Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Small Zip Obsession

The Mouthy Stitches Swap has put me onto a small obsession with both pouches and zips.  It's a whole new world for me and I am THRILLED to have joined it.  This weekend I made two pouches that just make my heart flutter.  Both will be gifts to friends, so I hope my friends like them as much as I do.

The first was inspired by pouches I saw in several Mouthy Stitches mosaics that play with color tone.  You can arrange these little HSTs in a variety of ways, but I liked the deep center to focus the eye and the repeating diamond to give a little 3D effect.  It's quilted with concentric diamonds using invisible thread.   It is backed with one of my favorite prints (and I still don't know the name of the designer/mfg) that was quilted in vertical lines 1/4 inch apart and topped with a little pink zip.

It measures an adorable little 6 inches square, so perfect to hold a few hexies for when you are stuck in traffic or waiting for an appointment.



The second is a cathedral windows pouch.  I have wanted to try cathedral windows for AGES, but 1) they look very hard and 2) they take a LONG time, so I don't want to commit to a larger project filled with windows. A pouch seemed like the perfect solution.


There are 4 cathedral windows blocks that are placed together with a Woodlands boarder.  I kind of adapted the Moda Bake Shop tutorial to suit my needs.  It's very well written if you're curious to give these windows a try yourself.  I just love the splash of color on the front.  Isn't it cool how your eye makes a circle between blocks?  I love that.  The front is not quilted and does not contain batting as there was a TON of stitching to hold these little suckers beauties together.  They're each about 4 layers of fabric thick, so batting and further quilting would have been overkill.


The back is an orange print from the Spring Street line by Carolyn Gavin.  It holds batting and is vertically quilted with orange thread in about 3/4 inch rows.  I guess I have been hanging out with Hadley enough that her love of orange has finally transferred.  It's a new happiness for me, so I'm tossing orange in everywhere I can.


Finally, it's lined with It's a Hoot fabric as it just gave a nice splash of blue inside and joined together the red front, orange back and yellow zip.  All told, it's about 10 inches square, so you could easily fit a hand stitching project in here or use it to travel.

I am thrilled with these pouches.  I hope my friends are too!  Enjoy, guys!

18 comments:

Susan said...

Great pouches- you have used some wonderful ideas here!! I hope you make yourself a lovely too! Or even better, receive one in the swap!

Canadian Abroad said...

Those are both gorgeous! Your partner is going to be blown away if you consider those just practice!

Judith, Belfast said...

These are wonderful C! You've got the zippy pouches bug alright! Jxo

Nicky said...

Didn't know you were such a zipper Cindy hehe! Looking good gal! Are you going to keep going? And what is your opinion on the cathedral windows?? Going to make some more?

Strawberry Patch said...

They are fab Cindy. Cathedral Windows are on my to-try list too, must get around to it!

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

Lucky lucky friends!!
Can't beat orange to cheer you up!
I think the blue is Amy Butler - Bali Gate - might be wrong x

linda said...

i was looking forward to seeing these and they are gorgeous and the pouch is all beautiful well done !!

Megan said...

Hi from New Zealand where we also have fluffy sheep! Your pouches look really good - I'm so impressed by the Cathedral window - it always looks way too fiddly for me to even contemplate trying.

Lynne said...

Oh my, you have got it bad, haven't you? tee-hee

Linda Coleman said...

what a jump from not doing zips to making numerous pouches and conquering the almighty ZIP. Great work Cindy.

Sarah said...

They're lovely! Might have to try cathedrals one day

Kelly said...

Fantastic pouches!! What a great idea for trying cathedrals.

Karen said...

Love that cathedral window pouch!

Katy Cameron said...

Hee hee, sucked in! Great job on all of them. I have a rather neglected bag I started on New Year's Day that I haven't had chance to finish, that has a cathedral windows pocket on it. I love the effect, but yes, a whole quilt would be a bit too much!

mammafairy said...

Cathedral windows are fun, and I love your hoot fabric lining.

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Love love love them both!! I want to try cathedral windows too, why can I not stop adding things to my never ending list??!!

Rhonda the Rambler said...

Aren't they fun? I love your cathedral window one. I was just looking at an "faux" cathedral window block might try.

Laura said...

Lovely work cindy!

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