Neighbor Gifts

Neighbor gifting is not my forte.  I'm not a baker,  but I have a hard time thinking of things other than food.  I had seen a shirt with this Alabama silhouette and the words "sweet home" superimposed on it and I thought, "that's totally do-able".  Then I remembered a stack of flour sack dishcloths from last Christmas that never got given out because I couldn't think of anything to put on them,  and a neighbor gift was born.

Of course I realize this particular pattern is only helpful if you actually live in Alabama, but my Mamabyrd friend gifted me a dishtowel with fabric appliqué on it a few years ago, and my Kari friend made one with embroidery.  I still use both of them all the time, so if you're short on ideas, grab a stack of dishtowels and let the creativity loose.  Stenciling seemed easier than both the appliqué and embroidery, but still a useful gift, I hope.

(I traced a silhouette of Alabama onto freezer paper.  Next, I cut out the relief image, being sure to leave wide edges to catch the paint. Iron the freezer paper stencil onto the dish cloth.  I used stickers I already had to leave the words white, but you could also stencil the words on after it dries.)

I thought I'd wrap up a loaf of crusty no-knead bread (it's the one thing I can actually bake) inside the towel.  Dean doesn't understand the stress relief when I actually pull off the yearly neighbor gift, but it really is good to check it off my list and move on to the rest of my Holiday to-do's.

What are your favorite neighbor gift ideas?