What is this problem, you ask? I have a weakness for fabric, I love it all, the colors, designs, texture, oh the creative possibilities. The problem is....I own WAY to much of it, it is overflowing, and stuck in every nook and cranny in my house, it is an addiction and a problem and it has to stop now! What is the solution? Easy, I joined Stashtacular! This great group was created by three lovely blog ladies, Blue Bird Sews, Spontaneous Threads, and Sew Happy Geek. This is a two part group, the first being that you agree to NOT PURCHASE any fabric for the month of July, OK, DONE. The second part involves a fabric swap, give up some of your stash and get new stuff in return, cool, right? Actually there is a third part to this group also, these three lovely blogs will be posting tons of new tutorials, and if you make any of the items from their tutorials, then you have a chance to win some awesome prizes. I thought this would be the perfect group for me to cut back on fabric purchases, meet some new bloggy friends and use up some of my stash! Win, win! It's not to late to join in! On a side note, I thought I would share a little "sneak peak" of a brand spanking new, still kinda smells like paint, piece of furniture to join my home as of last night! My husband has been diligently constructing this piece for quite some time now, and I am happy to say that it is now finished and sits happily in my living room. What is this piece of furniture you ask? Well, my hint for you guys sits on the shelf, and just might help me with my fabric problems!
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I joined a few more quilting bees/swaps! Because I don't have enough to do already. Ha Ha, so funny. The first I shall mention is a bee that needed a "fill in" member, unfortunately someone dropped out, and I stepped in to fill their shoes! This bee is a Christmas Fabric Bee and only lasts for six months, 2 ladies per month, ending in August. Since I stepped in late, I offered to make blocks for anyone who had already had their month. The first person to take me up on this was "spontaneousthreads" and she wanted everyone to make her modern mosaic blocks, using some pretty funky Christmas fabric. I love it, it is so unique and modern! These blocks were really easy and fun to make, I love the slight wonky style that they have! My next endeavor is more of a quilting swap, called the Scrapbuster Swap. This is their third round, and this time they are making Scrappy Depression Blocks. The premise behind this swap is that everyone signs up to make blocks in amounts of five (5, 10, 15, 20 and so on) then we all send them to the group leader, she divides them up and then sends you the same amount back, but constructed by someone else. This way you end up with a super scrappy quilt! I signed up for 10, did the math and figured I needed 10 white 5" squares, and 70 colorful 5" squares. I cut up scraps this morning, and was surprised to find that I had a lot of scraps that were just about 5", so that worked out perfectly! Now, I just need to get started sewing them together!
Look at what was in my mailbox! My Pretty {Little} Pouch Swap goodies! Can you tell how excited I am? Well I am ecstatic! The lovely Jenny (JennyDillyAnna) over at Squawk, baby! had my name, and created this lovely pouch and necklace for me!. The sheer talent here blows my mind! The pieced peacock, made exclusively of my favorite color purple! Then on the other side a piece that Jenny entitled "Be Envied" consists of free motion quilting all those gorgeous little birds on the wire! Amazing! I love the little guy all the way to the right all by himself, so cute! Then to top it all off, Jenny included this gorgeous green pearl necklace, with two clasps, allowing you to wear it so many different ways. Genius, I tell you, simply genius! I love the fact that I received a pouch that consists of a lot of techniques that I have never tried, it makes it that much more special! When I originally saw this piece in the Flickr pool, I thought, "Oh goodness, my partner isn't getting anything this fancy, this is artwork, not just a pouch!" So imagine my surprise when I opened the package to find this baby in my hands! Jenny, I love it and thanks so much for putting so much hard work and attention into this beautiful pouch! It will be cherished for years to come.
Well here she is, finished! This is my completed pouch for the Pretty {Little} Pouch Swap! This is my first time making a box pouch, and I used the tutorial found at The Plaid Scottie, and you can click HERE for directions on how to make one yourself! This tutorial was really great and easy! I changed up a few things, like dimensions, and the handle, you can really customize these style bags, which I love! I used a lot of Echino scraps, and some cool linen looking denim like weird material I found at Hancocks and now wished I had bought the whole bolt instead of one yard! I used fusible interfacing, and lined it with a great Amy Butler print, though I don't have any "open" shots. I did a bit of hand stitching, for that little extra touch and really hope that my partner loves it! It is just about 10" long and about 5" high, and would be a great "project" or "toiletry" bag. I also made this little "coin" pouch for my partner, using the Noodlehead tutorial, found HERE. This was my first time installing a zipper in this manner and I love it! This method creates such clean lines and a great turned edge, I was really pleased! I used some Heather Ross Far Far Away II scraps, and Echino for the backing (I think, I'm not really sure who designed the backing fabric!) I did a funky little caterpillar like pull string on the zipper pull, and just love how weird it looks! I ended up with a small little 1/4" trimming from the Heather Ross fabric, and instead of throwing it away, I stitched 3 lines down the center, and then frayed the edges to create this "unique" looking zipper pull. I was really happy that I challenged myself to try two new techniques for this swap, and was really pleased with the results of both of the tutorials that I tried. All I have to do now is find a few little goodies to put into the bag, wrap her up, and ship her off to my partner! I do hope you love it!
What happens when the weather is rainy and gloomy three days before Wednesday? That's right, no photos! Normally, I just wouldn't post at all, but this week I decided to go the silly route! So you are going to have to use your imagination! I finished my Style Stitches Checkbook Cover, and I honestly think it turned out great and was so much easier than previous Amy Butler projects, yippee! I also finished up my pouch for the Pretty Little Pouch Swap, also quite happy with the results! I will be posting about both of these projects as soon as I can take pictures. My Advent Calender Quilt is back from the long arm quilter and is now awaiting a binding, which I already have cut and ready to sew on! Plan on doing that today! Very excited to get this project wrapped up. I joined a sew-along this week to make a tunic for myself, you can read more about it HERE. I need to get working on this, and am quickly falling behind. That is all I have today folks! Sorry I don't have any photos, hopefully next time. Hopefully you had a successful week and were able to accomplish a lot! Finished Projects: Amy Butler's Style Stitches Beautiful Balance Checkbook Cover Pretty {Little} Pouch Swap Ongoing Projects: Organizing my OUT OF CONTROL Fabric Stash (65% complete) Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape Quilt-Along (5 of 16 blocks complete) Lily's Quilts Quilt-Along (Using Sherbet Pips) Advent Calender Quilt (Back Home and Awaiting Binding) Making a Light Box (Supplies bought, partly assembled) Sewing (for myself) a few tops/shirts. Other Random Projects: (These are not counted in my weekly stats!) A Box Full of Alterations and Random "Fix It" Projects. Roughly 150 + Items that are Finished and Need to Be Photographed for my Shop. This Week's Stats: New Projects - 1 Completed Projects - 2 Currently in Progress - 6 Dream Projects On Hold For Now: A Cathedral Window Quilt Cutting into the stack of Home Dec fabric to make Mary Rose Clutches. Sock Monkey Quilt Denyse Schmidt Home Dec Fabric Wall Hanging Quilt Making a bunch of clutches from a new pattern that I have purchased. Head over to Freshly Pieced to have a look at what everyone else is working on!
Hello Swap Partner,
I know that you will receive this pouch, but you have no clue that I have your name. These are the fabrics I have chosen for your pouch. Do you like them? I sure hope so! I am playing with patchwork, and a little hand embroidery, and a box shaped pouch. I really like your inspiration photos, and have so many ideas.... Until next time, Marci I have officially signed up for my first flickr' swap! How fitting that it would be pouches! The premise of this swap is that I will be assigned someone, that I will then make a pouch for (smaller than 12".) I will use their blog or flickr' account to learn about them, and everyone in the group is creating a collage of inspirational photos to give the person who gets them an idea of what they like and their own personal style. The whole thing is done in secrecy and you don't know who has you until you get your pouch in the mail! Sounds fun doesn't it! I am super excited! Below is my inspirational collage for this swap. I love every one of these pouches/details in their own way! The little squirrel up top is so cute, and how about that super colorful funky sun, did you notice the awesome embroidered human heart! Flickr' is amazing for the sheer amount of talented people creating and sharing their creations. My husband says that the Disney ride "It's a Small World" warped my brain at a young age, and maybe so, but I sure love all the rainbows of colors! 1. Squirrel Pouch, 2. Puffy Pouch, 3. ..., 4. such a star., 5. Little house pouch, 6. kawaii patchwork pouch, 7. Grumpy kitty pouch, 8. Pouch Pyramid, 9. Rosie pouch, 10. Logcabin Pouch, 11. Fatquartlerly inspired :-), 12. gnome friends patchwork pouch, 13. New size - winter modern girl round pouch, 14. The XL, 15. linen patchwork zipper pouches, 16. Pouch for partner, 17. new 2CV pouch, 18. a truly foxy pouch..., 19. Linen House Bag WIP, 20. Babushka pouch Created with fd's Flickr Toys www.bighugelabs.com/
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Marci GirlA feisty mom designing, sewing and blogging her way through everyday life!
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