What was in the packages...? Come and see!

The Pay it Forward packages have been received and it is now my pleasure to show you what was inside each one. I'm delighted that the recipients were pleased -- I love giving gifts to people and finding out I chose (or in this case, created) well. Makes my heart sing to give a gift that someone loves getting!

Inside this package....

BoonieSooze's package

....was a set of photo note cards that I made just for Susan!

homemade photo notecards
if memory serves,  I made 10 full color, 10 sepia

I used various photos that I'd taken during the Project 365 I tried to do last year, things I thought would be of general interest. I turned those photos into a collage using Picasa photo editing software, and made one version in color and one in sepia tones. Then I chose card stock papers from my scrapbooking supplies, and light colored papers for the insides and sandwiched everything together into a decorative card.

I made different sizes for different needs that Susan might have. My only regret is that I didn't have envelopes to send along with it; hopefully they are standard enough sized that she can use regular envelopes (sorry, Sooze!).

Inside this package....

June's present

..was a set of wine slippers for June, The Mendon Foodie. She and a group of girl friends get together for wine & food nights, and when I saw this pattern over at The Quilt Show pattern page  I just knew it was  perfect for June. (note: you have to be a member, though basic membership is free, to view the full pattern)

the wine slippers

I took the advice of the pattern and made each one a different combo of fabrics so that they can serve as wine glass identifiers, too; just remember your color combination and never loose your wine glass in a sea of glasses again!

with a wine glass, for sizing and scale

The pattern made zero sense to me when I first read it -- I could not wrap my brain around how it was going to work. Still, I trusted the pattern maker and just did what it told me to, one step at a time, and it worked beautifully! It had seemed way to easy, and it was very easy to do, and made such a lovely finished project. I'm planning on making sets of these for Christmas gifts this year, so if you use stemmed glasses at all and think you might be on my Christmas gift recipient list, speak up!

close up so you can see how the slippers slide onto the base of the wine stem

Oh! and don't you just love the wine glass itself?? That was an unexpected and delightful gift I received this past Christmas, and it is such a treat. I love to pour a glass of grape juice or iced tea during the day and sip from my wine glass.....it feels like a secret indulgence when I drink from this glass, even though it's just iced tea. Some people I know might receive a glass for Christmas, too.....there are all kinds of designs, from 95andSunny, aka Bottoms Up designs. Fun, fun, fun. 

Now I'm waiting on my sister to get her gift, and on camera batteries to charge so I can take a photo of the iPad cover I made for The Chemist. I can't wait to show those to you too! I'm still working on my larger quilt projects (the diary quilt and the red white & blue) but these little things are fun breaks for when I'm bored of one fabric, plus this sort of sewing fills my need for giving gifts and for completing a project.

It's so nice to take a break, spend two days doing something start to finish, wrapping it up and sending it on its way and then get back to the big sewing I have waiting on the side. Love that!

Do you like to give gifts? Have a favorite gift you love to give? Tell me about it!