Gifts for a Friend: UK Edition

I have a friend who likes all things London/UK. So when I find fabric that fits the bill, I grab it and then (try to) come up with something to make her.

Thankfully she's the kind of friend who asks for things she wants, so a while ago when she asked me to make her a grocery bag holder, I knew exactly what fabric to dig out.

I bought this fabric when I was visiting another friend in the UK, and I hadn't yet come up with what I wanted to make for her out of it.

A grocery bag holder is a very practical thing, and also super easy to make.

Her next request was for a double oven mitt. I had just enough fabric left to fulfill this request. I used a tutorial provided by the Crafty Gemini:

First I auditioned fabrics for the ends and the binding.

I ended up deciding to keep it uniform - it showed off the fabric better.

I also ended up using some biased binding that I had bought a few years ago at the thrift store. I also had basically exactly the right amount of thermal insulation for this project.

Finally, I found this panel in the clearance section at the fabric store this past year, and knew I needed to get it for her. 

I spent some time thinking about what I might do with it, but I wasn't coming up with any great ideas, plus the sashing didn't seem to lend itself to being cut apart and sewn back together.

Instead, I kept it together as a single panel and just quilted it.

I machine quilted it with my walking foot, following the diagonal lines in the Union Jacks, but switching direction in the middle. This made v-shapes along the edges and a diamond in the middle

I varied the width between the lines, which were fairly close together and it ended up being a lot of quilting (went through a couple small spools - thankfully the store had 1 spool of the colour I needed when I got there, though it took a while to find).

I thought she could use it as a table runner, a couch runner, or a lap blanket, depending on how she was feeling.

And so ends the recap of some of the UK-themed gifts I've made for my friend over the last few years (there have been more gifts, but I didn't have easily accessed photos of them).