who doesn't love a zipper pouch?

Hello there!  It's been about a month since my last post and MAN, what a month it has been.  I swear, I have never had a busier two weeks than this holiday season!  Started with our Alpha Christmas with our friends and their children on December 22nd.

Followed by a mini-Harry Potter Party for my cousin's children and my son on the 23rd.

Then, Christmas Eve with my family at my Aunt's house.

Christmas day was spent at home, then my grandmother-in-law's, then finished the night off with a taste of the Doctor back at my Aunt's house.  (Really enjoyed the Christmas Special of Doctor Who this year...)  The 26th is my grandmother-in-law's birthday, and we intended on going out to dinner at a fantastic restaurant near our airport here in Cleveland called The 100th Bomb Group, BUT a blizzard changed our minds.  So birthday breakfast the next morning for my 101 year old grandmother-in-law.  Yes, she is 101!  It's crazy.  She still cleans her bathtub and washes all the dishes.  She's pretty amazing.  Anyhow, I finally had a breathing moment but then we had a wedding to go to on the 29th that I was making a gift for.  Of course it got pushed until after the holiday because I had so much sewing going on before then.  Matching jammy pants for cousins, Hogwarts robes for first years, fabric wand for our youngest witch, and the list goes on.

{{{WOW, this gets pretty wordy here, but I don't have any photos to add in so I apologize in advance!}}}

After all of that busyness, I happily rested in the beginning of January.  Actually, I bought a cheap "charm pack" (it only had 24 squares and cost $3) while taking my mom shopping at Big Lots and decided I would hand sew all the squares together to make a little lightweight stroller quilt for my best friend's baby.  I truly loved the feel of hand sewing them...I think it in a strange way it feels very organic.  I'm almost finished with that(just waiting to iron all the seams and find a suitable backing piece or pieces...) and I also made myself a little felt needle pouch. Now when I want to sit with my family while watching a movie and do some hand sewing I don't need to take my pin cushion with me, as my cats see it as a new toy and I'm inevitably on hands and knees searching for pins in the carpet...

On to this week.  I stumbled upon this fantastic swap going on:  Sweet Pouch Swap!!   It's being organised by Ros of Sew Delicious and I'm so excited to be taking part!!!  This is my first swap and I can't stop telling my family how excited I am.  So to spare them from further babbling, I decided I'd type up this little post.  I received my partner's info and am a little unsure how I want to proceed.  I can't decide if I want to make a funky scrappy pouch, or a quilted pouch with 'traditional' fabrics, or a brightly coloured pouch, or an owl pouch(oh wait, that one might be for me...).  The pinterest board is filling up with fabulous ideas and inspiration and I can't wait to get started.

And then the hunt for what sweets to include!  The fun part about this swap is that so many people are participating from all over the world!  From Australia to Norway!!  So you may get candy from New Zealand that you've never heard of!

On to sit in my sewing room and stare at fabric and zippers!

Have a great day everyone!