sweet pouch swap, part 2 and a dalek surgery

I finished my pouch for the Sweet Pouch Swap!  Well, if I'm being honest, I finished my second pouch for the swap...  The first one is in my bag as a receipt/gift card pouch. After it was deemed unfit to be sent to anyone else, I trimmed off the bottom and sew it back up.  I cut new pieces out of my two fabrics and got to work sewing a new one.

This is the pouch that will be heading out of Ohio and making it's way up to Canada.

All I have left to do is to get a wee bit more candy to stuff it with and box it up!  I hope my partner enjoys it!

In addition to completing my pouch, I also had to perform some surgery on a Dalek.  

he lost his 'exterminator'

E-6000 glue is awesome!

starting to feel better?

he's looking at something...

YOU!  

 

sweet pouch swap, part 1

I'm very excited to be taking part in this fantastic swap put together by Ros at Sew Delicious in Australia!  I have never participated in a swap before but decided this was a perfect one to get my feet wet with!  Candy and sewing!  Awesome!

My partner didn't give me many details to go off of, actually none, so I'm making something I would enjoy in hopes that she will too!  I hope my easy going nature matches with her easy going nature and she'll enjoy what I'm making.  I did some internet stalking to try and find anything out about her tastes but to no avail.  I hope she likes what I picked!

After toying back and forth with numerous options I finally decided on this beautiful fabric from my stash.  It is Robert Kaufman, 2007, Little Darlings, 1930s reproduction print in a light mango colour.  I love it.  I only have a 1/4 of a yard of this fabric and am happy to be sharing it with an international neighbor!

I chose a natural coloured zipper and this coral coloured bias tape as an accent.  The bias tape is at least 30 years old.  My grandmother-in-law (101 years old) gave me a few boxes of bias tape and some of them are from the 30/40s all the way through the 80/90s!  I've decided the lining will be this cream and pale blue checker material that has a similar tone to it.

As for the 'sweet' part of this swap, I've procured some 100% allergen free chocolate bars for my partner(nut allergies).  I'm thinking some candies from the largest candy store in the US, b.a. Sweetie, will also be in order.

I'm very excited to start sewing this pouch so I better get too it, eh!?

Cheers!

reaping the benefits

Back in May of 2012 I entered a little quilting contest at Sew Happy Geek that you can read about here.  I happily dove straight in to creating my first quilt and absolutely loved it.  I was very proud and shared my little work of art with all my friends and family and low and behold I won the most popular vote!  I was shocked!!  And extremely grateful!!

Now, 8 months later, I am enjoying reaping the benefits of that win finally!  I received, quite promptly might I add, my prize in the beginning of June.  A $35 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop!  Oh my goodness, I am in heaven!  So many amazing fabrics to choose from!  Over the past 8 months I have definitely spent hours pouring through page after page of awesomeness.  It was so hard to finally commit!  But I did!  And I can't wait for my order to arrive!

I'm most excited for this one:

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!