I'm bewitched by this beautiful song

The singer, Heather Masse, has done an extraordinary job - her singing brought tears to my eyes.

Suddenly: Quillow

Love the word quillow. Also loved making it, particularly because it was so easy. It feels really good sometimes to make a project that consists of trusted designs and techniques.
And here it is, my Schwiegerfreund's Christmas gift. Schwiegerfreund? Not exactly a word, but also a little fun.

Numbers for the stocking exchange, or math is good

We had a little puzzle - how to give out and pull numbers for the stocking exchange and the raffle?
At first I'd made some cute little BFQ numbers on paper, but when I realized that we also needed something for the raffle, I wanted to find a way to make it easier. Click here to hear how easy it was.
DH couldn't resist jumping into the question and well, and he gets the credit for this idea.

See picture of one raffle ticket.

I had 2 bags for the drawings.
We tore off tickets from the roll in the following sets of 3:
xxxx1-2-3
xxxx4-5-6
xxxx7-8-9

The highest numbers we marked with an S for Stocking, the middle ones got a red stripe because those went into the red bag.
When a person signed in, if they brought a stocking, I dropped the S ticket in the stocking bag, the red one (= BFQ member) in the red bag, and gave them the blank ticket.
When the drawing came, I only had to subtract 1 or 2 from the number I pulled to get the ticket that the member had.
It worked pretty well, I made one error along the way (Sabine) but that was the worst. The best part about these numbers was no one knew when their number would be called, which kept the excitement high.

If someone wants to do it next year, we'll only need two tickets, since there won't be a raffle.
Pretty nifty, huh? And I got to use arithmetic during the meeting. Enhanced by wine. :)

Even more

This time I tried it using Decovil and plastic I have around the house.
That's not a pincushion, by the way. It's a gift for DD's boyfriend.
When he finishes giving a horse acupuncture, he pulls the needle out and simply drops it in his pocket.
This little guy will give him a place to put the needles until he gets a chance to dispose of them properly. I even deliberately tilted the pincushion part to be ergonomic with his fingers.
The kit that Clover sells has many advantages compared to the tutorials I've read on the internets. If you google terms like thimble keeper, or clamshell case, you'll find tutorials that call for using the lids of yougurt cups or tubs of butter. These materials are significantly flimsier than the Clover product. Also, the ones I've seen call for just one layer, while Clover has 2 layers for each of the three pieces.
Here's how I made my case. You can just make 3 pieces, and you'll have a clamshell case.

1. You need two leaf shape templates - one for the outside, and a slightly smaller one (about 1/4 inch smaller total) for the inside
2. Take a piece of sturdy but flexible Decovil and cut out the larger shapes
3. Take a piece of plastic (template plastic or yogurt cups are ok here) and cut out the smaller shapes
4. Cut out a piece of thin batting for each inner and outer piece
5. Glue the batting to each piece, trimming the batting to match the piece exactly
6. Cut out fabric for each piece, leaving a half inch seam allowance
7. Lay the piece on the fabric, batting on the back side of the fabric
8. Take large stitches in the seam allowance as if you were making a yo-yo. Pull the thread tight to smoothly cover the plastic/Decovil
9. Take large stitches criss-crossing the plastic to make sure the fabric is smooth
10. Stitch an outside piece to an inside piece, using a ladder stitch to go completely around the piece
11. Stitch one edge of two pieces together, reinforcing the stitching at the corners. If you add a 3rd piece to make a clamshell case, take a few stitches up the side with the opening for reinforcement