and I'm done!

I was so excited to finish the pouch for the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap that I broke my own rule and sewed past 9pm.  

On the plus side, I finished the pouch and I absolutely love how it turned out!  I kept waving it around in front of my husband who was also duly impressed.

On the down side... I broke my rule and as usual, something happened.  I cut my finger with my rotary cutter.  Typical.

Remember, I chose to join the advanced ranks?  I was a little nervous about this pouch meeting advanced specifications, so I made it using three different challenges for myself. 

1. I did some relatively difficult (at least for me) piecing with lots of parts.  Not a perfectly straight result, but still looks good.

2. I did some paper pieced applique - something I very rarely do.  I do paper piecing often, but not much hand stitched applique.  Again, not perfectly lined up, but lets just focus on the colour here, and you won't even notice.

3. I added some hand stitching to both sides.  I was a little stumped on how to add hand stitching to the star, but I think it worked out good.  On the back side, I tried a stitch other than the simple running stitch to embroider my partner's name on the pouch and I also love how that turned out.  

Course, I can't show that part yet because she might just check my blog and that would ruin the surprise.

It is a square pouch finishing at 8.5" on all sides.  

I really hope it meets my partner's expectations of an advanced pouch swap.

two finishes!

So my 'fail' from last time got some pretty good reviews on in the Flickr group.  I did not expect that at all!  Thanks everyone!

Because of that, I decided to try again.  This time, I knew the star had to be smaller, so I got rid of one row.  Then I fixed my angles and BAM!  It worked!

My partner said she liked calming colours paired with bold, so I used a neutral text fabric for the border.

For some people this may not be advanced piecing, but for me, this was really a challenge.  I really like how this turned out and I already have a plan for the back side of the pouch.  Can't wait to finish it and show it off!
One question, should I add some hand stitching?  Not sure if that would ruin it or make it just that little bit more special.

I also finally finished the dress I started, oh, about a month back...

My poor little niece was waiting and waiting patiently for her dress while her older sister enjoyed her pink version.  Well, here it is, the second Amanda's Dress from Lily Bird Studio!

The orange version with white piping.

I used store bought piping for this dress, but I think if I use piping again, I will make my own and make it just a bit thicker.

What little girl doesn't love a puffed sleeve?

Definitely a good finish.  

The real test comes this aft when my niece is here to try it on.

did you miss me?

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted!

D and I went on a 10 day trip to the Fraser Valley to visit some family - so that explains some of the absence.  I was still busy with some hand sewing though!

Before we left, I finished cutting out all the hexies so that they were ready to baste while I was away.  I had to make sure that I had enough of the Eggplant Beaded Curtain for binding, so I cut and sewed that first.  I have about 400" of binding.  I sure hope that's enough, otherwise it will be just a little scrappy in one part.  

I have no idea how much binding I will need as I have never made a full size quilt before.  Will 400" be enough?

While on holidays, I not only finished basting all the hexies, but I also made my first few flowers.  I have these 7 done plus another 4, then I had no more hexies left.

We don't have TV at home, and you know, hand sewing in front of the TV is the best!  I finished almost all the hexies while watching the Olympics.  Maybe we need a TV and then I will get done the Hexy MF in record time.  But then, my other jobs around the house might get ignored...

After we got home, I got right to work on finishing up a couple swaps I joined. 

The first finish was the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap.  We are swapping modern scraps and a scrappy item.  My partner is looking for red among other colours, and that is one colour I have a lot of.  Lucky partner.

I chose to make my partner a little coffee/tea gift - a scrappy cup cozy for her mug and a little pouch for some coffee money.  I sure hope she likes the scraps and can make use of the gifts.

The second swap is round 5 of the Pretty{little}Pouch Swap.  My partner has a pretty specific mosaic and that makes it so much easier to come up with an idea!  

I did want to try something a little different though.  Most pouches with rainbow colours have gray or white or text as a background colour, so I thought I would try rainbow with black. 

I chose to be in the advance category to really put myself to the challenge, and so after A LOT of piecing, ended up with this beauty.

I absolutely love how the colours pop against the black, but this project is a fail.

I used a tutorial that is in the works by Mad Quilter's Disease for the Snowflake Block.  (Her tutorial is based on the Rainbow Diamond Blossom block by Madame Parfait.)  But somehow, my block did not end up as it should.  It is supposed to have 6 wedges that make a circle, but I have 6 that don't do that.  Wrong angles?  I haven't analyzed the problem too closely yet because I also realized that this would be way too big for a pouch, so I quit.

  

Instead, I pieced together 4 and am thinking it might just end up a rainbow tree pillow cover.  

I also realized this might not be what my partner is looking for, so I am on to some other ideas for now.

E.T.A  The problem with the block turns out to be my angles.  They are just not big enough so the whole thing kind of shrunk up.  Ooops :)