do. Good Stiches - February 2015

I've noticed over the last few months that I prefer making my do. Good Stitches blocks two months at a time. Inevitably this means I'm late for one month, but it also usually means I'm pretty early with the next, so I say it balances out. I completed these at the same time as the January blocks, and I have to say I'm glad they were so quick! The January blocks were fun to make, but there was a lot of slicing and quite a few seams, so to make them in conjunction with these super simple blocks was perfect. And I also shopped my scraps for most of these fabrics. Except for all the Dear Stella, which was part of the very first fat quarter bundle I ever purchased 3ish years ago.

Pam threw a little teaser into the instructions for this month that she's going to add something special when she puts all of the blocks together - can't wait to see what that is!

Sushi pouch

For the past 2 years, I've been schelping my stuff (lunch, shoes, knitting) to and from work in my Ghostwing Tote. While I love this bag, it isn't quite professional, so I decided to upgrade.

After much searching without finding anything that met my needs or budget, I instead inherited an old Longchamp bag from my sister in law. I LOVE this bag - it's big, but not too big, sturdy, and definitely more work-appropriate than my handmade tote. The only downside is the interior pocket. Or rather, lack thereof. There's a small slip pocket, but it's oddly placed at the very top of the interior right along the zipper. And since it has no closures, everything I put in it winds up at the bottom of the bag by the end of the day. So, I made myself a pouch!

It's perfect for holding on my essentials (pens, post-its, chapstick, hand lotion, mints, a curious kitten's tiny head, etc.) and I can just leave it my work bag so no matter where I'm working that day, I'm sure to have everything I need. (I used Noodlehead's open wide zippered pouch tutorial, size M).

Over Thanksgiving, Mom surprised me with some novelty fabric which is fun, but often difficult to weave into quilts or other projects. It's ideal for pouches though! I offset these cute, cartoony sushi with some Essex yarn dyed linen in black, lined everything with SF-101 for stability, and tied it all together with a coordinating green zipper.

I have to admit, every time I take this pouch out during meetings or trainings, I clandestinely glance around hoping everyone is staring at it. So far none of my coworkers have commented, but I'm sure they're all wishing they had a fancy, unique sushi pouch too!

do. Good Stitches - January 2015

Time for the next installment of do. Good Stitches blocks. Last month, Barb asked the group to make two blocks using Jessica Kelly's Simply Woven tutorial. We could use any fabrics/colors we wanted, with the one stipulation that the background be solid.

This was a great scrap-buster for me. At first I started looking through my stash, but that was a bit overwhelming (even with my limited stash), so I turned to my two scrap bags and was surprised and pleased to find that I had plenty of strips the correct lengths and widths. I did use my stash for the two background colors, but I still call it a scrapy win.