I mailed my pouch for my partner out on Friday & when I came home from the P.O. I had received my pouch in my box as well! The super talented swap mama Stefanie was my secret partner! She made me this wonderful set of not one but two beautiful cosmetic pouches! 
As if two pouches weren't enough, she also sent some pieces of ruby fabric & a pack of Aurifil threads! I've been seeing these all over bloggy land & am looking forward to trying them out.
I love that they are both lined with laminate & will wipe clean of any spills or lotion leaks!
They have such a great shape & I'm hoping Stefanie will do a tutorial of the bags sometime, as they'd make great gifts! Thanks again so much much Stefanie!! I just love them!!
If you want to get your own little pouch in the mail & are interested in swapping, keep your eye on the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap group on flickr & join us on the 5th round!
I've just finished up sewing for the last swap I'm in this month. The Table Top Swap is on it's first round & we are swapping a set of four cloth napkins!
After "stalking" my partner to find her likes, I settled on these new prints from basic greys new line "hello luscious". I am typically not a pink person but with the addition of the jumbo pink rickrack edging I think they turned out so sweet!
This is my favorite of the prints! Love that bold floral! Did you notice how lovely they coordinate with my Pfaltzgraff dinner plates?!
The reverse side is a perfectly matched robins egg aqua cotton.
I love how the edges got a slightly rounded look to them.
They were a lot of fun to sew & now that I know how easy they are, I may have to make a few more sets in my colors!;) Just in case you'd like to make your own napkins here is the link to the tutorial I loosely followed! http://www.purlbee.com/spring-napkins/
In other news, look at this beautiful snowflake pyrex dish I found at the goodwill this week for $2.75!! Score!!! I'm going to use it in my sewing room to store my 21/2" squares, but will definitely pull it out again this winter & bake something yummy in it! Baked oatmeal perhaps?! That's my favorite winter breakfast dish.
Linking up the Amanda at crazy mom quilts & finish it up friday!
And amylouwho at
Edited 6.12.12, I'm also adding these to the summer sewing contest at Ellison Lane Quilts!!
Go check out all the great entries!
I have been doing a bit more sewing this week! Pouches for the P{L}PS are due to mail on Friday, so I got that all done! It just needs to be packaged up with a few goodies & it will be off in the mail!
My partner requested a "knitting" or "project" bag, so I set out to sew a big pouch & it sure should be big enough! 13"x14"! That will fit that big sweater you are knitting!! lol
I used lots of brights from my stash & just sewed them up into a simple log cabin style block.
I lined it in a cheery yellow claire blocks print, & used a big red zipper. I love how easy it zips up!
Machine quilted following the squares made by the log cabins & added one row of aqua hand stitching around the block for extra texture & fun.
Boxed corners on the bottom & heavy interfacing help it to stand up nicely on its own.
I had alot of fun making this for partner & really hope she enjoys it as well! Now it's just waiting to see which fun pouch I receive in return!
It's been so long since I've posted! So sorry! Spring has arrived here in full force & that means lots of gardening & outside work, & less time for sewing! Boo!
This morning before my girlies woke up, I was able to whip up a wee pincushion for the zakka sew along. Talk about a fast project! You must give it a go! I used a navy blue linen & a beautiful floral print from basic greys new "hello luscious" line, a strip of baby yellow rickrack & a bit of hand stitching with aqua blue perle thread. I love it!
Linking my pincushion to Lindsey at LRstitched. as part of the zakka along!
Have a great week & I'll try to sneak in some more sewing soon!
~Karen
My hanging hoop that I made for the hanging hoop wall pocket swap last fall is being featured today over at Fishsticks designs, the original maker of the hanging hoop!!
Check it out here!
I can't forget to show you the awesome hoop I got in return from the lovely Krista!!! I was so honored to receive something from her! I've always loved & admired her works of art!
I just love rich colored patchwork! Well, you know me, I love anything patchwork for that matter!:)
As soon as I started seeing all these beautiful granny squares inspired by Jolene of Blue Elephant Stitches on Flickr I knew I wanted to try them!! They are absolutely gorgeous & this would be my first major quilt block attempt!
Red & light blues
Aqua & yellows
Navy & pink
Piles of 21/2" squares & the fun part, putting together fabric combo's!
Lavender & red
red & grey
pink & aqua
green & navy
purple & golden yellow
lime green & lavender
orange & aqua
And the very first one I made golden yellow & hot pink! They have been super addictive & my goal is enough for a queen sized quilt! Do you know how many squares that is? 56!! I have a feeling this will be a long term project!:)
Join the quilt a long on flickr at the old red barn quilt along group!
Happy quilting!
The last month, I've been following along over at Ellison Lane Quilts & the modern mini quilt challenge! There have been alot of beautiful mini quilts & just yesterday when the linky opened up to add your own modern mini, I got this brainy idea to stitch up a quilt from an idea I had floating around in my head!! I sewed a bit yesterday & then today my hubby watched my girls for me while I stitched like a crazy woman on a mission!!!
With out further ado, I present to you my, "whirling spring modern mini"!
So what do you think?? This is the first mini that I've made for me & I think I'm in love!! It just screams "spring" to me & I am so ready for warmer days to arrive!
Some stats: pinwheels are 4" blocks, fabrics are from my various favorite designers, 21/2" white sashing, machine quilted & handbound in a yellow nicey jane print. The finished quilt measures 16" square.
I am linking up to Ellison Lane Quilts modern mini challenge contest!!
And with Megan & {Sew} Modern Monday!
