Not one but two finishes!

I am surprised to find that I have not one, but two finishes to report this week! I shall probably have to lie down in a darkened room for a while after writing this post to recover :)

First up is this paper-pieced patchwork pouch (that's a bit of a mouthful to say!), which I have been wanting to make for a while.

The pattern for the pouch is from Patchwork Please by Ayumi Takahashi, which I bought when it first came out a while ago, but this is the first project that I have actually made from it. I am delighted with how the pouch turned out, but there was some head-scratching involved in interpreting the instructions.

"Mark the centre points on both long edges of the panel 1.25" from either corner"

I still have not been able to work out this one!

Emboldened by my success though, I decided to have a go at another project from the book. Rather rashly I thought that I would have a go at the Embroidery Pouch, where I hit my first problem. The pouch in the book has a delightful patchwork star pattern for the front panel, but although there are several other paper piecing patterns for other projects in the book, readers were blithely instructed to draw templates on paper to create their own. Now, it may just be me, but I feel that if I have paid good money for a book of patterns then maybe it is not unreasonable to expect that the patterns might be included! As it was the templates provided to piece the star block front panel needed to be resized and given my recent problems with the photocopies I didn't really think that my son would take too kindly to another request :)

So, I decided to do my own thing instead!

I rummaged through my scrap basket to find all my sewing related fabrics and used them to create this front panel.

The interior of the pouch includes a see-through vinyl pocket with binding. Given that vinyl is not a material that many sewers will have a lot of experience with, I thought that the instructions for the pocket were particularly sparse. Again, I never could get my head around the binding instructions, so after one failed attempt trying to understand them I gave up and did it my own way. It seems to have worked :)

Again, I am happy with how the Embroidery pouch turned out but I do feel that it was despite rather than because of the instructions.

I won't be put off trying other projects in the book, but I will be more wary of the instructions for the projects from the outset.

If you can make head nor tail of the marking instruction do let me know, as it has me completely baffled :)



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Sew the Library at Weekend Doings
     

Come in Number Three!

I was beginning to get a bit worried but I am relieved to find that my third Pay it Forward parcel has now arrived at its' destination! Phew!!

I have been wanting to try making a QAYG pouch for a while now, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to scratch that itch :)

The instructions for the pouch have been gathering (virtual) dust on one of my Pinterest boards so it is nice to have also made a pinned project too. The instructions are available here if you would like to give them a go. 

Can you tell that Nessa's favourite colour is green??

Oh and here's the photo of the front of Jo's pouch that I couldn't find yesterday!

If you would like to join in the Pay it Forward fun too, head on over to Nessa's Place where Nessa is looking for three more volunteers to take part. All the details you need to participate are on Nessa's blog.

A Quilted Pouch

This week has all been about practising with my new (and modified!) Free Motion Quilting foot.

 And here is the result of my practice - a quilted zipper pouch!

My daughter-in-law to be's favourite colour is purple, so this is destined for her.

Here is a close-up of the quilting from the interior of the bag, appropriate don't you think for today :)

A tutorial for the pouch is available here

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