New happenings..

Happy Saturday!  I feel like I was very productive this week because I actually finished 2 small projects, and by small, I mean very small.  Nonetheless, they count as total victories.

City Craft is hosting the City Craft Pinterest Challenge (see link for complete details) to motivate us sewists to complete more projects, i.e. those we have pinned with every good intention to get done and have failed to do anything about thus far.  The motivation?  A new Janome sewing machine!!!!  That is pretty amazing motivation.  So, I joined the Flickr group and am excited to get some of these projects done asap.

Exhibit A:

This is a mini-coloring tote I made from this tutorial.  I made it as a present for a little girl's 5th birthday.  I tucked in a small notebook and a few crayons.  I'm not sure the little girl responded with the awe & admiration I felt was due to this masterpiece, but her mom thought it was cute, so overall, it was a success.  

Exhibit B: 

I made this open wide zippered pouch for no one in particular.  Maybe for me?  I followed the directions for a medium size pouch with a contrast bottom.  I added some fusible interfacing to the exterior fabric, but I think it was a little too heavy duty for the purposes of this pouch.  I also somehow made a little goof on the side seam and made a little tuck in the fabric where one ought not to be.  Oh, well.. you live, you learn.

I was really excited to get these 2 magazines from Joann's (& yes, I know the store is officially called Joann Fabric and Craft Stores, but I think Joann's sounds better, therefore I will most likely always call it Joann's).  There are some really beautiful projects in both of them, including the Marcelle Medallion in Love Quilting & Patchwork.  You can see some amazing examples of this pattern on Flickr, including this one and this one.   

Also, in Modern Patchwork, there is the Retro Rubies Wall Hanging pattern, which Alyssa Lichner of Pile O'Fabric authored.  She is also conducting a QAL using this pattern & the first bit of instructions should be posted on Monday, so it is not too late to join in.  Add yourself to the Flickr group too!  I ordered some half yards of these solids from Pink Chalk Fabrics to use in this project.  I ordered the reds, oranges & purples.  The description of the fabric states that they have an iridescent quality to them, but I'm not sure that I concur with that after examining them in person today.  I still think they will make a great project though.

My sister really liked this pillow pattern, so I'm thinking it would be a good idea for her birthday in July.  She is quite possibly the only person that reads this blog (besides myself when I re-read it over & over again, scouring for grammatical & punctuation errors), so I may have just shot myself in the foot on the surprise aspect of the gift.

I did get some new fabric in last week, including this fat eighth bundle of PB&J by BasicGrey for Moda,

a 10" square stack of Little Red Riding Hood by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake,

a charm pack of Avalon by Fig Tree & Co for Moda (this is not my typical style, but I really liked the combination of the blue, red & beige in this line.. also, I liked this tutorial from Moda Bake Shop).

 I love this quilt from Christa's Quilts...

so I bought some Kona Ash yardage and several Kona solid charm packs (new classic, dusty, bright & dark) to make one of my own.

I had to get a little bit of Anna Maria Horner's Field Study in linen for Free Spirit (this is Parenthetical in Deep).

I also really needed a little FQB of Locally Grown by Creative Thursday for Andover Fabrics.  I love the bright colors!

I couldn't resist getting a FQB of the new line by Sarah Watson for Art Gallery Fabrics, Indian Summer.

I think I should post a little more frequently because these posts are becoming a little jam-packed.