Happy Little Pouch Hop: Day 5 - Sara, Cindy, & Jennifer

Good morning! We have some pattern reviews and eye candy for you today!

We’ll start with Sara today, Sara blogs at SewSweetness. She’s one of those bloggers that I’ve been reading almost as long as I’ve been blogging. She lives in my hometown and I’m glad to say that I’ve finally met her in person! Her blog title says it all - she really is sweet! She makes the most amazing purses, and writes patterns and tutorials for them that make them seem so easy. Seriously this lady is talented! She also sews clothes and quilts - as if being awesome at one thing weren’t enough! :)

Sara is reviewing the Noodlehead Gathered Clutch today - so go on over and see what she has to say!

Next we have Cindy who blogs at Adventures of the Singing Quilter. Cindy has been sewing several pouches recently, and she’s a swapper in the Pretty Little Pouch Swap. She’ll be giving us a review of Elizabeth Hartman’s Perfect Zip Bag pattern. I can’t wait to see what she has to say about the pattern! Read it here.

Finally we have the lovely Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts. Jennifer’s work is fun and inspiring. I’m excited to see the pretty pouch eye candy she has to share with us today - since everything she makes is really fabulous! Check it out here.

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Don't forget to start working on your own pouches and add them to the flickr group. All finished pouches can be added to the Week 1 Finishes discussion to be eligible to win our awesome prizes!

Know thy Machine : Post # 30 : Janice, #31 Sonalee, and #32 Carrie

for day 30 of Know thy Machine, we have Janice from Better off Thread. She is a Pennsylvania Dutch girl living on the Left Coast. Modern Quilter, MFA in Costume Design, mommy to six tiny monsters (only 2 are human) and lover of all that is '80's.

Hop over to her blog to read about her sewing machine... 

Then we have Sonalee from Creative Instincts... She's a friend of Shruti's and a IMQG member. She was one of the people who won sewing machines at the Husqvarna Viking meet! I'm looking forward to read what she has to say about her E10!

Hop over to her blog to read about her machine!

and finally we have a very special guest to talk about her very special machine! Carrie from Such Designs

She is one inspirational woman! She's come a long way from splatter painting T-shirts on her back porch at Alabama to designing sewing patterns for her company SUCH Designs LLC. She has a machine I bet EVERY ONE of you would love to own!

Hop over to her blog to see if you like its features and if it is within your limit!

Happy Little Pouch Hop: Day 4 - Lindsey & Michelle

First up is Lindsey from Lindsey Sews. She has a great blog and shares all sorts of fun projects. Beyond all the other projects, be sure to check out her project in Stitch magazine this winter! Wow! That clutch is fabulous! Now on to her post - Lindsey has a tutorial ready for us. Head on over and check it out!

Michelle / I like orange Is a very talented woman. She quilts, and sews purses and pouches. She swaps and even writes patterns! I’ve known Michelle for most of my quilting life - she’s a fellow AMH lover and is great at pulling fabrics together into a beautiful cohesive piece. Many of you have heard me rave about the Pretty Pleats Tote? - Michelle wrote the pattern for it!

Michelle is one of the founding leaders of the Pretty Little Pouch Swap on flickr - so naturally we had to have her on our blog hop! Go check out her pattern review of the Hexiecase by Amy Friend.

Her post is on her Threadbias.com page - since some technical issues have lead to her losing her blog -- peek around Threadbias while you’re there- it’s a really fun site!

***

Don't forget to start working on your own pouches and add them to the flickr group. All finished pouches can be added to the Week 1 Finishes discussion to be eligible to win our awesome prizes!

Oh I'm so nervous!

I finally posted my entry for the QuiltCon Quilt Show. Now the nail-biting begins! I sure hope it gets accepted.... It's my favorite quilt I've ever made! Another great big thanks to Mona for being awesome and agreeing to let me enter it (since it's hers now!). 

Did I mention that I get to meet Mona at QuiltCon? I'm so excited about that - even if my quilt isn't chosen, I'll be pretty happy! 

**A little background - I made this quilt for the last round of the Doll Quilt Swap (round 12), so it was made secretly for Mona, and then sent to her. It's hers now - my best work! :) I'm pretty lucky that in this swap I've made some awesome friends - Mona and I have a lot in common besides quilting too - we both like reading and have swapped some favorite titles. We've been keeping in contact via email.

Happy Little Pouch Hop: Day 3 - Hollie & Katie

Today we have two pattern reviews for you! Maybe they’re for a pattern or tutorial that you've been wanting to try? I’ve had the Noodlehead Open Wide pouch on my list for ages! After having scheduled this post last week - now I've finished my first Open Wide Pouch!

First up we have Hollie from The Undercover Crafter. Hollie’s blog is full of all sorts of fun. She’s an active member of online Do Good Stitches, and she is overall pretty awesome. She recently made a pouch that I think is pretty cute (check it out here). I just love the little details! Hollie has a tutorial review for us head on over to read it.

We also have Katie of Katie’s Korner. Katie is one of those super sweet internet friends that keep my life positive! We’ve been in a bee together for the past two years (Sew Beautiful Bee), and she’s really just a joy! She is going to review the Noodlehead Open Wide Pouch for us today. Go on and check it out!

***

HLPH {Challenge} - Yesterday's challenge for Elaine and I was to make a frame pouch. I am glad to say that I have finally made a frame pouch I'm happy with! I used this tutorial for drafting a pattern, and then winged it! My frame is an 8" x 2" sew-in frame from Joann's. The outside of my pouch is some interesting polyester material that came from a freebie box that someone had brought to our last CMQG meeting! While I love the way this pouch turned out, I don't expect to be making many more of these - I really don't enjoy hand sewing. It took a lot of finger strength to stitch that frame into place, and I somehow managed to break a needle while hand sewing!

Don't forget to start working on your own pouches and add them to the flickr group. All finished pouches can be added to the Week 1 Finishes discussion to be eligible to win our awesome prizes!

Happy Little Pouch Hop {Challenge} - Day 1 Open Wide Pouch

A couple months ago when Elaine and I had just started planning the Happy Little Pouch Hop we were feeling pretty confident and decided to challenge each other... We challenged each other to make one pouch for each weekday of the pouch hop!

So, provided that we manage to actually make a pouch a day - you may be seeing these "Challenge" posts scattered throughout the next two weeks. 

On day one (yesterday) I worked on a "Noodlehead: Open Wide Zippered Pouch." This is the first time I've used the Open Wide tutorial and it was pretty great. I'm thankful for the cutting directions for several sizes (mine is medium sized), as well as the optional cutting directions for the color blocked look. It took the guesswork out of it!

The pouch took me about an hour to make which isn't too bad. I managed to sneak it in while my dear husband took the kid with him to the grocery store! :) 

I definitely see more of these in my future! Also, there's pouch fever going on here - as Elaine and I were talking about these Open Wide pouches on Facebook, my CMQG president Donna dropped everything to make one too! I hope these posts make you feel that way too! (I'll share the link to Donna's as soon as she blogs it!)

I also started working on my Tuesday Challenge yesterday. I knew I'd be pretty busy considering how challenging the frame pouch is. You'll have to stick around to see if I get it finished by the end of the night! 

I hope you're all enjoying the blog hop - don't forget to post your finished pouches to this week's flickr group discussion for a chance to win our weekly prizes! 

Happy Little Pouch Hop: Day 2 - Courtney & Lucy

Today we have two special ladies to introduce for day two of the HLPH!

First up is Courtney of Mon Petit Lyons. Courtney is a stay at home mom to two sweet little boys. She is a quilter and sewer of all things beautiful. She just made a beautiful Weekender that has me jealous! She has a special post scheduled for us today head on over to check it out!

Next we have Lucy of Charm About You. Lucy makes some really adorable things and she’s got a whole list of tutorials posted - I especially enjoyed reading through the “threading” one! Wow! I’m sure you’ll get lost reading her blog  - but first read her Pouch blog post!

***

Don't forget to start working on your own pouches and add them to the flickr group. All finished pouches can be added to the Week 1 Finishes discussion to be eligible to win our awesome prizes!

Know thy Machine : Post # 29 : Melissa

Today's guest is Melissa from Tension Issues

Hop over to her blog to read more about her machine...
  

Happy Little Pouch Hop Day One - PonToms Pouch Tutorial

Welcome to day one of the Happy Little Pouch Hop! To kickoff our pouch hop Elaine and I have both planned a special post for you! We'll be posting the links to our guests blogs each day of the hop so be sure to check in often! The schedule of guests can be found here. Feel free to grab our blog hop button, and post it to your blog if you'd like. We hope you'll be inspired to make some awesome pouches and that you'll share them on our flickr group - there are already some fantastic pouches showing up there! The weekly giveaways will be chosen from the finished pouches that are shared in this discussion thread. 

 Don't forget to check out Elaine's post!

***
Now for the Pontoms Pouch Tutorial!

I've been making box pouches for years, they're quick and satisfying. They most certainly make the best gifts. I like the math behind box pouches, but if you don't love math and need help drop me a line and I'll help you out. If you'd like a totally customized pouch check out this post by my friend Diana, she'll walk you through how to do the math for a box pouch based on the finished pouch dimensions. I refer to this all the time!  

Final Measurements: 2 1/2" x 1" x 1"

Cutting directions: 4" x 2 3/4" (cut two from re-useable bag material**)
                              3" x 5" (quilting cotton - for pull loops)
                           
Additional supplies:
                              5" zipper
                              key ring / clip

**I like to use the re-usable laminate type shopping bags as my cloth for these box pouches. These bags can be found at nearly any store and in all different colors / patterns. I like to buy mine at HomeGoods and Michaels since they carry a variety of pretty patterned bags. They cost about $1 - $3 per bag and if you cut carefully you can source up to two fat quarters worth of material out of each large bag. Here's an example that you can find at Joann's. Alternatively oil cloth can be used.**

(picture of shopping bags)

Prepare the zipper pull loops:

Finished pull loops

Fold 3" x 5" fabric in half the long way and press. Open up and fold the long edges to the center fold and press. Fold in half along the first pressed fold. (Essentially make a strip of binding tape - or use a leftover scrap from another project!)

Top stitch close to the edge on both long sides.

Cut in half, leaving you two pieces that measure about 3/4" x 2 1/2" each.

Fold one piece in half with the raw edges together and baste 1/8" from the raw edge. Repeat with the second piece.

Attach zipper:

Inserting the zipper

(Switch to your zipper foot!)

Sew zipper to the 4" side of one bag piece (right sides together) using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Finger press the seams so they're folded toward the bag piece. Top stitch close to the fold.

Repeat for the other side of the zipper, using the second bag piece.

Assemble the bag:

(Switch to your regular presser foot!)

Fold the bag unit in half, right sides together, with the 4" sides (without zipper) together. Sew down the edge parallel to the zipper using a 1/4" seam allowance. This forms the seam that will be at the bottom of the bag.

Finger press the seam open.

UN ZIP ZIPPER PART WAY! <--- don="don" forget="forget" p="p" t="t" that="that">
Fold bag unit so the pressed open seam is directly on top of the zipper. (finger press the two sides flat)

With the raw edges out, baste the pull loops between the zipper and the bottom seam on each side.

Sew along both sides reinforcing the zipper ends by back stitching over them a few times.

Box the corners:



With the pouch flat, zipper side up, measure and mark a 1/4" square. This square will be measured from the side fold, and the side seam allowance.  (see picture for details, it's not as tricky as it sounds)

Mark all four corners.

Carefully clip and remove the area within those squares.



Pull one corner open at that notch, flatten it in the opposite direction (giving it height, rather than keeping it flat). Carefully sew across that flattened edge using a 1/4" seam allowance. Back stitch at the beginning and the end of the seam.

Repeat for the remaining three sides.

Turn inside out. attach your key ring, and be amazed at the teeny pouch!



(optional last step - put your PonTom's in there!)

Know thy Machine : Post # 28 : Leona

Welcome to the final week of the Know Thy Machine blog hop - we've got a few more exciting guest posts so stick with us! :) 

Today's guest is Leona from Tír na nÓg Studio 

Leona's quilting journey started 5 years ago when she went to local quilt store and was just awestruck with the quilts on the walls and the fabric, especially batik. Within a few days she had a new sewing machine, signed up for a beginners quilt class and her obsession with quilting took off. By the end of the 4 week quilt class she upgraded my sewing machine to one with more bells and whistles and before the first year was over she had her own long arm as she wanted to be able to create quilts from start to finish herself!

Hop over to her blog to read what she has to say about her machine...

Happy Little Pouch Hop - Starting soon!!

Monday, November, 26. Now this is a Monday that Elaine and I have been looking forward to for a while! It will be the start of the Happy Little Pouch Hop! Starting on Monday, some "serious" pouch enthusiasts will be sharing a little pouch eye candy, tutorials, and pattern reviews for two whole weeks! 

In case you are too excited to wait for Monday, you can start in on the fun by joining our Flickr group where people have already started to chime in on their favorite pouch patterns, tutorials, and share some of their pouch creations. But don't forget to come back and check out the posts of our Happy Little Pouch Blog Hoppers!

Here are our Happy Little Pouch Blog Hoppers!

Monday 11/26: Emily from Mommy's Naptime and Elaine from Dashasel Sews

Tuesday, 11/27: Courtney from Mon Petit Lyons and Lucy from Charm About You

Wednesday, 11/28: Hollie from Undercover Crafter and Katie from Katie's Korner

Thursday, 11/29: Lindsay from Lindsay Sews and Michelle from I Like Orange

Friday, 11/30: Sara from Sew Sweetness, Cindy from Adventures of the Singing Quilter, and Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts

Monday, 12/3: Holly from Bijou Lovely and Heidi from Fabric Mutt

Tuedsay, 12/4: Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy and Emily from Mle BB

Wednesday, 12/5: Shruti from 13 Woodhouse Road and Liz from Dandelion Daydreams

Thursday, 12/6: Beth from Plum and June and Kaelin from The Plaid Scottie
Friday, 12/7: Emily from Mommy's Naptime and Elaine from Dashasel Sews

and of course, 

YOU!!!

Please join us in the fun and share your pouchy makes in our Flickr group. The Flickr group is also where you can upload your pouchy makes, and at the end of each week we will have some great prizes to award!

Prizes have generously been donated by:

**Oh and in case you'd like to do a little shopping, While Baby Naps is offering a 15% off discount on purse frame supplies and patterns until Nov. 30. Just enter the code: HappyOnes 

Know thy Machine : Posts # 24 : Cori, # 25 : Danie, # 26 : Kirsten, # 27 : Tammie

Whew! It's been a busy week here- and everywhere I'm sure. Thanksgiving has thrown me off my blog hop game! Here are all the posts I missed - again be sure to be checking out Shruti's page for the questions of the day - and a chance to win awesome prizes!!


Tuesday's guest is Cori from Lets Eat Grandpa

Wednesday our blog hop, we had Danie from Cup of the Sun 

 Her blog is full of selected recipes, tutorials as well as free artwork that she's made...

Hop over to her blog to read more about her machine...

Thursday's guest is Kirsten from Maniacal Material Girls

She's a stay at home mom of two adorable little girls, and is absolutely obsessed with fabric and quilting! As soon as naptime hits, she is at her sewing machine. 

Hop over to her blog to read about her sewing machine...

Friday's guest guest is Tammie from Crafty Tammie

Apart from being a Moda Bake Shop Chef, she has an awesome blog! She also has a wonderful etsy shop where she shares not just her creations, but also her finds!

Hop over to her blog to read about her sewing machine...

Whew! There's some fun weekend reading for you! :)
Now who braved the crowds to go Black Friday shopping today? We went to Joann's at about 10 am and it was pretty busy (long lines) but super great deals! :) Hope you're all enjoying your long weekend!

PonToms Pouch - Tutorial coming on monday!!

PonToms Pouch - 2.5" x 1" x 1"

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is having a great long weekend, enjoying family and yummy food!

I can't believe how fast the past month has gone by, but it's finally pouch time!! Are all you pouch enthusiasts ready? The Happy Little Pouch Hop starts Monday!! 

Come back first thing Monday morning for awesome posts from Elaine and I - including the tutorial for this teeny little PonToms pouch! Elaine and I have pulled together a bunch of talented ladies to share tutorials, pattern reviews, and pictures of sweet pouches!

For now I'd like to share a bit about this teeny pouch (don't worry there will be measurements provided for a couple different sizes). I'm visiting with my family right now and get to catch up on all the cute and hilarious stories of things that my cousin's kids do. I particularly look forward to hearing stories from my cousin Lizzie. Liz is wild, is a great story teller, and has a 2 year old. Today Lizzie went into a story about PonToms. Apparently her toddler kept saying PonTom for several months. Liz couldn't figure out why or what it meant (so naturally she encouraged the repetition of the word). Recently the child found a tampon and brought it up to Liz saying "Mommy, PonTom! Use it!" lol. 

This tiny pouch holds my tampons. 

Stop by Monday for the full tutorial!

Sewing & Quilt Expo - Tinley Park, Il

Something exciting happened this weekend - my quilt was on display at the Sewing Expo!

Look at the official sign for the show!

This past summer Emily and I organized a mini quilt swap for our Chicago Modern Quilt Guild. 24 people participated, and we made mini quilts that were inspired by a work of art chosen by our partner. I can't begin to explain how awesome these quilts turned out. They are really outstanding.

Here's my quilt, made for Natalie Granato.

At the end of the swap we all brought our quilts to the CMQG meeting and shared a bit about the inspiration work, the process, etc. It was great to hear about the process each person went through to create their quilt.

This hangs below my quilt - telling bout the process of making the quilt, inspiration etc.

Exciting enough, our guild member Sara H. pulled some strings and all 24 quilts were chosen to be displayed at the quilt show that accompanies the Sewing Expo. The first stop for our quilts was last weekend in Tinley park! They will then go on to travel to 17 cities across the nation throughout the next year!

Obligatory picture of me next to my quilt.

Sara managed to get us all tickets to the expo too - so several of us carpooled on Saturday (Shout out to my boss who let me off work for the occasion!). Guild friend Cathy drove our group, and I spent most of the day wandering around with Emily and Sally. It was an excellent experience - I'd never been to a quilt expo before!

People admiring our quilts!

When we arrived the first thing we saw was our quilts - all hanging in a row! I guess I have never thought of how professional it would all look! It was a lot of fun seeing other people looking at our quilts and talking about how neat the idea for the swap was.

I may have taken a zillion pictures.

Filming with Ellen.

Upon arrival we also met Ellen Rushman (she'll be a lecturer at QuiltCon!), we were told to ask for her. She is a quilt historian and is traveling with the show and shooting 3 minute videos titled "This is My Quilt" for their website. Emily and I both filmed "This is My Quilt" segments. It was really fun chatting about our quilts!

My first try at a long arm!

Also noteworthy about the Expo, I tried a long arm for the first time! There were several long arm dealers who had booths there, and I decided to give it a try. I'm planning on using my friend Marla's long arm to finish a baby quilt before Christmas, so it was nice to get a feel for it and see that my free motion work on a domestic machine will translate over pretty well!

Here's what I quilted - Not bad if you don't count my mis-spelled name! 

I tested out three machines, an Innova, a Gammil, and a Juki long arm. My favorite was the Innova. (as if I know enough to form an opinion on such things!) I did however, manage to get distracted and misspell "emedoodle" - lol. Note to self, don't get distracted when quilting.

If anyone happens to visit the Sewing Expo later this year, I'd love to hear what you think of our quilts on display! You can find a list of the cities it'll visit here.

You can read more about the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild Modern Art Challenge here.

Doll Quilt Swap 13 - Inspiration and other things I love.

With every new round of the Doll Quilt Swap, we make our mosaics, and wait for the swap mama's to send us our partner's info. These mosaics are more than just a fun way to kill the time while waiting, I find that they're a good lesson in personal style. 

I always find it hard to pinpoint just what it is that I like about quilt. Is it the precision or the freedom? Maybe it's the colors or just the prints on the fabric. Making an inspiration mosaic captures the essence of me. These are the things that I love. 

When I go to make an inspiration mosaic I start with my flickr favorites - I have been compiling these throughout my years on flickr, and there are a lot of them! I start sifting through my fav's and opening new windows for the ones that particularly strike me. Once I have a dozen or so window open I start adding them to the mosaic (I use www.bighugelabs.com). The last few pictures are always hard to choose - which will be left out? 

Then it all comes together. Without fail I'm always surprised at how well it captures my likes. I hope this helps my swap partner to get to know me a bit better. I love these things. 

I love words and text. I like rich saturated colors, feathers, and dense quilting.  Paper piecing and free piecing are both awesome. I love the freedom to play with fabrics. 

What is it that this mosaic doesn't tell you? I love Harry Potter, Ingrid Michaelson and The Civil Wars. Those things don't usually relate to quilting though. 

Know thy Machine : Post # 23 : Christy

Welcome to Week # 5 of the Know Thy Machine Blog hop!

Today's guest is Cristy from Sew Much like Mom 

Her blog is platform where she shows of what she learned about Sewing, Quilting, Crafting and Life in general from her Mom! Her blog, thought recently started, very soon will be a fun place with a lot of tutorials and inspirations! She has been teaching quilting for a while now and also runs the wonderful Purple Daisies LLC 

Hop over to her blog to find out what she has to say about her machine...

Know thy Machine : Post # 22 : Ivy

Today's guest is Ivy Gewirtz.

She is also one of the members from Modern Quilting group on Facebook. Those of you who are on Facebook, I totally recommend this group. Its buzzing with activity! 

Since Ivy doesn't have a blog (yet*) she's guest posting on Shruti's page. Go over and see what she has to say about her machine!


*Don't you just love how I assume that every quilter will one day have a blog? 

Playing with some new Pellon!

You might know that I really love adding words to my projects... (heck I have a whole pinterest board for it!) but I'm not very good at hand embroidering words. Much more is the fact that I don't enjoy it nearly as much as every other aspect of quilting. I've always been wanting a way to add these touches to my quilts without spending the time and annoyance to hand stitch them. 

Recently my way of doing this is to free motion quilt them into the finished quilt. I'll add a name here or a word or two there. It's a battle to get neat and precise words when you're FMQing a large quilt. I've been doing quilt labels like the one below - by making a whole quilt sandwich and then trimming it down and stitching it to the finished quilt. It's not as neat and tidy as I'd like. 

A few months ago Erin sent me some samples of this Fuse-N-Tear 371R. It worked exactly as I had hoped! 

Check out how fabulous my words are!!

Those pink lines are about 1/4" apart. Yes, I had to test it in tiny. This method works just perfectly with 1/4" cursive letters! 

So what should I make with these? I think the books one will probably become a journal cover (using those two awesome book fabrics from connecting threads. The pink one will definitely be a pouch. Help me plan my Happy Little Pouch Hop pouches! What shape? What fabrics? What kind of details?

(linked up to WIP Weds)

Losing track of the days - Know thy Machine : Post #20 : Lauren & # 21 : Alyssa

So whatever happened to yesterday... I forgot to post the KTM post! :) Hopefully you guys all saw it over on Shruti's blog... if not here we go, doubled up with today's!

Today's Yesterday's guest is Lauren from I want to cut you!

She fell in love and is constantly looking for new and exciting ways to express herself through textiles. Her passion has become re purposing materials like clothing and bedding to create one of kind quilts. She is currently on a fabric fast and will not be purchasing fabric for one year. Lauren shares her home with her 2 kids, an Air Force husband and  her pets.

 Hop over to her blog to read about her machine...

And now for today's post!

Today's guest is Alyssa

She is the winner of the Best Wall Hanging at the Bloggers Quilt Festival! Her Patchwork Prism quilt was that stunning!

Alyssa is a creative and resourceful mother residing in Gilbert, AZ. She is also a freelance web and graphic designer. This allows her to be a stay-at-home mom for her toddler and newborn. When she isn't designing for the web or wrangling children you can find her in her craft room designing, and sewing quilts and crafts.

Hop over to her blog to read about her machine! 

Neon thread...

Would make a simple project amazing....

But it's even more awesome on a more complex project!

Circle Ruffle Pouch

Last night A few nights ago I decided to do some prep for the Happy Little Pouch Hop - you see Elaine and I have challenged each other to make one pouch a day during the swap. And that's a lot of pouches - so I figured I'd prep the pieces for a fancy one. 

I got carried away and finished the pouch! This pouch was hugely inspired by this one here, which was made by Marci / Marci Girl Designs. I've had my eye on that pouch since she made it for the Pretty Little Pouch Swap!! I finally broke down and attempted it... and without trying (quite by mistake) mine turned out about half the size of hers! 

I even remembered to add my label! 

I used some indigo bella solid, and some of that pink running stitch that I bought for no reason. For the fluted part I used 805 Wonder Under to fuse a layer of the indigo with the pink - then traced the bottom of a kid's cup to make my circles (about a 2" diameter). I should have made those circles bigger - that's why my pouch turned out smaller. Mine finishes at about 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" with an 11" loop for the handle. 

I really like the way this pouch turned out - the punch from that neon thread is great! I found that neon thread at Michael's by the way - in their 1/2 isle of sewing related stuff. 

This one is going to be mine. I'm calling dibs even though my sister and cousins will want it. Too bad. :) For one, I'm not sure how well the raw edges of the circles will hold up to wear! There may be more of these in the future - but probably not because it was quite a bit more work and I prefer my pouches to be quick! 

If you're getting excited about the Happy Little Pouch Hop and want some additional inspiration check out our flickr group! Feel free to post your pouch pics there for everyone to enjoy! Also check out my pouch pinterest board. 

Long weekend...

Fabric is not related to this post - but I want to sew with it right now. 

This is what happens when Allie is off school for a couple days in a row. It's the end of the grade period (grades for a pre-schooler?) - which means a day of teacher in-service (Friday), a day off for Veteran's day, and another day off (today) for report card pickup/parent teacher conferences. That has effectively killed two of my regular days off from work - no sewing happens when Allie is awake. 

I'm getting stir-crazy!

I do have something to blog about later today - providing I get a moment of peace (and sunlight) to take some decent pictures. 

On the bright side, I have the day off of work on Saturday to go to the Sewing Expo in Tinley Park. The Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's Modern Art Challenge quilts will be on display there - and will then travel with the show for the remainder of the year! How cool is that?? I'm excited to see my quilt hanging with the rest of them! 

Know thy Machine : Post # 19 : Sally (Reader's Feature)

Today's guest is Sally from Life in Sally's World.

She was one of the reader's to answer the questions, so Shruti chose her to highlight today!
Hop over to her blog to see what she says about her machine!


Sally is one of the blog friends I've had for the longest time - and I'm lucky enough to have met her in real life! She's from my city and now a active member of our guild! :) 

Know thy Machine : Post # 18 : Kathi

Coming to the first post in this week

Today's guest is Kathi from Wandering Quilter... Kathi is again one of Shruti's Modern Quilting friends...

She is truly a person who wanders! Just settled in Norway, she is preparing for a move to Russia with her husband! Whoa! Good luck Kathi!

Hope over to her blog to see what she has to say about her machine...


PS - don't forget to answer the questions on Shruti's blog each day for the giveaways - and check out her posts today regarding the winner from last week! :)

Doll Quilt Swap 13 - Sign-ups starting!

We're preparing for another awesome round of the Doll Quilt Swap on flickr. This will be the 13th round - and I'm one of the head mama's for this swap now. I'm pretty excited to have a bigger part in a swap that's so special to me! 

Doll Quilt Swap 9

The swap is open to all active flickr members (posting sewing related pics a couple times a month). If that's you, feel free to go sign up! 

Doll Quilt Swap 10, made for Kaelin / theplaidscottie

This will be my fifth round with DQS. I'll always have a special place in my heart for it since DQS9 was my very first swap (I know that's not supposed to happen since you're required to have participated in a swap before... but I got in!). I have grown and learned a lot throughout those five swap rounds. I've made a lot of really great friends too.

Doll Quilt Swap 11, made for Maria / MollyJolly

I have to say that this swap keeps getting better and better. I always try to push myself to learn something new on my DQS quilts. I also love getting to know my partners after they've received their quilts. 

Doll Quilt Swap 12, made for Mona / QuiltCyclist

Some really great friendships have been formed here - I first "met" Shruti in Doll Quilt Swap - she sent me this fabulous quilt for Doll Quilt Swap 10! We've been friends ever since (maybe one day we'll meet in real life - when my life becomes glamorous enough to take trips to India for a visit! I can dream right?). Though I will be lucky enough to meet my DQS12 partner, Mona this year at QuiltCon! 

Are you ready for a fabulous swap? Please go sign-up now! Don't wait too long, sign-ups won't be open too long! :)