Hi First name / friend!

 

Happy Holidays from the Charm Pack! This week we’ve compiled some of our favorite things for gift-giving season. We’ve divided our picks into three categories: Quick Makes, Gifts for Quilters and Sewists, and Random Nice Things. With less than two weeks before Christmas, we hope some of these ideas will give you some inspiration for delightful, last-minute gifts. 

Alexia loves Suzy Quilts’ Cloth Napkin tutorial because it shows how to glue-baste the napkins and complete a mitered corner.

 

Folded fabric star ornaments are quick and great scrap-busters.

 

If you have access to a 3D printer, you can make an insert for Danish Butter Cookie tins to convert them into a (more organized) notions holder! If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can buy the inserts from someone who does. 

Recipes! We love to give neighbors and coworkers some treats for the holidays. Alexia says these Amaretti are so easy and delicious. Kim is going to make homemade granola and package it up in cute jars. Her neighbors growing up always brought over a ready to bake breakfast casserole on Christmas morning, so of course they were her favorite neighbors.

Shameless plugs! Rashida has a tutorial for the cutest coin purse that opens up into a tiny tray. This got us all walking down blog memory lane. Rashida once posted a pattern with Melody for this cutie Cutie Bag, which would make a sweet gift bag for little things.

Alexia recommends her Sixteen Patch Heirloom Quilt and Garden Moon (free) patterns as her fastest quilts to make.

 

Our friends at Sewtopia also have a (free) pattern for a Bear Paw quilt using our Projects with Purpose Panel!

Kim’s quilty scarf from Verloop got a lot of love at Quiltcon … and they’re back in stock!

Simplicity has reissued their electric Bias Tape Maker and Kim says it’s quite addictive. And you’ll want Stitch Supply Co.’s Quilt Binding Spools to store all that lovely binding … and while you’re there, add several Sewing Sticker Tins to cart too!

We think quality notions that last a lifetime are the best value and make sewing time all the more special. Rashida loves these cherrywood quilter’s clappers and these gorgeous Shozaburo Thread Snips. Alexia says that these dressmaking shears are pricey but are the best scissors she has ever used. She has had her 230mm pair for around 15 years and they are still just perfect. 

We also love to work smarter not harder! Alexia recommends this desktop trash can which is easy to fit next to your sewing machine. For pin and needle management, the RSS studio favors Gertie’s pincushion bracelets, and Kim uses the power of magnets, including Cocoknits’ Makers Keep slap bracelet pincushion and a simple telescoping magnet from the hardware store meant for picking up nails.

Sarah just put in a FeltRight wall panel in her studio and is in love, as they make an amazing design wall!  Enjoy 10% off with her referral code SWATTS10. 

Give the embroiderer in your life Lecien’s 100 Ladies Embroidery Cloth from Brooklyn Haberdashery. We love the idea of slow stitching and incremental projects like this - also check out the new book 365 Days of Stitches: How to Create a Personal Embroidery Journal by Steph Arnold.

Shameless Plugs! For the new or aspiring sewer, give Alexia’s sewing kit. Rashida has a few of her gorgeous handmade pincushions left from her November drop. Kim’s Sugar Cone zipper pulls and Strawberry earrings would make a great stocking stuffers!

 

Did you catch Alexia’s free pattern she shared here in October? Pair this jelly roll with the pattern for an instant kit.

This section is a virtual RSS holiday white elephant exchange! Recurring themes are tea, skin care, beautiful miscellany, great books, and weird things. 

Rashida always finds the most beautiful things, like this Kyowa Rubber Band set, Cat Face Ceramic Dishes, and the Tokoname Stone Diffuser Holiday Gift Set.

Take it from Alexia: Mariage Frères tea is the best ever! She loves the Vanille des Iles and Earl Grey Paris blended together along with steamed milk to make a London Fog. And she loves this strainer to go with it.

 

Sarah on the other hand is team coffee! She's loving this 5 Bag Sample Pack from Bones Coffee. 

Melody is our skin care guru. She recommends The Ordinary’s Marine Hyaluronics, Laneige Lip Mask, and Kosas Lip Fuel. 

Kim can’t help but lean novelty in the white elephant exchange. Her contributions might include a clever T-shirt or silly patch, a Golden Girls Magnet Set, and anything in one of Baggu’s latest prints.  While Sarah loves to gift this pretty jewelry from Cameoko. 

Melody and Rashida's favorite holiday candle from Brick and Mortar smells JUST like a Christmas tree!

 

Speaking of warm and cozy, how about some yummy Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles that Sarah loves from Mila!

Riso! We are all in love with Riso printing. PoliteCo Press’s 2024 Calendar will hang in the RSS Studio next year. Yellow Owl Workshop’s Riso Prints are a perennial favorite (along with everything else she does!) Bromstad Printing Co. is local to Atlanta - check out their cards and their Orange Cat in a Bowl print! We can never decide which We Are Out of Office print to pick.

Books! Here are some of the books we loved this year and will be giving to others this season. 

 

Rashida: Black Women Writers at Work.

Alexia: Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh.

Kim: Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper. Melody: Any of Kate Baer’s poetry books.

We hope that we helped you find something here for a loved one or even for you!  We are wishing you all a joyous and wonderful hoilday season!