(almost) Friday Finish

Remember this random red and aqua quilt which I started for no particular reason other than I felt like it? The top is finally finished after having started it a couple of months ago. I really don't like projects hanging around like this. I'm always worried they'll end up in project purgatory, so I'm glad the top is done.

The quilting will be next but since that's my favorite part, it won't take long as long as I can carve out some time in the schedule. Famous last words, right?

As it turned out, It was quite a bit of work to piece all those strips together since I needed 80 of them and that was only half the work for the block. I like how it came together though. It's been named the Stepping Stones quilt by my son.
Appropriate I think since it will live on the patio in the summer.


Happy Sewing!

My turn....UHG Swap

Check out these fantabulous goodies from my UHG Swap partner, JenniferLGB.

Didn't she do a great job? These Orla Kiely inspired placemats are so perfectly suited to my tastes - I really love that design and I love Jennifer's execution. The colors are perfect for our home and, well, I just love them all the way around. She even made matching napkins and coasters! ACK I love it all.



You can't really tell from the pictures, but the cream fabric is linen - which totally lends a luxurious feel to the whole set! If I haven't said it enough, I'm pretty smitten!

She even included a couple of pieces of Amy Butler fabric - I've already commandeered the pink one for the next project ;)
Thank-you Jennifer! You totally had me pegged. And thanks again to Heather , Kerri and their many swap helpers (who I can't name) for running another awesome swap! You ladies rock!

Happy Sewing!

Urban Home Goods Swap goodies

As you may know, I have been stuck on participating in Flickr based Swaps for the last few months. It has been a blast and I have met many wonderful sewists and crafters. This latest completion is for the Urban Home Goods Swap, round 2. As the name suggests, the range of items to make is pretty wide open. My partner gavemany specific suggestions, but still left the range pretty wide. So after stalking her a bit, I decided on this little set of goodies.My partner knits, and had suggested a knitting needle case among other things, so I decided a knitting set would be in order.

I designed this bag specifically with the knitter in mind.

It's large enough for a single project to take on the go. Long enough so that straight needles will fit in the bottom plus there is some extra room for the pouch.

My knitting bag always has lots of little things like darning needles, rulers and snips floating around in the bottom. So I thought a little pouch to contain all those things might be useful.

To be honest, I could really use a new knitting bag myself - my current bag is about 15 years old and is really a gardening bag that I re-purposed. So it's with some reluctance that I am sending this one off to my partner.

I used colors that my partner likes and paired that with some linen for a modern feel. Fabrics include Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom, Sis boom basics, Amy Butler prints, Joel Dewberry, Anna Maria Horner and Michael Miller's antiquities, all paired with natural linen. I added a little quilting on the linen to tie things together.

I really love the bag, I'm going to make myself one, one of these days. The flower on the front adds the finishing touch and I used this tutorial from sewritsytitsy . Love this flower - I'm going to have to find an excuse to make myself a few more...

The knitting needle case was made following the same directions as the case in the last post. I think it all comes together for a fun set.

I hope you like it partner, because it should be in your neck of the woods any moment now!

Happy Sewing!