I've been keeping something under wraps, debating whether to show you now and run the risk of ruining the surprise for who this is for, or wait and show you after Christmas...I decided you needed to see it now, just in case you want to make one for someone special in your life - or yourself!! There's still time! The 12 Days of Christmas do not begin until Christmas day!!! And you won't need a partridge or a pear tree or 5 gold rings or 6 geese-a-layin'...unless you really want them and you can find them and they can fit in this:
Here's what I put in my 12 boxes: A clip on OTT Lite, See's Chocolate balls, 1/2 yard of cream colored fabric, 2 Moda mini-packs, 1/2 yard of Christmas fabric, bottle of hand-sanitizer, Christmas ornament salt and pepper shakers, quilting pen and quilting note-pad, gift certificate to quilt shop, 2 Christmasy votive candles, package of mini-notecards and last but not least, vintage buttons! Obviously my gift is for someone who quilts, but think how fun this would be to do for kids? Little Match-Box cars, candy, puzzles, and on and on...12 days of fun!
The bag is made from a Christmas kitchen towel I found at Fireworks. It was perfect! The picture was stamped on, but the "x's" were hand-done and it came that way! I added the "12 Days of Christmas" embroidery. I sewed the towel to fabric to make the bag, added a casing, trims and sewed bells on the ribbon ties.
The bag measures 16 x 22-inches - just the perfect size to hold the 12 pretty boxes! I purchased the match boxes at Ace Hardware, they were $1.50 each. And then...what to do with all of those matches?!?! I didn't want to store them - talk about a fire hazard! So I gave them to the mister and asked him to take care of it...
The mister sat by the fire and threw in handfuls of matches - I had no idea he was such a pyromaniac! He quite enjoyed himself. If I'd known how much fun he would have I would have wrapped them up as his Christmas gift.
After the bag was finished and loaded with the gifts, I decided it needed a loop so it could be hung up...so I emptied out the boxes and went back to the sewing machine!
This tops the list of things I've made - I just love how it turned out - and I really, really hope the recipient does, too! I'm going to make one for myself - and let me show you the bag I'm going to use, it's what started all of this...I was in an antique shop and found this vintage flour sack...I had to have it! Once home I kept thinking about what I could do with it...make a pillow, frame it, use it in a quilt...but I really didn't want to cut into it...and I kept thinking about what a cute little "Santa bag" it would be...then the light bulb went off! I'm going to use the mini-match boxes in my bag, because the flour sack only measures 9 x 18-inches. The only down side of using the mini boxes is the size, I will be limited as to what I can put in them...but as we all know, good things come in small packages!
It's a perfect little sack, no? I'm going to add some trim and get it all spiffed up! Since my 12 Days of Christmas bag will be used with family/grandkids, I'm going to add numbers to the packages, so they will have to look for the right number each day...just a little more suspense! I'm all about making Christmas last as long as possible...or as long as this post! One last look before I wrap it all up and send it off...it's a very fun gift to make and to give...it lasts for 12 days!!! You just can't beat that!
Update: This gift was for my quilt group's annual Christmas gift exchange - and Marsha went home with it! She was very happy and Marsha didn't open any of the gifts inside the bag until she got home! Since the gifts were meant for a quilter, she opened them and is going to replace them with gifts for her grandkids...just another way to entice them to come and visit her after Christmas!
I came home with the most wonderful felted bag - I love it! Pictures of it and the other gifts that were exchanged will be coming soon.
