Color Gradient Pouch - Quilt Now Magazine!

When you submit items to magazines a lot of the time you don't really have a solid date as to when they'll hit the newsstands... so imagine my excitement when I realized that two of my projects are in magazines this month! 

My Color Gradient Pouch is in this month's Quilt Now Magazine! I love this pouch! Here's the story - last spring I was really geeking out over this teal / coral combo. I just NEEDED it in my life. (I'm still in love with it - what's not to love?) Anyway, I just wanted to go buy all the coral fabrics. My husband and I had a morning off, and we decided to go to the fabric store together. It was totally sweet. Wally and I were stacking bolts of solids, and playing with color options. He was impressed that that sort of thing is a regular happening at a quilt shop! He helped me pick out these colors - and as the shop ladies cut it from the bolts I dashed around to the Art Gallery shelf to find a coordinating print. Wally was adorable, talking me up to the shop owner. It was pretty sweet. I'm glad that he's interested enough in my projects to join in a little bit!

Ok. So the details about the pouch - it measures at about 10" x 10" It's flat on the bottom, and a layer of Fusible Fleece inside there keeps it sturdy enough to stand on it's own. And yes, those are 1/2" finished stripes. :)  I hope you'll go grab a copy of Quilt Now issue 14 and make one for yourself! 

Leafy Pouch, Make Modern Magazine!

Whew! Summer is winding down and we're finally settling back into the school routine here. I am ready to have my weekly afternoon of sewing back! I feel like I didn't sew very much this summer, but mostly, I just did a lot at the beginning of the summer. One of those early summer finishes is now available in the fall issue of Make Modern Magazine!

Here is my Leafy Pouch! This little guy was originally made for my fall-loving daughter, and was recreated for the magazine. 

Go check out issue 7 of Make Modern. It's a digital magazine from Australia and it's full of great projects. You can get the current issue here. 

Sparkle Pouches!

I've been taking custom orders for my sparkle pouches for a while now. They're so much fun to make, that I just can't bear to keep them all for myself. I have made bout two-hundred pouches in the past year or two. It's amazing to know that people keep coming back to order more! 

The pouches above were made for a college friend, Allie. Allie has ordered a ton of pouches from me and I just love working with her on these! She uses them for everything and has even commissioned a pouch sized specifically for her allergy meds! I love it! 

I recently purchased a teflon foot for my Juki. I can't believe I have sewn vinyl for so long without it - but I tend to not buy things that aren't necessary. I finally broke down and bought the foot - it was only a couple dollars on ebay, and it works great. Now I can topstitch vinyl at full speed!

If you're ever interested in ordering a sparkle pouch from me, just drop me a line and we'll work out the details ($12 - $17 for box pouches, $8 for flat). I don't like the business end of things, so I don't keep an Etsy store. I tend to do pouches in spurts - when I get an order I'll post the call out on social media in case anyone else wants to order one at the same time. :) Typically I do more around Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

You can check out more of these sparkle pouches here.

A few zip pouches...

Sewing is always harder in the summer. Gone are my two mornings a week where I am off work, and my daughter is in school. Gone are the days of Allie being tired (from school) at the end of the night. It's all energy all the time! 

So here are a couple zip pouches. They're pretty, they were gifts, and well, they finish quickly enough!

I can say that I have been working little by little on a couple quilts - but they're not being released for a while, so I can't share. The sewing is so slow though. Sooo slow. 

At the very least, there are always zip pouches!

There is definitely sparkle vinyl in my near future too!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

To all of you who are here for the Giveaway Day - Welcome!!

If you're new here feel free to poke about. My favorite things are tiny piecing, precision foundation paper piecing, dense free motion quilting, and pouch making! You can see my finished quilts in the tabs at the top of the page, sorted by year. My pouches are here. 

I sell these pouches on an order by order basis (no etsy shop yet), so if you love them just contact me!

Now for the giveaway! 

I'm offering one medium boxed pouch made out of your favorite color of sparkle vinyl (chosen from my vinyl stash). The medium boxed pouch measures 7" x 3" x 3" and it is great for storing sewing notions, make up, or really anything. 

To enter the giveaway leave a comment below telling me what you'd put in this pouch (you can make up anything- really, amuse me). 

The giveaway will be open until Friday 12/12, and the winner will be  chosen by mr random.org, and notified by 12/12. USA shipping only please.

Check out more giveaways on Sew Mama Sew!

This giveaway is now close. Mr Random.org chose comment #122 as the winner. Congrats Carmen! Please reply to the email I sent promptly so I can get your pouch on it's way to you!!

Sparkle Zip Pouches

Medium pouch holds all necessary hearing aid, cochlear implant supplies shown. Drying beaker, Phonak case, air blower, battery tester, listening tube, and extra batteries.

I'm making pouches to sell -- no Etsy shop just yet, but if any of my blog friends want to order one (or more), drop me a line here or by email.

My standard prices are as follows:
Large: 10" x 4" x 5" - ($17) holds toiletries, shampoo, hair & makeup supplies.
Medium : 7" x 3" x 3" - ($17) holds sewing notions, makeup, meds, hearing aid supplies, etc.
Small: 5" x 2.5" x 2.5" - ($12) holds cell phone accessories, meds, daily hearing aid supplies (case, extra batteries, FM necessities, etc).
Chapstick: 3" x 1" x 1" - ($12) holds chapstick, tampons, or change.

Price includes shipping to USA. International shipping available at cost.

Color availability changes from time to time. Most sizes available in most colors. Purple and white are available in small or chapstick size only.

Custom sizes available.

Happy Birthday Emily B!

Last week was my best quilt buddy's birthday. So what did I do? I secretly made her a gift. 

I had made a project pouch for Emily when we first met - using my favorite (Kona Curry), and she uses it all the time, so I thought she might like a new one. 

I had a bit of Kona Papaya stashed just for the occasion, and I paired it with a good Tula Pink Fuschia. I'm pretty happy with the fabrics I came up with here. Emily likes a more vibrant yellow than I usually use, so it was fun to work with such bright colors! 

I'm happy to say I even remembered my label and my prairie points on the inside!

I'm hoping to share the details about this pouch at a later date - but for now you can see the front and the inside. :) 

#CitrusSwap Sent and Received

I joined a little swap on Instagram called #citrusswap. It was a lot of fun... short and sweet. We all made the medium Open Wide Pouch by Anna / Noodlehead using citrus themed colors, and we filled them with citrus themed goodies. 

My partner hasn't received hers yet, so I won't share who this one is for. I did start off making these tiny little blocks (above), but in the end I didn't like them as much as I liked the back - Anna Maria Horner fabric slays me every time!

I tried something new and added my signature prairie points in at the zipper - It's an okay look, but I will probably stick to putting them in the side seam or the inside seams from now on.

I used Erin / Dog Under My Desk's tutorial for the little zipper end. It turned out just perfect! I'm so proud of that perfect little zip end!

I also received my swap! I received this from @courtiepie Look at all the cute stuff she sent! Thanks so much!! This swap was a lot of fun!

As Seen in QuiltNow magazine!

Guess what?! I'm in issue one of QuiltNow Magazine! See that pretty little pencil pouch? I made it!
I'm super excited to be a part of this publication, it's sure to be a great source of inspiration in the quilt world.

I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my copy -- so far I'm impressed by everything I've seen. For those of you in the UK - run out now and buy a copy and check it out! If you're in the US, you can order it through Pink Castle Fabrics.

Sparkle Box Pouches!

I've been sewing.

I'm a bit addicted.

I can't get enough.

Sparkle vinyl!!

I'm hoping someone wants to buy these when they're finished... because I just keep making them! 

No really, if you want one let me know.
$17 each (usa shipping included) / $12 / each for the little ones. 

Christmas in July?

I even made a couple OSU themed ones - Go Buckeyes! 

Don't mind me, I'm just over here sewing sparkle pouches.

All Things Sparkly!

I've been in zip pouch mode here recently! Yes, this is an additional nine box pouches! I've been making some box pouches to put up for sale. I know so many people comment on mine when they see it, so why not? 

It seems to be going well. So far most of them have sold to family and friends. I haven't gotten my etsy shop up and running yet, but that might be happening soon. For now I'm posting these pouches for sale on my instagram / facebook / flickr / blog. If you'd like one just leave me a comment.

These guys in the picture measure 7" x 3" x 3" and they're perfect for makeup, toiletries, or sewing supplies (a standard rotary cutter fits). I'm selling them for $17 / each and that includes shipping (US only please). 

Why the sudden need to sell some stuff? I'm going to QuiltCon!! :) Registration happens soon, so I want to have the cash on hand to go to workshops with my sewing idols! 

I'm enjoying these so much that I had to go get more vinyl. I restocked and now I have mint, teal, purple, silver, blue, and white. They're soo pretty and sparkly!

Today my goal is to finish up a couple pre-orders, then I'll be making up some pretty sparkle pouches -- stay tuned for more!

Just like that there were eleven pouches!

For those of you who don't know, my daughter has switched schools (again)... she's now at a specialized school (still in our district). If you've been around a lot you'd know that Allie has battled with a lot of behavior related and hearing related school problems. Well, her new school is awesome! Allie has been at the new school for about three months now, and we've noticed a huge huge huge change in her behavior. It's so amazing. We're very grateful for to the staff - the teachers and aids, and everyone who helps make every day successful for Allie. 

So - how could I give an end of the year "thanks" to just her home room teacher? I couldn't. I decided to make a simplified gift for each of the people who help Allie at school on a daily basis. Yes, that's eleven people (not counting the bus driver who will get some treats of another sort). Yes. ELEVEN. lol

Here's the end result of 3/4 yard of fabric, a dozen zippers, and a couple hours. Eleven laminate box pouches. Insane! 

These are so much fun! I sewed them assembly line style - one step at a time. It really went fast and my only regret is that Hobby Lobby didn't carry actual Oilcloth. The laminate is for suckers. 

Origami Box Pouch

Last night I decided to ignore all my sewing deadlines and sew something fun. Clearly I needed a little bit of scraps in my life. I had bought this little stack of scraps on an Instagram sale last week (from the fabulous Pattern Crush), the scraps arrived so quickly, and they've been calling to me all week!!

I decided to make an Origami Box Pouch since I hadn't tried that construction method yet. Of course I couldn't make it easy - I used some scraps of headliner fabric (a little thicker than Soft & Stable) - and I pieced the outside using the quilt as you go method. The fake Soft & Stable has great texture once quilted, I highly recommend it for small projects! 

The pouch came together pretty easily - my Juki can handle all the bulk of multiple layers of that foam! I had a little trouble on the one end - my pull loop got a little out of place and it's wonky. I'm leaving it that way because not everything has to be perfect. 

I didn't line this - the back side of the Soft & Stable is pretty sturdy, and I didn't want to add any more bulk. I haven't gotten around to covering the seams on the inside with bias - I may not even do that. Sometimes it just feels good to make something. It doesn't have to be perfect.

What is perfect though, is how nicely my inhaler and my inhaler spacer fit. Perfect! This one will stay with me - my purse looks a little more ready for spring this way!

Christmas and Christmas Presents Made.

It was such a busy Christmas season that I didn't get a chance to do much sewing. Most of my Christmas gifts were either done way ahead of time (at camp stitchalot), or done quickly at night. But I still managed to get a few done.

Most importantly I finished all four pencil pouches for Allie's teachers. I'm not sure if I've shared it here, but we moved this summer in order for Allie to go to a better school. It was absolutely worth the hellish move. She has four teachers who work with her every day (and many more who are there throughout the week) - who make her days great. She's getting the support she needs here, and there's no handmade gift that would say thank you enough for that!

Next up - the zippy I made for Pellon last month ended up going to my Mom. It was really hard to part with this one, but I know that I didn't need it, and she'll use it. I am hoping she uses it regularly enough that I get to see it when she comes to visit! 

Potholders! Did I mention that several people in my family have moved recently? My sister and her family moved at the end of the summer too. She's the baker of the family and needed some new potholders. So she was the lucky recipient of the potholders I made at Camp Stitchalot. These were made under the guidance of Debbie / Esch House Quilts, and they're fabulously thick! I know they'll get used!

Finally here's the one quilt gift of the season. This one is for my cousin Jordan's new baby who should be born any day now. I talked about this quilt here. Hopefully the quilt gets lots of use - that's what they are for!! 

Additionally I made several oilcloth box pouches, pencil pouches, etc. Somehow I didn't even take pictures of these. :) I also made a few custom ordered pouches this year - they were a lot of fun and it's great to have a bit of extra cash in the quilting budget! Thanks to those who supported me by allowing me to make some gifts for them!

Window Zip Pouch: Guest post and tutorial!

Hello everyone! I'm excited to announce that I'm guest posting on the Benartex blog today with a sweet tutorial. Welcome everyone who's here for the first time! I'd love if you looked around, follow me if you like what you see! 

The Window Zip Pouch is a completely lined pouch using a bit of vinyl on the front so you can keep an eye on the stuff you have stashed away! 

I made this pouch with my sister in mind - she loves baking and I think it'd be great for stashing her recipes - she won't forget what she has in there! Alternatively it is the perfect size for a rotary cutter and scissors. 

Thanks to Benartex you all get a chance to win a FQ bundle of these fabrics (Baker's Delight) used in the tutorial! To enter do one or more of the following (3 chances per person).

1. Sign up to follow Benartex's blog, either via email or a blog reader program like Bloglovin' (both on the righthand sidebar of the blog). Leave a comment letting me know you did so. 

2. "Like" Benartex on Facebook and leave a comment letting me know you did so. 

3. Follow Mommy's Nap Time and leave a comment letting me know you did so. 

Modern Maples and Instagram

I'm not sure how many of you are on instagram, but the #ModernMaples has been a pretty big trend recently. I've been seeing pretty leaf quilts popping up all over and on a whim I decided I'd make one. 

#MiniModernMaples (this is before sewing it together!)

Do you think I could just make a standard 12" Modern Maples block? No way! I decided instead to make mine finish at 2 1/2" Yep. It's nothing to me if I'm not making 3/4" HST units! lol 

Anyway I made the block just for the sake of making one. Just as I would imagine, my 5 year old flipped over it! She LOVES FALL. Loves. She's been waiting for our annual fall trip to Door County WI - and has been watching for the leaves to turn colors (that's her signal that it's time for our trip!). Since Allie was so excited about the leaves in general I decided the tiny leaf had to become a little special toy pouch for her to take on our trip!

Modern Maples Pouch -- I love that yellow velvet ribbon!

I added a little improv leaf on the other side, fused it to some Fusible Fleece, and there it is. It's totally cute, totally fall, Allie was so excited!! 

It must seem like I'm only making small projects these days... just wait, I nearly finished a quilt this weekend so that's coming soon! :) 

Impulse Sewing

Do you guys sew on impulse? Tonight my husband was out with friends, so once Allie was asleep I was left to my sewing - only I couldn't decide what to work on. 

Maximum capacity (one pouch) = 7 OB Tampons!

Naturally I scrolled through facebook/flickr/instagram while I decided. (naturally). My friend Susan had mentioned on one of our quickie swaps that we should swap pouches to carry tampons/pads. Susan has mentioned this before - so light-bulb moment - that's what I sewed tonight. I made a "PonTom" pouch for Susan. Lucky that she uses the same brand tampons as I do!

Tiny zip pouches!

I made an extra to post in my upcoming Etsy shop - but my sister already called dibs (do you think I could charge her for it?) LOL

If you'd like to make a teeny pouch of your own the tutorial is right here. It really isn't hard. 

By the way, these were made from oilcloth, the leftover bits from making these pencil pouches - four pouches came from those teeny samples from the QuiltCon swag bag! 

Oilcloth Pouches - and a new sewing student.

This weekend we had guests in town - it's not that uncommon for us to have houseguests. Living in a big fun city means that most of my friends and family back home have more reason to visit!

This time around it was my sister's friend Jenna and her two kids - as well as my neice Katee - a stowaway! :) We had a ton of fun, and Allie loved having the kids around (Jenna has a girl allie's age, and they LOOOOVE each other).

Jenna's pouches! She was on a roll!

In the evenings once the kids were worn out and in bed, Jenna and I sewed.

She had very little exprience sewing, but was a great student. Over the course of two evenings she made three pouches! Hers are made from laminated shopping bags - repurposed into zip pouches! It's much more economical than using real oilcloth.

Oilcloth pencil pouches!

While Jenna sewed I made a couple pencil pouches myself - two of them are made out of the Oilcloth samples I got in the QuiltCon goody bag. The oilcloth really is nicer. The third pouch I made used the laminated shopping bags (the blue pouch).

I think I'll put these pouches up on Etsy - that's my goal for the week.

If you're looking for oilcloth check here and here (laminated cotton). That shop is local to me, but they have a few decent choices. 

Detail of the front of the mug rug!

The second night of Jenna sewing I worked on a nice little mug rug. It's been a couple months since I made a mug rug - I do love them.

Some FMQ practice. This is the back side of the piece - which sows the quilting so well!

The real exciting part of this was playing around with the FMQ on the back piece (I quilted the front and back separately). 

Finally back to the sewing table.

Architextures and Field Study = love.

As I mentioned earlier this week, my life since QuiltCon has been a whirlwind of sicknesses and house guests. Prior to last night I hadn't been at my sewing machine in more than a week which is really unlike me.

I took a nap yesterday specifically with the thought in mind to stay up late sewing. (Is that how it works in your house late night sewers?)

So I sat down and started piecing a doll quilt top - I was feeling moderately uninspired. I have the desire to make more doll quilts but I don't always find them easy to make - I usually piece "on the fly" without a solid design in mind. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. 

I ended up putting that project aside with the desire to use some of my new fabric (purchased at Quiltcon from some awesome awesome vendors). But - my quiltcon fabric is so varied ... It was interesting to try to chose what to work with. 

Finally I decided I'd make a pouch - a quick finish using some exciting new fabrics (AMH Field Study and Architextures). I made it the size of a small clutch, large enough to hold my wallet, moo cards, and a few extras. 

Yes I did use fantastic out of print text fabric to line a pocket... I just couldn't resist it!

I literally just started sewing without a plan. I love the results. I used cotton duck cloth as a base for the quilt as you go  on the outside, and added a zippered pocket to the lining. It finished at about 9 1/2" x 5" with a 13" strap. 

I'm really impressed with how nice my new spoonflower labels look sewn inside too! 

A perfect fit for my wallet and extras. Pull tab from Zipit on etsy.

I think tonight I'll make another one of these, and list it in my (yet to be used) etsy shop.

Piles of pretty fabric. 

Now my job is to organize and re-fold my fabric. It's been piling up outside of my shelves... I'm reluctant to put it back since it's all a mess - unorganized. Time to make it pretty again. Can anyone offer some helpful tips for organizing / folding my stash? It's mostly FQ's (some already cut into) and some odd remainder cuts. I'd love to hear your tips.