When in doubt...

make a zippy pouch!

I'm starting to think I must have been a marsupial in a previous life.  All of these have been gifts and the recipients have loved them because they have all been made with them in mind.

Be warned - there are lots of photos to follow!

First up, a bag for a friend who is moving to Japan.  I got to use my Drunkard's Path die for this project to create the Japanese flag.

The other side is a mixture of Japanese and British.  Last year at the Festival of Quilts I bought this sushi and tempura fabric on a whim.  It turns out it would come in very useful.  All the other fabrics are redolent of Britain (weather, food, icons etc.)  My friend loved receiving this!

 Next up we have a leaving gift for someone who loves his cats.  I have made a created patchwork images of his cats as I did for my craft room.

The ginger boy has a black growth on his mouth, which I wanted to capture.  My friend sussed this straight away (phew!)  The black and white cat is like their girl cat as well with her white splodges and white chin.  He was thrilled with this, though I suspect I enjoyed making this project even more!

More purple and more cats in these next two pouches.

It's just so nice to put together random fabrics and to have a project very quickly.  Simple patchwork and straight quilted lines are always going to be popular with me.

Thanks for visiting!

You guessed it - zippy pouches!

Lo and behold this week I've made another couple of zippy pouches!  These are for two student teachers who have had fantastic school placements with us and who we are preparing for their "proper" teaching jobs in September with lovely stationery.

There are so many pluses for me when I make these pouches.  First, I get to raid my stash and reacquaint myself with fabrics I may have forgotten.  Then I really love finding a perfect zip colour and then there is also the joy of finding a beautiful thread.  Ah, happy times!

They are both receiving their gifts at a meal out on Sunday.  I'm glad that they look distinctive and they complement their personalities.

At least I have something to show off for a Friday finish!

Oops!...I did it again!

Another blog post and another couple of zipped pouches.  I just cannot help myself at the moment.  I just love making these quick and cute gifts for people.  And as people love to receive them, I'm sure I will be making more in the future.

First up we have eight year old Clara's rainbow pencil case.  I loved picking the rainbow colours for this pencil case and I am pleased with my choice of zip which matches the interior perfectly.

In return Clara made me a gorgeous thank you card and a rainbow loom band bracelet.  I was thrilled!  She'll definitely be receiving more stitch gifts in the future!

Next up we have Elena's Russian pencil case.  Elena is a Russian work colleague, who's had a tough week.  I was stitching this last night at about eleven o'clock because I was desperate to complete it.  She was really pleased with it this morning and it was nice to see her smile.

The interior is a fabric I purchased at the weekend.  It was bad of me to buy it when I am meant to be stash-busting, but I just had to buy two fat quarters (one in the white, one in the blue) of these Holly Hobbie fabrics.  I think I can already justify these purchases as I've already used them in two projects and have made a big dent into them both.

It's been a while since I worked on a quilt.  This week I decided that had to change and that I would work on a crazy quilt which uses lots of different fabrics.  Some of these fabrics I've had for a while, some are recent purchases.  I'm not being precious about what I use and how they are put together.  The aim is just to get a quilt made using lots of different fabrics and to see how it looks at the end!

My stash has plenty of "critter" fabrics and I am pleased to have included many of them here.  All the squares are 2½" and I've been working hard to get good piecing.  The piece is 21 squares across, but I haven't decided upon the final length yet.

It has been great to use up plenty of scraps in this quilt.  I always feel virtuous doing that.  I have a nice backing fabric in stash and enough wadding, so this does feel like a stash-busting project.  So many novelty fabrics make it a great quilt for playing "I spy".  I don't know who will receive this quilt in the end but I am certainly having fun stitching it together.

Have a lovely stitching weekend!

Conquering 3D

Recently I've been making crafty things for sale at a friend's Christmas craft stall.  I've been doing my bit by making phone cases and these iPad cases:

I know that to most people these look a lot less complicated than my usual quilts, but I find anything 3D tricky.  My brain just cannot figure out what to do - there's just too much inside out and upside down and it messes with my head!  I think I've made about twenty cases in total now and I am now at the stage that I can make them without consulting the tutorial I made for myself, photo by photo, on my mobile phone.

I've really enjoyed making these iPad cases because I have worked with lots of different fabrics and put great combinations together of outside fabric, inside fabric and zips.  Here's hoping that people like my efforts and part with their money at the stall.