coming down the pike

We gave the quilt to Matt and Marin right after the wedding rehearsal.

Needless to say,

they loved it

:-)

(Since it's almost time for the Spring Quilt Festival, I'm going to wait and do a full quilt post then.

Don't want to drive everybody nuts with two posts

practically back to back...)

As soon as I knew I was definitely going to finish it time,

and all of my remaining work was hand sewing,
which I do in the evenings,

I got started on my next quilt.

My first QAYG, which is proving to be quite fun!

The knowledge that by the time I have the top together, 

the quilt will be just about finished

doesn't hurt any either ;-)

sorry - it's a surprise ~ all you get is the back of the batting for now

Then,

 the graduation announcements started coming in.

We generally give a bit of cash,

but for the girls,

instead of putting it in a card,

I like to sew up a little pouch of some sort to tuck the $$ in.

It barely costs more than a card, right? ;-)

And it so much more useful.

And fun...

I'm not crazy about how the flap flips up the binding on the back.
I think next time I'll add a bit of length so I can sew it to the pouch just under the binding.

I used Svetlana's just released Anna pattern for this one

(I was tickled to discover it fits an i-phone (which the recipient happens to have) perfectly)

The pattern calls for fusible fleece,

which I used,

because, you know I am such a  rule follower...

It's a bit pouffy for my taste, so I think for future bags I will just use interfacing.

As soon as I received the next recipient's announcement,

I knew this was the fabric for her

(I hope I was right!)

I liked the binding bit at the top of the Anna pouch,

so used the same technique on my second bag.

I would have used the Anna pattern for it, too,

but I felt like that bike fabric needed plenty of space to shine,

so I just made the bag up as I went.

I used Noodlehead Anna's open wide zipper method to install the zip.

I use it on most of my pouches now,

but I think it works better on a bag without the binding.

I still have one more pouch to make.

The girl's mom told me she loves red and black,

which is just perfect, 'cause I have tons of scraps of both :-)

I'll use this pattern for it, I think.

This week, I've been muslining.

(Yes, that's a verb, why do you ask?)

I plan to take my TNT Lady Skater pattern and change up the bodice a bit (by adding a curved yoke)

for a coral dress with a lace overlay for the next (and I think last) wedding of the season.

(I think I may lengthen the yoke by 1/2 inch or so)

I added a bit of flat piping (which I won't be using for the real dress) for two reasons.

First, my whites weren't exactly the same color, 

and I'm hoping for a wearable muslin,

so I thought breaking them up might be nice

and secondly, I just wanted to try the technique.

I consider myself pretty careful with measurements and seam allowances,

and yet, 

my piping is clearly narrower in some spots.

I guess if I use piping on a for-real it-really-matters project,

I need to be a lot more careful

than my usual care-full-ness.

fabrics for the real dress, purchased in LA :-) :-)

Oh ~ have you heard that Cotton + Steel has a black and white line??

I sure could have used that a few months ago!

As soon as I saw  C+S B&W,

I said to myself, "I hope they did the kitties!"

I love the kitties / tigers,

and have put them in my cart several times, but the colors just don't seem quite right for my needs, 

so I've always passed on them.

When I found myself needing a few more fabric choices for my current quilt

(the one you only get to see the back of for now)

well, I just couldn't help adding a yard of this to my cart, too :-)

Lily is hoping for some scraps.

I told her good luck with that.

But then I felt bad, so I may let her have a piece. 

Maybe....

Linking up with Lee's Work in Progress Wednesdays ~ my favorite of the linky party places.