What's in Those Gift Bags? - Part 3

This is the third and final installment of "What's in Those Gift Bags," the show and tell of what I made for Christmas.

You may remember I revealed in my mid-December post, Christmas Crunch, that I was braiding pearl cotton to use instead of shoestrings. I can now reveal that the pattern on the left is the reason I wanted shoestrings in uncommon colors.

I found this Quilted Casserole Carriers pattern at Harper's Fabrics in Overland Park, KS while searching for backing fabric for my niece's wedding quilt. I immediately had visions of relatives arriving at a family gathering with warm dishes of food. My main Christmas project was decided. The pattern is by Sew Casual patterns

First, one oblong and one round carrier for my Albuquerque friends. The oblong carrier will hold a 3 to 4 quart oblong casserole or cake pan. The round one will hold a 2 to 2½ quart casserole. The shoestring was to be the drawstring in the center top of the carrier. I'm convinced the pattern designer dyed white shoestrings to get such lovely colors to coordinate with the fabric. The braided pearle cotton works nicely.

Then I made 3 more oblong and 2 more round casserole carriers for various family members. The unfilled carriers don't look as impressive as carriers with a dish inside, but I don't have that many dishes.

I crocheted shopping bags for most of my gift list. The two on the left went to my Albuquerque friends. The red, blue, and yellow multicolored bag is made with Royale Quick Crochet Thread. coatsandclark.com categorizes this as a worsted weight thread.

Below are four bags I made for family members. These and the green and white bag that went to Albuquerque are made with 2 strands of size 10 (bedspread) crochet cotton thread. I have a red and white bag that I made years ago. I frequently take it to Michaels and the staff at Simply Fibers thought it was wonderful on Black Friday.

Lastly, I made a bunch of these mesh produce bags. I ordered 2 of these from a catalog over a decade ago and use them regularly. They're great for fruit and veggies and are easy to carry in my purse. I found the mesh fabric in the Home Decor department at JoAnns.

That's all the handcrafted Christmas gifts. If you've read all the way to the end, leave a comment and let me know. I'm going to go knit on my mom's socks.