Vacation

 I love these women!  Love doing life with them.  We counted and this was our 17th vacation together.  So much fun.

   It was our first time vacationing on Whidbey Island. The house we rented was right smack dab on the beach.  Gorgeous views.

The weather was amazing. A lot of time was spent on the deck soaking in the sunshine.

I didn't really get much sewing done this year.  I was thinking I'd do tons without the puppy around but....girlfriend fun is just as distracting!   :)

I had hoped to finish up the Norway quilt but I only managed to get a few blocks done. I still have two left to do.  

We often do a group project.  This year we all made a Simple Little Pouch from Bloomin' Workshop. Its a decent sized pouch - 12 inches long.  

Thanking God every day for the love of good friends!  Couldn't imagine life without them.

A bag and a pouch

 I made a little zip bag as a sample for the shop where I work, Quilted Strait.

Its called The Runaround Bag by Lazy Girl Designs.

This was the easiest zip bag I've ever made.  It has a lining but  the seams are exposed rather than in-between the lining and outer fabric.  This would be a good beginner bag to make.  Or as gifts since they are super fast!

For the cat mini swap I just did, I made a Two in One Pouch by s.o.t.a.k handmade for my partner. This was also a pretty fast pouch.  Lined with hidden seams....my favorite way! Construction was different than I've done before but completely easy to do.  Her pattern was thorough with lots of pictures.  

This is the pouch opened up. 

And folded over. 

The construction method allowed me to use 4 different scraps for the lining.  So fun!

I will definitely be making more of these.   :)

Perfect Zip Bag

I embroidered the October girl from Sarah Jane Studios (Her Month by Month patterns) for my daughter and decided to make it into a zippered pouch for Christmas.

I like to do simpler outline embroidery.

I wanted the embroidery to be the main focus so I only added a little bit of patchwork.  

And just a litte band of patchwork on the back.  Gotta have patchwork! 

I used Elizabeth Hartman's "Perfect Zip Bag" pattern as its my favorite go to pattern for zippered pouches.  I've made several now and can get them done quickly. 

So fun to make!

Secret Santa Pouches

I never did share here a fun project we did at work for Christmas.  We had a Secret Santa type pouch exchange. It was so much fun!  

This is a great pic of our wonderful Pink Chalk Team!   Kathy Mack, the fabulous owner of Pink Chalk, is on the right hand side in the green sweater. 

Here are all the pouches that were made:

I made the one in the back with the embroidered girl on it.  

The pouch pattern is "The Essential Wristlet" by Dog Under My Desk.  It was pretty easy to make. Lots of pictures for those of us who love them!   :)

 I got the girl design from the book "Embroidery pour la Maison" by Sylvie Blondeau.   Such a cute little book.  I stitched her on Essex Linen White with regular DMC embroidery floss.

And I added some big stitch quilting in the circles with Perle Cotton. Love doing that.

A peek at the inside.  

I sure do love my job!  

Fabulous Little Random Things

Round two of the Fabulous Little Random Things Swap (FLiRTS) is over and now that my partner, Susan, has received her gifts (and loved them....phew!) I can show you what I made.

One of the items on my partners list was a fabric basket and round if possible.....and that's the one I chose to make.  Purple is her favorite color.

So tada:

Pink Chalk carries this great pattern called the Special Occasion Gift Tote by Sew Fun.  It was easy to follow and easy to make.  I'll be making another some day.

It's a nice size and has these dividers all around the inside.  I left half as dividers and the other half I made pockets.

In the swap we only need to make one item on the list (we list 5 things) but when I saw this zombie zippered pouch on Happy Sew Lucky blog I knew I had to make one!  My partner also listed a zippered pouch for a first aid kit and she has wonderful sense of humor....so I knew she'd love him as an extra.

Aren't his insides hysterical?   Oh how I wish I could have found some zombie band aids to put inside!

I also had chosen a fabric basket on my list of 5 things.   The wonderful gal who had me made this incredible basket for my collection of Perle cotton threads.  I was in love with it the minute I saw it in the Flickr pool.  

Sil does amazing paper piecing. I am always so impressed with the blocks she makes!   Can you see the cute spool quilting she did?  Love it.  Everything about this basket is perfect.  

Can't wait for the next round of swapping!   :)

Hedgie Pouch

I just finished my pouch for the current round of the Pretty Little Pouch Swap.  

This is one side:

Isn't that hedgehog adorable?  I love him!   I used the Penguin & Fish pattern for the embroidery that I got here.  I love the instant gratification of downloadable patterns.   I stitched with Perle cotton onto Kona Essex Linen.  More love!    I used Elizabeth Hartman's "Perfect Zip Bag" pattern...also a downloadable and also bought from Pink Chalk.

Here's the other side:

Did a wee bit of paper piecing and some fussy cutting.

My partners inspiration mosaic was all aqua's and red's.....and she said she liked polka dots.......she should like the fabric choices.  :)

I'm mailing it off tomorrow.  Can't wait to hear what she thinks of it.  

Pretty Little Pouch

I'm in a swap called Pretty Little Pouch. I've been waiting and waiting for this group to start another round so I could join in the fun and they finally did.  When you have a minute...or 30....go check out the Flickr group cuz there are some really wonderful pouches that are being made. I am constantly inspired by the work.

Anyhoo.  Its another blind swap where you don't know who has you. I love swapping like this...love the stalking and figuring out part almost as much as I do the making.   Based on things I found out about my partner I created this cute little number!

On one side I embroidered a scene that I drew out based on the Japanese fabric I used on the bottom.  I embroidered on Essex linen....love that fabric!

On the other side I made a patchwork strip with itty bitty squares and added some straight line stitching with Perle cotton.

I added a pocket to the inside that is also doubling as a label.  That heart isn't appliqued on...I edited it over my partners name just in case she peeks at my blog.  

I used Elizabeth Hartman's "Perfect Zip Bag" pattern.  I've used it several times before...such a great pattern.

Tablet Sleeve Finished

I finally finished  the sleeve I cut out for my hubby's tablet.  I used Faith from Fresh Lemon's tutorial.  Its a really well written tutorial and the sleeve went together easily.  My only problem was *my* problem of not being good at sewing openings closed in a pretty fashion.  Sigh.  

I used Etsuko Furuya's Mini Car fabric for the front....I LOVE that fabric!  And then I used some Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket for the pocket interior.  Cute.  

Happy tablet in his new cushy home.

Pouches

I'm finally getting around to showing the other gifts I made this year -- Pouches!   I had so much fun with these.  I actually made another one but didn't get a picture of it. I actually didn't get any pictures!  I'm using these images that were taken at work for a blog post they did (we all made pouches).    We used Elizabeth Hartman's' "Perfect Zip Bag" pattern.  Her patterns are excellent.  I liked her method for putting in the zipper.  I created my own patchwork and added personal touches inspired by each of my friends.   

This is the back of  the air stream one.  So cute. 

I got those zipper pulls and the zippers from Zipit Etsy shop.  

And this is the back of the one with the glasses.  Those are one inch squares.

Such a fun project with so many uses.

Little Pouch

I made this little zippered pouch today as a thank you gift.  Its a pattern from Keyka Lou Patterns.  It was an easy pattern to follow and turned out pretty cute.  I did so much better on the zipper this time. Practice is definitely helping.  :)

Fully lined.  And see that cute zipper pull?  I got it from Zipit...a fun Etsy store.

Crochet Hook Holder

Now that Christmas is over I can share some of the things I made.  For my daughter I crocheted a lovely lace scarf....but forgot to take pics!   Oops.   But I did remember to take pics of the crochet hook holder I made her.  I used the Pencil Roll pattern by Kathy Mack and adapted it a teeny bit for the hooks (just made it shorter in height).   Easy and fun.....just like I like.

Here it is all rolled up:

This is the outside of it...such cute fabric:

This is the inside with the flap down....covering the hooks:

This is it all opened up...I left room for her to add more hooks:

I think this pattern works well for any straight items.  And its easy to adjust the height and width if needed.   It sewed up pretty fast so would be a great pattern to have on hand for a quick gift. 

Gathered Clutch

I sewed this clutch yesterday at Yaya day.   Directions are at this blog and looked really good and thorough. There were lots of pictures so I felt safe in trying it.   Unfortunately sewing experience is assumed in the tutorial.  Some times the pictures didn't match the text and I didn't know which to follow and some times the directions didn't make sense.  Thanks to my uber experienced Yaya Melissa!   She knew exactly what the gal wanted and I was able to make the clutch....which is so cute.   Now that I've made one, I feel confident in making more....which I'm definitely gonna do!   :)