Big Stitch Swap 2 :: Finished Pouch

I am very excited to show you my finished pouch for the Big Stitch Swap 2!  

In this project, I hand stitched hexagons using mini charm packs of V and Co prints in purple, green, aqua and navy with hexagon templates from Love Patchwork & Quilting.  I tend to be an "anything goes" scrappy quilter, but for this project I wanted to try a restricted colorway for the first time.  My hexagon stitching improved with time, so you can nearly tell which parts of the bag were made early in the process and which hexies were added on at the end!   

I appliquéd the hexagons onto Essex Linen with navy 50 weight Aurifil.  I have to say I had doubts about having such obvious stitching on this pouch.  I like it more now that it's in pouch shape, but while the sides were flat panels I was sure the quilting was a mistake.

Inside there's a Denyse Schmidt print that I love, but have no idea what it's called?  I picked it up in the US a few years ago and am delighted I still have some to play with.

Of course, the pouch came together using Noodlehead's Open Wide zippered pouch tutorial.  I was aiming for a medium pouch, but it is slightly smaller due to the heavy stitching on the panels.  Still, I think it's a great size for saving your special things when travelling.

The pouch was packed up with a few goodies: 2.5 inch scrappy squares from Simply Colorful, and Simply Style, a needle book and shimmering washi tape.  I think that makes for a happy parcel.  I can not wait for it to arrive at your house, swap buddy!

This is my first finish for the second quarter of the FAL.  Checking number 2 off of my Dreaming Big list.

Selvage Blocks for Miles

Each morning while I brush my teeth, I thumb through IG to see what creativity I have missed while I slept.  What inspiration waits for me?  It is a great way to wake up.  One morning, Craftsy posted an advertisement for this pattern that immediately occupied my brain.  I could not shake it, so I bought the pattern thinking that would scratch the itch.  But no.

Although I see myself using different methods to make these blocks, I love the idea of a full quilt of selvage vines.  I started stitching a few tester blocks at the Brit Bee weekend retreat and fell in love.

I have now finished 23 of the 42 blocks I need.  It shocks me how heavy they are and how they eat up the selvage strips.  I have enough selvages for another 5-10 blocks, so I will have to finish a few other projects to increase my stash.  That's OK.  This can be a slow burner.  I'll just keep stitching!

Retreat Sewing

To the retreat, I brought two projects that were small to me but would be big accomplishments if I could start (and finish!) either one of them.  Both projects have been sitting in little zip lock baggies on my quilting frame, waiting for me to have the time or interest to pick them up and get sewing.  To be honest, I liked them too much to just throw them out or give them away, but not enough to dedicate precious sewing time.  It was a sad state of affairs for these WIPs.  They were the first things into my suitcase...well before my toiletry bag!

First, my Swoon flying geese scraps.  I collected these little triangular cut offs as I made my Swoon quilt and had decided to create a coordinating cushion.  So, to get used to my featherweight I started chain stitching them together.  After trimming them to 2.5 inch HSTs, I stitched this scrappy star together.  It's quite large at 20 inches square, but I do really like it.  I like that it will compliment the Swoon, but isn't a replicate block.  Now to quilt her, make a back and finish her off!  

The second project was a massive bag of selvages that was taking up space in my sewing cabinet.  I have always liked the look of selvage projects, so I started collecting them.  However, I had not worked with selvages before, so I didn't have a great idea of how many I'd need to collect to make a block or two.  Well, my one zip lock bag made these pretty 10 inch square blocks.  I have about 1/2 of a bag left plus I was lucky enough to inherit another bag from my friend Fiona, so I will easily have near enough to make a quilt top, using this and this as my inspiration.  Making these blocks was so easy and immediately rewarding - a nice trip down memory lane revisiting my favorite prints.  Happy days!