sure that both handles are placed in the same place.  To sew the handles to the bag, I sewed a box then an x in the middle to make the handles more secure.  Sometimes I stuff my shopping bags really full because I am lazy and don't want to carry too many bags out to the car.  I definitely don't want the handles to fall off!

 Then sew the sides of the bag closed, inside out.

 Turn it right side out, and top-stitch the sides again.  I had cut the raw edges close to the stitch before I flipped it right side out.  That way when I top-stitched, you wouldn't see the raw edges sticking out.

Here is the completed bag!  I gave it to my mom, and she loved it!

 I really like the idea of making these.  It doesn't take too much fabric and people can always use them.  You could make them out of nylon and make little bags to stuff them into.  Or, sew little straps on the bottom with snaps, like this one from Bath and Body Works, then you can roll it up and secure with the snaps.  I made one for my friend Pat when she was subbing this fall out of this fabric from Ikea in gray.  I stuffed it full of subbing supplies, such as a planner, stickers, colorful pens, thank you cards to leave for teachers, even a coffee thermos.  She loved it and uses it all the time!  I really want to try this pattern next, from Sew, Mama, Sew!  It is a bigger bag with a pocket on the outside.

So that's it.  Those are all the gifts I made this year.  With Audrey's birthday party, my birthday, tons of events with my class, finishing up my last class for my Reading Endorsement, Christmas, and New Years, I think I did pretty well with making some thoughtful, quality gifts for friends and family.  Did you make any gifts this year?  Tell me all about them!