A Pouch, Crochet Sweater, and Green Eggs no Ham

I made the cutest little pouch! I used Chase's tutorial at 1/4" mark. She has some really cute tutorials on her blog and I want to make the triangle zipper pouch next. Too cute! I enjoy hand quilting more and more each time I do it. This was so fun because I didn't over think my fabric choices. I just chose some of my favorites and started sewing not thinking too much about placement. I even got to use one of my cute fabric covered buttons. Bonus!

Here's a shot of the lining. I love both of these prints so much and although they do not "match" I love them together. 

Here's the back. It's just so cute! The tutorial is for an I-pad mini pouch but seeing as I don't have one of those I'll be using mine as a clutch type thing. Probably diapers, wipes, keys and wallet. It's pretty roomy.

I started crocheting a sweater for the baby. I am not so good at it but it's fun. I learned how to crochet when I was a teenager and I made lots of hats and scarfs but this is the first pattern I've followed. The pattern is free here.

Lastly but not leastly :) Our chickens started to lay eggs! YAY! This is so very exciting for me. We had three chickens a few years ago. They were Leghorns and laid white eggs. That was fun but this is AWESOME!
So far we've gotten greenish blue, lighter blue, pinkish brown, light brown and brown. Very fun!!!

Eye Candy ~ The Fabric Kind

Today I have a little bit of eye candy for you! Isn't this gorgeous?! I got this incredibly beautiful bundle of Atsuko Matsuyama fabric from Shay's shop Simply Sweet Fabric. Have you visited her shop yet? It's AWESOME!!! She has a great selection of Japanese fabric like the above Atsuko prints and Lecien Flower Sugar, umm, yes please!!! 30's reproduction prints, you know how much I love those. She has a really beautiful bundles and yardage of Briar Rose by Heather Ross. She also still has some Pam Kitty Morning! There are patterns and hexie templates too. So, yeah, I'm loving her shop.

Fresh from the package! My Atsuko fat quarters.

I'm squealed when I opened the package. These prints are even better in person. 

 Love, love, love these selvedges. Look at that little strawberry. You can click on the picture to make it bigger I think. Definitely saving these!

Sometimes it's hard to wash a beautiful bundle like this, but I am a pre-washer so it had to be done. They felt really nice after I washed them.

I am going to make some hexies with these pretties and turn them into a pouch. I'll probably use some linen too.

Another shot of this pretty stack, just because! Playing with fabric is almost as good as sewing with it.

One last thing before I go... Thank you all for the sweet Happy Anniversary wishes. My husband brought these Mums home to me. He thought that I would like them because they can be planted and come back every year. Aren't they pretty? I've never seen any like these before.

Hope the rest of your week is great!
xo Erin

Strawberry Pincushion Swap is ON!!!

Hey, Hey, Hey! What's Happening! The Strawberry Pincushion Swap sign-ups are ready over on flickr. Come on over and join us, okay?!!!

Catching Up...

Guess who has high-speed internet? this girl! I forgot just how nice it is. After more than a year on dial-up I am thrilled with high speed. I can use Pinterest again, which is pretty fun. I also "revived" my old instagram. The link is on my sidebar if you are also on IG. I have a ton of e-mail to go through so if you haven't heard from me, you will soon :)
I still want to have a strawberry pincushion swap (mentioned in the previous post) and will set up a flickr group for it this week. I'll let you know when I do.
I've been trying to organize my tiny little sewing space and my stash. My husband made this cabinet for me years ago and it's been in our kitchen, using it to hold my vintage Pyrex, tea pots and cook books. I stole it from my kitchen and put it in our room to hold my fabric. Sounds reasonable, right? I have a big storage container holding about this much more fabric. I think my stash is pretty well under control. I know exactly what I have now. My next project is tackling scraps. yikes!

I pulled out some old blocks that I need to keep working on, just waiting for some solid white to arrive. My toddler loves playing with the dresden petals. Future quilter? hope so :)

I had a custom order for a Christmas stockings bird quilt. These are a favorite of mine to make, with each stocking representing your child, grand child or family member. Seven stockings, blessed indeed!

I have a link to share with any of you fellow homeschoolers or those of you considering it. It's a completely free, full k through high school, every subject curriculum. Seriously, a true blessing to many. Check it out here.

I was wondering if any of you might be able to answer a question for me?... Sometimes I see links to my blog and on the url they say .au, .se, or .uk not .com Does anyone know why that happens? Is it a blogger thing? Just curious.

Hope all is well where you are....
Happy sewing!
xo Erin

Strawberry Pincushions (tips on how to make them and pattern resource)

Around the time I was making those cute fabric covered buttons I also made some strawberry pincushions.

I'd had a pattern saved for ages and never got around to making any. Then when Heather and I had a swap she sent along this cute little strawberry. I loved it and thought it would be great to make some too, to send along with swaps and bee packages.

I made some smaller ones sewing a basic cone shape using half of a circle. After the first one I just drew a top to sew on them. I wanted a more leafy looking top instead of the scalloped top the pattern I used had.

I mad some bigger strawberries by cutting an 8 inch circle into thirds (like 3 big slices of pie). Instead of sewing them like cones I sewed a curved bottom edge making them look a little more like strawberries. 

I used felt for the tops and stitched them down with embroidery floss.

I threaded my needle with baker's twine and knotted the end, ran my needle under the top coming up in the center. Went back down into the center next to where the needle had come up, pulled it through and out from under the leaves, made a knot.

You can also use some buttons and small felt flowers to pretty them up.

So basically all you do is cut a circle, cut that into half or thirds. Bring your sides together (right sides facing), sew up the side, turn it right side out, stuff it, gather the top using a basting stitch, attach a top to it, embellish as you like. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Here are some free pattern resources for you...

Martha Stewart Strawberry Pincushion

Pam Kitty Morning Strawberry Delight

Vintage Strawberry Pincushion

Anyone interested in a Strawberry Pincushion Swap???

Chevron Quilt Finished

I finished the chevron quilt yesterday. For a small quilt, it took what seemed like forever to finish. Gone are the days of marathon sewing for me....for now. I'm really happy with this one. Following the lines of the chevrons seemed like the natural quilting choice here. It just kinda flowed.

Here's as shot of  that 30's feedsack repro, I mentioned in the previous post, I used for the binding. I think it looks like it was just meant to go with this quilt.
I backed it with the Girl Friday (Cosmo Cricket) wreaths that I used for a few of the blocks on the front.  I listed it in my shop. I have a few more things to list as I get the time. Oh, sweet time, ha!

Here's a little peak at what keeps me busy these days. The baby can sit up all by herself now. She's growing so fast and I don't want to miss a second of it.

xo Erin

Pink & Aqua, Sea Foam, Chevron, Ric-Rac Style Quilt Top

I found a few half-square triangles while organizing my fabric a few weeks ago. I started playing around with them making a chevron, ric-rac-y layout. I really liked how it looked so I made more HST's to make this quilt top. I love, love, love the colors.

 

My daughter and I played with different layouts finally deciding on this one. I found a really cute 30's feedsack print that I want to use for the binding.

There's not much time for sewing lately and that's okay. I've been busy with our lesson plans for the new school year and getting everything organized. Having fun buying school supplies. There's nothing like a new pack of crayons to spark creativity.

Happy Wednesday!!! 

xo Erin