Spot the theme

Time for an uber-quick show and tell. Often I try and give hand-made gifts for my friends' birthday and Christmas presents. This is partly because I am perennially skint, but mainly because it means I can give them something unique and special that has taken time to create, rather than quickly grabbed from a shop. By and large (I hope!) my friends are the type of people who value this. Whilst I am making someone a gift I usually send most of that time thinking about them, subsequently I think that the thing I have made them is often more of an expression of friendship.

This bag I created for my friend Umi's birthday no exception:

It is made from some African wax-print fabric brought back by my friend Lee and his boyfriend from their recent African expedition. I developed this bag pattern years ago and have made it countless times. I always get excited when making this bag for the first time in a new fabric.

Umi liked the bag (unless she was just being polite). Never one to avoid a theme, this is wax-print fabric oven glove I made her for Christmas:

I know she definately liked that gift as she has commissioned me to make her a matching one!