Skinny Pinnie - Received!

We are closing out our 

Skinny Pinnie Pincushion Swap!

By now, everyone should be mailing

and receiving their finished pinnies.

As the "swap mama" I had the luxury

of choosing my partner,

and I selected the lovely and talented

Beverly, of golfingbev on Flickr.

Look what came in the mail for me,

courtesy of Beverly!

There is so much goodness in here,

starring the most adorable...

and petite...skinny pinnie,

composed of teeny tiny hexagons!

See that needle book in the background?

It's made to match the pinnie,

from a Nana Company tutorial

that I must try someday soon.

{Sigh...}

{Photo by golfingbev on Flickr}

There are little treasures I'd never seen before,

such as Japanese zippers...

with French sayings...

Or little cherry zip pulls!

There are Japanese sewing and crafting goodies galore

in this little stack of sweetness.

I love each one to bits!

{Everything was all bundled up with bits of Washi tape!}

There was something old...vintage feedsacks!

And something new...this handy Seam-Fix

seam ripper with a little thing on top

for picking up the snips of thread.

{Of course I may never need to try that tool, since I'm such a perfect stitcher. Ahem...}

There are more fabric samples, too...

little teapot prints I had admired on Bev's Flickr site...

and even a Glamping mini charm pack!

{Can you find it, among all of the treasures?}

And look at this darling little tag!

I first noticed Beverly's sewing talents

during the Zakka Along 2.0 Patchwork, Please sew along.

Beverly has a distinctive style,

mixing bits of fabric to create detailed treasures

that leave me breathless.

Check out her photostream, and you will see what I mean!

Beverly's Patchwork Please Apron - Polka Dot Cafe

Thank you, Beverly, for spoiling me rotten!

{I will be able to trace my new Japanese sewing fixation to this magic moment.}

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Tea Time - A Thoughtful Mug Rug

Hello, friends!
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
I enjoyed seeing our family and friends
and celebrating this most wonderful holiday
with all of the special foods and music!

{With a dining room table filled with gift wrap and cookies,
I took a self-imposed hiatus from my sewing machine,
but I hope to be back in business any minute.}

Remember when I was making my

Thoughtful Pincushions,

using Susan Branch illustrations and phrases,

from a fabric panel?

I've still got quite a stack of sweet sentiments left,

and I've used one of them to make

this charming little mug rug,

just right for tea time.

{I loved the colors from my Rainy Day pinnie, so I used that palette.}

Here you can read the lovely quote by Louisa May Alcott...

This was a simple patchwork design...

I just framed the quotation in lots of my favorite prints.

Many of them happen to be from the Bake Sale line...

since I've been having so much Quilty Fun lately!

I added lots and lots of straight-line quilting this time.

{Those lines are only about 1/4" or so apart.}

The quilting really shows up on the back side.  Great texture, huh?

As usual, I have fusible fleece inside the layers.

It makes for a nice flat mug rug...

so my mug won't tip over.

The machine binding was done using my own free tutorial.

I wish I could invite each of you to join me

for a nice cup of tea...

But that's what blogs are for, right?

Come back often, and stay for a while!

I've made sew many wonderful friends through blogging and sewing,
and I wish each of you, near and far,
a very Happy New Year ahead,
filled with good health and good stitching!

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Week #2 - Zakka 2.0 Let's Do Lunch!

All over blogland,

sweet peppers have been popping up,
thanks to the Patchwork, Please Zakka 2.0 sew along!

Even though this was a fairly straightforward project,

I was amazed at the variety and innovation
people put into it.

{Hop on over to Lindsey's blog, and then to the Flickr group, and you'll see what I mean!}

My photo even made Explore on Flickr!

I can't wait to see what happens this week,

with the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner towels.

{Here's my contribution:  LUNCH!}

My sister Susie gifted me with a piece of cotton toweling

by Moda, finished off on the side edges

with a pretty vintage green stripe.

Source:  Quilter Studio

I just knew it was perfect for this project!

I chose some 30's repro scraps and a few other favorites

and went to work.

The pattern calls for enlarging the letters in the words,

but my toweling was only 16" wide,

so didn't enlarge any of the templates,

including the adorable salt and pepper shakers.

I followed the directions provided, with success.

When the salt and pepper shakers were done,

they looked a wee bit like girls in dresses, to me.

Luckily, I had some text prints on hand,

for the finishing touch!

{Ta-da!}

Now, you may know I love me some ricrac!

Ayumi added such a darling detail, using ricrac

for a little hanger up in the corner of the towel.

Instead, I decided to use a 2" x 6 1/2" scrap of

my precious sunshine yellow

Recipe for Friendship fabric,

to make my little hanger.

I used the same print for the towel binding.

I only had to finish the top and bottom edges of my towel,

so this was a really quick and fun project,

and it used minimal fabric.

Now for my likes and dislikes...dislikes are first:

Let me just reveal to you now that I'm a tightwad

when it comes to fabric...and everything else, I guess.

There is just no way I'm going to use

the amount of LINEN that is suggested,

for making even one towel.

{Much as I love the look, I just can't do that!}

Not only that,

I prefer using cotton tea towels, except for drying glassware.

If I hadn't had this awesome piece of Moda toweling,

I would have used one of the cotton towels

I like for my Stay-Put tea towels.

{They come in all different colors, and would be great 

for this project...and not so expensive.}

And my "likes" are numerous this week...

I just love this project in general, 

for its gift potential and versatility.  

I can visualize these vintage-style shapes decorating

lots of other kitchen items, too!

{How about some hot pads with the salt and pepper shakers?}

Fusible applique is such a fun and useful technique,

and I always feel a sense of success using this method,

even in shapes and letters with sharp curves.

The way these tiny scraps can add up to something so pretty

never ceases to amaze me.

I especially loved the method Ayumi described for attaching the binding.
I had no problems securing the edging neatly.

My new LUNCH towel is so sweet and sentimental.

It reminds me of all the special kitchens of my childhood...

all of my grandmas and my great-grandmother

were fabulous cooks.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to buy some more toweling

and finish the set!

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Mug Rug Swap - Part 1 - From Amanda to Amy

I've taken a couple of weeks off from the Zakka Style Sew Along...

{But don't worry!

I plan to jump back in later this week.}

I've enjoyed the Sew Along so much,

in part because I've met some new sewing friends

from all over the world.

We comment on one another's projects on blogs or Flickr accounts.

Because of the Zakka Cloud Mug Rug,

I engaged in a mug rug swap with

Amanda of The Patchsmith.

Go on over to her fabulous blog and say hi for me!

{Just LOOK at what she's done with her Stem Messenger Bag!!!}

Amanda lives in England,

in a little village that she says is as lovely as it sounds.

{I'm picturing cottages and hedges, little shops and Jane Austen...}

{Pinterest photo}

Amanda went to work, stitching up a little gem that combines,

as she puts it, a little bit of herself,

a little bit of me, and

a little bit of Southern England.

Follow along, as I unwrap my package...

{LOOK!  I received something from the ROYAL MAIL!}

Already I love the British wrapping paper,

with Union Jack hearts, and lots of polka dots!

First off, let's look at the mug rug!

{A-DOR-A-BLE!!!}

There's a note inside explaining the design process...

the little flowers and the blackbird

reflect the sights of the season in England.

{Notice all the little pieces in the background, too!}

The butterfly is the rare and beautiful

Adonis Blue,

native to Southern England!

Look at all the pretty handstitched details,

and the little caption...

{Perfect!!!}

Hmmm...what else has come along for the long ride across the pond?

I may have confessed my fascination for Cath Kidston.

Up until now, though, I've only ever seen the catalog.

Now I've got a pretty cosmetic bag!

{Just look at that little zipper pull...awesome!}

As if all this were not already making me squeal,

in her lovely card, Amanda mentioned that she'd also enclosed

some muffin cases to commemorate

the Diamond Jubilee!

{What's that, peeking out from the polka dots?}

Oh, how could she have guessed how much I love these cupcake papers?

{I have great plans for these charming little sweeties!}

I want to thank Amanda properly 

for all the thought and time and creativity

she put into our trade.

I really appreciate these tokens of friendship

and will always cherish them!

They are exquisite!

{And now, it's time for me, and time for tea!}

{Join me again in a few days, and I'll show you what I sent to Amanda!}

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