Originally Posted by
rryder
Rose-I love the quilting on your bordered bargello! Nice finish!
I’m working on a November finish—just needs binding, and have another couple of smallish things that may get done if I can get Caught up on Christmas gifts— for some reason this year I’m having a hard time coming up with presents for some barn friends that we always exchange something handmade.... in the past from me they’ve gotten 1. jewelry with pics of their horses, 2.crocheted neck collars with fancy Celtic horse buttons, 3.candle wreaths made with horse fabric from my stash, 4. Horse themed placemats made with fabric from my stash, etc. I’m out of horse fabric and ideas! I need gifts for 5 people, so they need to be something that I can make 5 of by early December!
Rob
How about napkins with horse heads appliqued on? Could coordinate with the placemats from the earlier occasion. The napkins could be readymade except for the appliques. I haven't checked lately, but World Market used to have a nice array of solid color napkins. Tuesday Morning had some recently. Most likely there are good online sources. A restaurant supply business would be a likely place to look. I am often on the lookout for "blanks" that I can embellish (usually with the embroidery machine), and they're surprisingly hard to find. Everyone sells already embellished or brightly printed napkins and dish towels and such.
A nice gift for a woman is a pretty washcloth tied around a bar of special soap with a ribbon. A washcloth can have an applique in one corner and binding like a quilt or a crocheted edge. Those could start as terry cloth yard goods.
You could buy 5 different boxes of flavored teas and mix and match them and present them in little handmade zipper pouches or just bags tied closed with a ribbon. You might need to get more horse fabric.
