Placemats finished and waiting to be used...

Mmm....Bundles of fabric...I'm such a sucker for them! 

When I saw these at Fabric Rehab, I instantly thought they would look great with some linen as place mats and I knew just the pattern to try them out on .

Although I did start with just three bundles of Cloud 9's Cut out and Keep, I did go back and buy a meters of three prints for the back of each place mat. A combination of Kona solids and some coloured linen were used for coordinating fabric.

The pattern was found when flicking through Handmade by Alissa blog one day and thought that here was a project that would be easy and I could whip them up over a weekend.....that was when I was only making four....it soon turned to 12.  Three sets.

I sort of got sick of making these and keep putting them off to finish but they did have to be finished and am happy to see that I can tick this off the list on the Finish A Long with Rhonda.

The top set was given to my sister for her table.

The second was for me.

And the third...may come in handy for a friends birthday.

I did be a bit more adventurous with the quilting on the last, and are still my favourite of all three sets.

Now I was being a bit adventurous and make coaster for each set but I made them to be binded and it was just too much fuss and they were not neat so I ditched them.  It was a pitty as I loved the little red ones. 

Whooo hooo.  Another project crossed off  my list of unfinished projects!

Now to Link up to Rhonda at the Quilter in the Gap.  She'll be sick of me by now.

Erin

Mouthy Stitches Part 2....

As you all know I have been joining in with the girls on Flickr in making a zippy pouch for my secret partner.

There have been some fantastic pouches made and love to see everyones ideas and designs.

I wanted to try something different but as I have a very experienced sewer, I have been a little scared that my skills at the good old zips would not be the greatest.

So this is my first attempt at a pouch.  

Front

Back

Now I  did get a response from her but it wasn't the most exciting response, so was a little worried that it was a bit to bold and .....pink.  I don't think I am that crash hot on it myself and then this happened....

The zip was a disaster. 

1. I had to cut a zip down to size to fit the pouch. 
2. I think I sewed the seams about 1/2 an inch so the bulk of the three fabrics and batting really is why I can't do much with the corners. 
3. The pouch looks a bit silly as both ends at the top are not square.

I've had a good few responses letting me know that there is nothing wrong with it. But when you are not 100% happy..........

Maybe this is why I have never put anything up on my etsy store that I make as I always find something that may not be perfect  with my quilts and would hate to think someone would not be happy with a purchase. ( I really need to get over this, don't I!!)

So yesterday after umming over it all week, I decided to make another.

Front

Back

And look I think I got it this time!

The new pouch came out quite large...I think about 10"x 9". I think you would be able to fit a kindle in it.

 I made it around my 10" zip that I had.  No messing it up this time.

 

My third pouch was another practise with a cheap zip.

Now my secret Mouthy Partner will have to decide which one she likes best. But as for me I'll be putting the zips away for a little while  and go back to making quilts.

Erin