Trials with Triangles

For a long time now I have been a long-distance admirer of the sewing escapades of two great quilty folk:

Rita at Red Pepper Quilts (http://www.redpepperquilts.com/)

Anita at Bloomin' Workshop (http://bloominworkshop.wordpress.com/)

One of the particularly wonderful creations they have produced are the shirt stripe boxes quilts which I think were originally inspired by Kaffe Fassett's book Passionate Patchwork. Here are some more:

 href="http://flickr.com/photos/52794248@N06/5311939678/">T-Stripes Squared, 2. Triangle first attempt, 3. Baby boy quilt, box stripe, 4. ~ workinprogress, 5. Not available, 6. Doll Quilt Swap 11 Top Detail, 7. tunnel vision, 8. My Semi-Plan, 9. Carrie's Quilt top done

I love the effect of the lines matching up... so I tried it for myself & all I can say is - it is trickier than it looks... a lot trickier.... even with one of these great gizmos....

Anyway, after many hours of hair-pulling & frustration I managed to produce this quilt top:

I am hoping to finish it soon to send off to my Doll Quilt Swap partner, but my next query is: how to quilt it without loosing the triangle effect? Any suggestions??

Hope you all are having a lovely summery day!

Playing with pouches stage 2

In preparation for a perfect pouch for my pouch swap partner (try saying that with marshmallows in your mouth!!) I've been playing with a few more pouch options... this one is for my lovely cousin who has an  adorable wee pug called Charli... 

I love the fabric - its so happy!

I didn't use a tutorial but some great wee pouch tutorials I have really enjoyed using are:

http://thimbleanna.com/blog/?p=566

http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/2007/02/had_a_quiet_wee.html

So back to the pouch drawing board!

If you are interested, you can follow all the pouch fun on the flickr group: Pretty {little} Pouch Swap http://www.flickr.com/groups/1633419@N20/

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Playing with pouches

I love making pouches & wee wallets.... they're fun & quick & a great way to use up lovely scraps.
So, in preparation for the second round of the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap, I have been experimenting with a few on line tutorials & come up with this:

The back has a wee pocket:

And there is another pocket inside:

I used Flossie Teacakes great tutorial for inserting a zip with covered ends http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.com/2009/05/lined-zippered-pouch-make-up-bag.html

I was so pleased with the combination of textures with the linen & soft cottons. If you haven't tried sewing with linen before I would recommend using it with a fusible fleece as it keeps the weave of the linen a wee bit tighter, so your purse will keep its shape.

If you're interested, check out the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap group activities on flickr with loads of wonderful inspiration http://www.flickr.com/groups/1633419@N20/

Hope you have a great day!