Sew Sew Modern Received!

So this morning, after I left the house I realized that it was the fourth. I had it in my head that it was the third all morning, so I don't have a nine month check in on the Marathon Quilt ready. I promise that I will tomorrow. Instead I wanted to show (off) the amazing swap package I just received from the Sew Sew Modern Swap. I know I said I was done with swaps for a while, and I am, but I signed up for this one way back in September before I made that decision. My friend Sarah is one of the Swap Mamas and invited me to join and with the long timeline I couldn't resist. 

  

I have to say I was simply amazed by a lot of what I saw being created in this swap. People put in some serious thought, time and energy. It was an outstanding swap. There were so many items that people were posting that made me swoon, including Jackie's items. Every time she posted something my heart skipped a little. And when I saw her finished bags it stopped completely. I mean, they're fabulous!

   

When she was sending her package out she did mention that her partner likes to travel. So I started hoping and wishing it was coming to me. And then it arrived on my doorstep. I am the luckiest girl! Woot! Even my husband commented on the bags. He was impressed and that's a huge compliment!

 

She completely understood my tastes and likes and got my love of quirky whimsy. I'm already using the main bag today at work. I couldn't resist! It's hard for me to pick my favorite out of all of her incredible work, but isn't that little bird with the scissors To-Die-For? Really?! It's just awesome! So, thank you Jackie. You totally rock! I am so thrilled with the bags you made just for me. I couldn't imagine better swap swag. Seriously you're incredible. Thank you so much!

PLPS Sent

So you know that amazing package I received from Whitney in the Pretty Little Pouch Swap last month? Well, I got to return the favor because she was actually my secret partner too. Fancy that! Unfortunately I don't think I was able to do nearly as good a job on her package as she did on mine. There was no way to top it. 

As I was stalking Whitney I quickly learned that mermaids made her swoon, so when I saw the new Sarah Jane "Out to Sea" line I quickly snatched it up for her. Then I had a hard time cutting it up since it was so super cute. And I guess that's where I was getting hung up. I had this nagging feeling that the pouch was too simple, especially after the awesomeness I received from her. 

But I couldn't resist. I kept it simple and let the fabric speak for itself, choosing to embellish rather than piece. Originally I was going to make her a bento box bag but she specifically requested a zipper closure so I switched things up and used a pattern from an old issue of Stitch Magazine, with some modifications.

I embroidered starfish and kelp onto one side of the pouch and then designed and pieced a sailing ship to appliqué on the other side of the bag. 

I also fussy cut the side panels to capture my favorite mermaids at play.

Sadly, I had started piecing a smaller pouch to go inside, but I was given 36 hours notice to be on a plane for work, and knew I wouldn't return home before the shipping deadline so it did not make it into the package. I did, however, fill the bag with lots of other little goodies, including a mermaid embroidered tea towel and a pocket hoop for her sewing space storage.

I wish I could live up to the greatness she sent me, but in the end I opted to let the fabric speak for itself. I loved having Whitney as a partner - both ways! She totally rocks!

Sew Fun June Blocks

Ever thought working in Television was lovely and glamourous? Well, think again my friends. Saturday afternoon I got a phone call informing me that I was booked on a flight to New York on Monday morning. Um, how about a "Hello. How you doing?" first. I wasn't armed with much other information than I was needed on location in New Jersey for an indefinite amount of time. Yeah, and I'm already behind on bee blocks and have a To Do List a mile long. Ugh. So I prioritized and started hustling, even waking up at 5:30 am yesterday morning to finish up a couple "Must Dos" before I left the house at 9:30 am to catch my flight. I didn't even have time to get to the post office, so my lovely and amazing husband is doing that for me.

I caught up on several Bee Blocks. I'm still behind, but I'm getting closer. Hopefully I'll only be out here on the road for a week, so I'll be able to catch up on the rest as soon as I get home. But my first priority was to finish up Amber's Bottled Rainbows block for the Sew Fun Bee. This one was the furthest past due.

She's making a king sized quilt, so these blocks were ginormous - not your standard Bottled Rainbows. She sent us out the frames already made, but couldn't find the batting she cut when she sent the packages out so it wasn't the standard QAYG method. Since the scraps are machine appliquéd onto the background, using some sort of stabilizer really makes difference, otherwise the fabric could pucker or bubble. I opted to use a lightweight fusible interfacing on the back of the white center to provide some stability for my appliqué. This worked like a dream. If you want to make these blocks but don't want to quilt-as-you-go, I would highly recommend using a lightweight interfacing as backing.

I've made this type of block before, and I used spray baste last time to keep the pieces in place after I settled on a layout. This time I tried something a little different. I cut double sided Steam-a-Seam into pieces the same size as my scraps to fuse them onto the fabric. It's a little more time consuming, but not really that much more, and it's cleaner - less gummy. Don't get me wrong, I love spray baste, but for a project with pieces this small, sometimes it can be a little annoying since it's an aerosol spray and covers larger spaces better than little tiny ones. So one more down and safely on it's way back home. I hope Amber loves it! P.S. It was also a little breezy when I was taking pictures of the blocks I caught up on this weekend. I just love seeing blocks and quilt tops blowing in the wind. It makes me happy.

PLP5 Progress

One thing I forgot to mention about my little trip South of the Border... I came home with a nasty case of Swimmer's Ear. We landed on Thursday evening and I thought I could wait to see my doctor the next morning, but after the plane ride I felt like a trip to the Urgent Care that evening would be better. So I've been on ear drops and pain killers since Thursday night. The pain is better, but the swelling hasn't decreased so I still can't hear out of my right ear and my left ear was getting sore yesterday, so I put some of the drops in that ear last night, and this morning can barely hear out of either ear, so I'm trying to get in to see my doctor. Ugh.

That, combined with entertaining my brother and husband for their birthday celebrations this weekend didn't give me much time for sewing. But I did get started on the pouch I'm making for my secret partner in the Pretty Little Pouch Swap. I was inspired to join this swap after receiving my awesome bags from Kay. After doing a little research (aka stalking my partner) I saw this new fabric come in at Hawthorne Threads and I thought it would be right up her alley so I snatched some up and I decided to pair it with something from my own stash for the lining.

The mermaids really inspired me so the little time I had to sew this weekend, I worked on cutting out her pouch and embellishing the mermaid fabric. I found some clip art of a sailing ship and I printed it out. I traced the ship onto the mermaid fabric using embroidery tracing paper then I cut the pieces out of the paper.

Using double sided fusible web I fused one side to the fabric scraps I wanted to use for each piece and then I used the paper templates to cut out the pieces from the fused fabric then fused them onto the mermaid fabric following the outline I traced. The last step was to machine appliqué the pieces down, using a light brown thread I thought would provide a nice contrast.

On the other side of the fabric I started embroidering some sea creatures and kelp. I'm thinking about adding a little more kelp and maybe one more starfish, but I'm not sure yet. What do you think?