Thursday Think Tank - Gifts for Tweens, Teens and Twenties

 

When Rebecca Lynne, from Making Rebecca Lynne asked me to host one of the Holiday Editions of the Thursday Think Tank she asked me what I could write about that had to do with the holidays. I said I was trying to think up gifts for the many young people on my list and so this topic was born. I am going to give you some of my ideas for the quilter/sewer who wants to give a gift that will be loved and appreciated, but wants to have fun sewing it, not shopping.

Quilts

I have to say that all of the quilts I have given to people who are 11 - 29 have been received with great joy and continue to be well loved. And although is it not long until the holidays, there is actually time to make a quilt if you want to and don't yet have one on the go. Quick quilt ideas start with making a lap size quilt, not a full bed size. Then consider an easy pattern. A couple of my favourites is a pattern of simple stripes or large squares - or use a stack of bee blocks just sitting on your shelf waiting for you. You might want to make the Jelly Roll Race quilt - a great video for doing that is here:

Cases and covers



It seems that all young people now have several electronic devices that they use and actually value sufficiently to want to take care of them. So cases and covers for cell phones, ipads, computers, small, portable game machines, kindles, hobos, other readers, netbooks, the list goes on and on.

A simple cover can be made from a front and inside fabric with some quilt batting/wadding sandwiched in between. You can can add hand or machine quilting, piece it, use an orphan quilt block and if you like, use flannel, polar fleece or felt for extra protection for the electronic item on the inside. Simple cases can close with a button, a zipper, velcro, snaps, ties, or whatever you like. There are many patterns and tutorials for such cases, check out the Sew Mama Sew blog over this last month if you are looking for start on excellent tutorials.

Zipper pouches and cases



Zippered pouches of all kinds deserve special consideration as they are perfect for electronics and also for make up, trading cards, art supplies, school supplies, or collections of all kinds. Debbie at A Quilter's Table posted a tutorial for the triple zipper pouch here. It would be perfect for a game machine, games, charger cord, stylus and earbuds. If you were to use some Japanese style fabrics for a teenager or a tween I am pretty sure they would love it. There are many tutorials for other styles of zippered pouches available too.

Bags



A tote bag of any sort will also be used by many (although not all, at least in my experience) tweens, teens and twenties. I think you need to gauge their taste carefully and consider what you put on the outside. It could be modern, but also consider applique of a favourite logo or character they love from a movie, game, video or book, or maybe more Japanese fabric. If you put another gift in the bag - a new electronic device, video game or movie, fantastic new running shoes or a cute new piece of clothing - you also can use the bag for a lesson in environmental stewardship. A tutorial for my bag is here, and there are hundreds of other excellent tutorials available.

Gifts for the apartment

 

If you are luck enough to be gifting to twenties who have actually vacated your family home, remember that they are just beginning to fill their homes with lovely and useful items. A set of hot pads/oven mits might also ease your worries about their kitchen skills and are almost always needed. You could put them in a tote bag, along with useful kitchen dishes, interesting food or a recipe book. I don't have a pattern for this set, I just made them up as I went, but again, a quick google search or two will lead you to many tutorials and patterns.

As you start to think about holiday gifts, you will have many more inspired ideas. Feel free to share all your ideas at the Think Tank.

 

This post is part of the Holiday Edition of the Thursday Think Tank. You can link up a post about anything you have been thinking about, it does not have to be about the holidays or gifts. And you can link up more than once, as the blog hop continues, for a chance to win. Also, do follow the links to see what interesting thoughts are being shared.

You can find the Holiday Edition of the Thursday Think Tank here:

1. November 1 - Making Rebecca Lynne DIY Christmas Cards

2. November 8 - Piecemeal Quilts Thanksgiving Etiquette (when you are lucky enough to be a guest!)

3. November 15 - Canadian Abroad Holiday Decor
4. November 22 - Seriously...I Think it Needs Stitches & MRL free pillow cover pattern

5. November 29 - She Can Quilt Gifts for Tweens/Teens/Twenties

6. December 6 - Missy Mac Creations Christmas Gifts for Kids from Kids

7. December 13 - Rainbow Hare Quilts Wrapping it Up
8. December 20 - YOU!  DIY Christmas Party Link Up

Prizes?  

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 5 & Some MRL Stash

WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR THINK TANK THIS WEEK?  

HERE ARE THE RULES! 

1. Link up any post from the past week that features some creative thinking going on in your creative world.   It can be anything, quilting, home improvement, fashion, crafting, DIY gifts, cooking...whatever you have recently thought "hmmm, you know what I should create" is perfectly appropriate for the Think Tank.  TTT is all about whatever you are currently brainstorming and would like feedback or encouragement on!
2. Somewhere in your post, link back here to my blog. (Or grab the T.T.T. button for your sidebar.)
3. Comment on at least a few of the other links—because what fun is a linky party without comments?

Best,

Leanne

This and that, let's think a bit

On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy - the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, hit land in New Jersey, and proceded to bring destruction to a highly populated areas of the USA. This hurricane's progress mesmerized me, friends and family in the eastern part of Canada were in its path, although it was expected to do less damage by the time it hit Canada.

A quilter - Jennifer from Knotted Thread - put out a call for quilt blocks and set up a flickr group - she had family and friends who were seriously affected and wanted to bring them a quilt. Well, the response - from around the world - was overwhelming and fast, check out discussions in the flickr group. Those are the blocks I sent. Today Jennifer posted some finished quilt tops. The generosity of quilters the world wide is amazing.

There are loads of ways to help more families affected by Hurricane Sandy. I think the fastest way to connect is to read Victoria at Bumblebeans's post here and look around her blog a bit, she has posted a number of other organizations who will get quilts to families in need.



This is going to be a post of a bunch of somewhat random thoughts. That block above is called Diamond Ripples, from the Modern Blocks book, page 46 designed by Lara Finlayson and Toni asked for it in the Modern Blocks Bee. So I was wondering how that bit in the bottom corner was going to work in a quilt.



Well, one can make a mosaic with your one block and see. I used the mosaic maker at Blue Huge Labs and set the space between the images to zero. Clearly Toni will have a wonderful quilt, one I was just not able to picture in my head at all.



That block is for Marci in the Always Bee Learning Bee, it was designed by Malka Dubrawsky and is in her Fresh Quilts book. It is all Y seams, that was the learning part. Y seams are not hard at all, I think quilters need to totally stop worrying about them. If you want to see a tutorial about how to sew Y seams, Katie at From the Blue Chair just posted one today here, and she has a clever idea about how to mark the starting point too - she was sewing hexagons but a Y seam is a Y seam in the end and the technique is the same on any one of them.



Before I ramble on about blogging, that is my first triple zipper pouch, made with Debbie from A Quilter's Table's tutorial here. I am going to make another tonight for my Scrappy Swap partner, this one has a few things I would like to do better. But seriously, 3 working zippers and pockets in one pouch. Christmas is coming, gifts are needed, just saying. I will show you some more pictures as I go.

Do you get a lot of anonymous comments on your blog, and then a lot of emails about those comments? They are annoying and often try to sell me pharmaceuticals. In Blogger I went to the Design page, then to Settings, to Posts and Comments and then under the topic "who can comment" I changed it from "anyone" to "registered users". I believe that still lets most or all of the real people comment, but if you no longer can email me at shecanquilt [at] gmail.com (use the @ symbol). The anonymous comments are gone, totally gone. I highly recommend this change, it was actually Susan's suggestion and it works.



And while you are there, in Settings, go to Other, and at the top you should see blog tools. Export a copy of your blog to your computer or a usb stick or drive. Then you will have a blog back up. Lately folks have made mistakes, had computer issues, etc. It takes a few seconds and then you are set. I am going to try to do it every month, as I do my monthly recap, and you should too.



Today my friend Susan at Canadian Abroad is hosting the Thursday Think Tank which is Rebecca's regular link at Making Rebecca Lynne. If you have been doing some thinking, on any thing - it does not have to be about the holidays - you can link that post, and then visit some others too. To visit the others, at least right now on Susan's blog, you need to click the "trouble linking up, try here" button and you will then see and can follow links of the folks who have linked. It would be fun if a lot of folks were to link a thinking post at Susan's and visit the others, pretty much every post has some thinking in it, especially if you are quilting.

Do back up your blog, and give some thought to backing up your computer too. 

Best,

Leanne

The thing about Bees

When you participate in an on-line quilting bee, eventually it will be your month to be the queen bee and you get to ask everyone to make you blocks.

The thing about that is that you need to plan a quilt. So you need to decide what block you want. And then you need to decide what fabrics to send. And cut them, package them and mail them off. For me, that is not as easy as it sounds, and I hum and haw and change my mind several times.



November is my month in the Always Bee Learning bee. This is a really talented group of quilters who have set up this bee specifically to be challenged with new techniques and ideas, and they are all up for most anything. Those of you who have visited here before will not be surprised to learn that I decided to ask them to do some improv blocks.

I decided it was time to use some of my favourite fabrics. I decided to cut big chunks of two fabrics for each person because I wanted there to be enough fabric in the package for people to play and make mistakes without worry about running short. I have picked asterisk and plus blocks of any size - I think that the different size and kinds of blocks will add interest to the quilt.



I made a flickr gallery of some quilts made with these kind of blocks here, the quilts are always so interesting.

Tonight I took one of the bundles and played. These blocks are really fun to make. There are no rules, just start with a square or rectangle, cut it, add a strip of any size, press, cut again, add again. You can stop at a plus or carry on to make an asterisk.



Tomorrow, if the snow stops - it has been a bit of a storm today - I will address all the envelops and mail all those bundles. I am already late in making all these decisions and sending the fabric out - luckily the group does not mind. Now I can't wait to see the blocks that come back, and I am glad to be done with all this planning and deciding.

I am going to link this post to the Thursday Think Tank, which is being guest hosted this week by Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts who will be sharing ideas for Thanksgiving etiquette. By the way, I get to be one of the guest hosts for the holiday season of the Thursday Think Tank - my day is November 29 and I will be sharing some ideas for gifts for tweens, teens and twenties.


You can link up any post this week which contains some creative thinking, and also check out the ideas  everyone else shares too.

Best,

Leanne