Once upon a time, I was little.  My first sewing project (that I remember) was a little pincushion for my mom.  I made it from some stretchy knit scrap fabric and stuffed it with polyfill.  If squished, the pins would go straight through and poke the fingers on the other side.  Completely impractical.

Being a good mom--the type that treasures the weird and random things her children make her--my mom was using that pincushion right up to the day I gave her this one for Christmas.

Much more practical, but pretty enormous.  I'd seen the pincushion teacups, but when I saw this pretty little bowl at Target, I knew it would look great with this fabric stuffed inside.  Viola, pincushion in a bowl.  Fingers are spared.

Isn't she adorable? My mom made her for the Two Year Old, who absolutely loves baby dolls.  She came with an extra diaper, which was a huge hit.

Are you overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of it? (Too many viewings of Kung Fu Panda...)  She did it sans pattern! Amazing.

She even made matching PJ's for the real live Baby Doll. Love it!

I made these Patchwork Placemats for my sister-in-law. They're intended to be a set of breakfast placemats, so I chose this bright fabric I thought would be the perfect start to any day. The stripes and polka dots are Moda Swell, the flowers are Ginger Blossom. I bought them both off Etsy a while back, you might remember my excitement.  

I used the tutorial from Wink Designs (find it here) for the placemats. It was great--very easy to follow.  I skipped the quilting I was supposed to do on one section, because I've never actually quilted before and didn't have time to experiment.  Next time, though, I'm planning to give that a try.

I included a jar of oatmeal topping using the recipe from Martha (that's her picture, because I forgot to photograph mine). I left out the honey because it apparently required the mix to be refrigerated, which I couldn't deal with.  Do you just store the wrapped gift in the fridge until Christmas? I couldn't wrap my head around it, so I mixed up the fruit and nuts, packaged it in a cute reusable cannister, and called it a day.

Also included in my set was a big cannister of brown sugar cinnamon oatmeal, which I mixed together myself. I topped both cannisters with printed labels and wrapped everything together.

Viola. Breakfast in a box.