On the 10th day of Christmas...

I have learnt my lesson! I will never again (hold me to this!) offer to make 10 make-up purses on Tuesday to be ready by Friday! As you can see, there are not 10. There are 6. One other is nearly finished but didn't fit together properly (I was not precise enough with my cutting) and the other 3 are still in pieces, abandoned when I realised I was running out of time.

I was talking to my friend Jo, who runs a playgroup with me, about good ideas for Christmas presents for the mums. What do you give to mums with young children that isn't just more candles and chocolate and hand cream? We were feeling very uninspired. So when I read this blog post by Rachel at Stitched in Color about her make-up roll pattern, I fell in love and offered to make 10 and bring them along to our Christmas party.

Rachel's pattern is easy to follow with lots of photos and clear instructions. No complaints there. But what I didn't take into account was all those pockets and tucks and gathers....

So, when on Thursday I was still a LONG way off finishing, I enlisted the help of my friend Sharon who marked out lines and sewed pockets on for me and basically kept me company.

Then, after the kids were in bed, I begged Tim to help snip threads and turn them right way round after they were sewn together. What a kind man I married! We started at 8pm and he stayed up with me till 1, when I was sewing on the last buttons.

`And then Evie, figuring that if we were still up at 1, that there must be a party on, woke up as we were locking up the house and getting ready for bed and didn't go back to sleep till 3!

But here is the fruit of our effort. Aren't they beautiful? And unique? As soon as I finished top-stitching, I was so glad I put in the effort to make something different. And the ladies really loved them. I definitely recommend them as a great handmade Christmas gift. Just maybe not 10. Not this close to Christmas!