Non-quilting Day

The baby shower is this afternoon down in LA, which is a 2/3 hour drive there and back again, so about 6 hours of travel time. 

The fabric bucket has tissue paper tucked in and it looks sweet as a gift. I am not sure I would make another one of these because its pretty time intensive. Of course, the original pattern didn't say to make it this big. I think I went a little crazy using old algebra skills. Luckily, I did have the leftover blocks to use, plus enough leftover fabric for the binding. It was a nice 'stash-buster' project. I do like how it turned out and was also glad to use that odd fabric for the lining on the sides.

I bought some holiday boxes and wrapping paper for the gifts I plan to send back to MN/WI for family. We do have a Dollar Tree store in town, so getting these boxes for a $1 just adds to their charm. I also bought wrapping paper, some stuff for package decor. 
Thing is, I might not be physically with them for the holidays, but can make their gifts look special.

The other thing I did was to shift my 'swap' shelves from Hallows and Thanksgiving to Winter Solstice. While many people complain that stores start the seasons too early,  because I need to plan ahead to ship on time, I NEED to start now if I am going to budget, remember everyone on my list and get things going. I need to send a lot of things out Thanksgiving weekend or that first week in December for my family to receive them in time to set under their trees. 

Yes, that is an empty tissue box. Kleenix is making them in such great colors that it seems a waste to toss them. I take off the plastic opening and use them to stand up all sorts of things. This is my second one from the fall collection. I like having places to store those little small things.