Oriental Tote Bag finished - another UFO hits the dust!!

I spent the day sewing the tote bag with the front and back panels from the SouthernCrossCrazies Tone-on-Tone Round Robin.  This bag is for a Chinese/Malay workmate called Debbie who loves the bright colours that I used in the two panels.  My thanks go to the girls who worked on the RR - they all did a fantastic job.  Debbie wanted a bag with short handles that could also convert to a shoulder strap........here are the photos of the finished bag.

Debbie's tote bag FRONT view

The BACK view

The bag with the shoulder strap out and the little handles tucked away.

Christmas Tree

Having chatted in the Worldwidecrazyquilters chat room this morning - well, after having worked out to post messages, LOL, the girls were talking about crazy quilted Christmas tree skirts.  I said mine would have to be huge to cover the base of the tree but actually the base of the tree is only about two feet across so it wouldn't have to be more than 3 ft across at the most.  I said I would post pictures of the tree - here they are......the tree is actually 7ft tall to the very tip of the top although it doesn't look it here.  The grandkids decorated the bottom of the tree with unbreakable ornaments then DH and I did the top half with glass and crystal ones.  The reason the tree is outside under the patio (remember it would be very, very unusual if it rained here in Perth over Christmas) is that it takes up so much floor space inside.  The tree measures about 8ft across the bottom branches. So, how big should I make the wedges for the Christmas tree skirt???

Southern Cross Crazies Christmas Pressie swap completed.

I agreed to swap with three other members of Southern Cross Crazies and always had in mindusing  some special patchwork fabric that I bought during a holiday in Linlithgow, Scotland, last year. I bought two strips of fabric, each strip was made up of twelve 3 inch square pictures with Christmas themes.  The strip that I used was traditional Christmas images while the other strip was "antiqued cream/beige" background with red-work Christmas pictures.
Each swap partner will receive a fat pincushion with a matching needlecase.  Both have hanging tags so they can be used as Christmas ornaments and then once the festive season is over, they can be used as functional items.  I am always on the look-out for ways to conserve space in my studio so I made these pairs of items so they can be hung from a hook...........the needlecase hanging from the pincushion which hangs from a hook on the wall.  Alternatively, they can be hung from drawer handles......whatever the ladies wish.

One pair of Christmas ornaments cum sewing items. I hope the girls like my pressie when it arives.

Sorry about the angle girls, these were on the wall and I, being  height challenged was underneath  with the camera pointing upwards.

These are the three sets of pincushions and needlecases.  The sun really picked up the gold thread in this photo.

My big achievement is that they are finished well before time so I can now move on to my next project - a UFO - finishing the hot pink and black tote bag for Debbie at work.