One One Eleven

Happy New Year!  Old Man 2010 has been carried off feet first and Happy Baby 2011 is filled with the optimism and ebullience of youth.  We can none of us see the future, which is for the best, but we can hope for a year filled with joy, love and friendship, good health, and mental stimulation.  And, while we're at it, let's hope for a little prosperity as a garnish!  This year, please G-d, will be a year I mark two momentous milestones: my silver wedding anniversary and my daughter leaving the nest.  AND, if I have my way, I will also make many quilts and sewn goods!  Welcome, 2011!

I've had some time off, since the university closes down for the winter break.  I brought a stack of work home with me, but have done very, very little of it, I'm ashamed to say.  All that indolence ends in a matter of hours, alas.  Monday is our statutory holiday for New Year's Day, so I have two more days before I have to report to the salt mine, but I simply must make some headway on the pile of work I brought home and dumped in the closet.
Yesterday I made two little pouches that have been on my list for awhile.  I wanted to practice putting zippers in, since I haven't used a zipper foot since I was sixteen and made my prom dress.

The pouch in this photo comes from this tutorial.  It is about 5" x 9", and is  lined with cotton batting.  The exterior fabric is Heather Ross FFA2 linen/cotton blend.  Because the exterior fabric was thicker than regular quilting cotton and the cotton batting adds another degree of thickness, the corners on the top of the pouch aren't sharp.   I'm using this pouch to store my Quilt Patis diamond templates, and in this photo you can see the green cotton lining.  There are no raw edges inside, which keeps it all very neat.

If I were to make this again, I would cut the cotton batting smaller and make sure it is not included in the seam allowance to avoid the bulk.  Since it is quilted onto the linen, it doesn't need to be caught in the seam allowance to keep it from shifting.

I followed this tutorial to make the purple pouch.  I used scrap Echino linen from the Love Birds quilt I made back in August.  This one is lined with non-fusible interfacing to give shape to the box pouch, and lined with a Kaffe Fasset print.  This pouch was very, very quick to make, but, although it is lined, the seams are exposed on the inside of the pouch.  I used pinking shears to eliminate raveling, but it is not as neat and tidy as the orange pouch.  It makes for a handy place to store the thread I am using to sew up my EPP diamonds.

Surprisingly (to me), these were a big hit with my husband and daughter.  They both said, independently, "Wow, it looks like these came from a store!"  Which, of course, is the most back-handed compliment one can give to a crafter, no?  However, the right spirit was behind the words; my daughter then asked if I would teach her how to make them, so that she could give them to her friends, in the "university care packages" they are all making to give each other for next year, when they have all gone their separate ways.  But of course I will!