Patchwork Gifts

Happy Birthday to Grizz's oldest Sister today! :)

Because we had to leave bright and early last Friday to catch a plane (more on our trip to San Diego soon!), I had to have his sister's gift done earlier in the week. I'm so glad I made it on Wednesday, as I got called in to sub last minute on Thursday... 

 

The fabric is still from the two fat quarter bundles I bought from Fabricworm earlier this spring (I did not grow up buying designer fabric, but since I was going to use the bundles for gifts, I felt like it was OK to splurge!). Just as a reminder, these were the two fabric lines I bought (and yes, I did have to search my email archives to find the names of the fabric!):

 Lizzy House ~ Hello Pillgrim

 Emily Taylor ~Verona

 The tutorial for the patchwork wristlet is from the amazing Ayumi over at Pink Penguin (link!). I definitely had an interesting experience putting this wristlet together... I've never made a bag like this before! The patchwork and quilting was just fine (I didn't have fusible batting, so I just used scraps from my Warm and Natural). The pocket went together alright as well. The problem was with the zipper! No, the problem was not when I was attaching the zipper - that went surprisingly well, but it was when I was sewing it all together in a way that there would be no exposed seams. Yikes. Lots of ripping and lots of sewing later, I finally made the zipper ends meet up and so the handle wasn't falling off.

 I added a few fun things to the inside - a Target gift card, nail polish and chapstick.There's also a mini-flashlight hanging on the mini-loop on the outside :) I now realize that I should have taken the first picture without the goodies inside... I promise that it lies flat when it isn't full! :)

  

This same Sister received a sewing machine for Christmas from her husband... thus, I decided to throw in a quick and easy matching pincushion as well! The tutorial is from Riley Blake Designs (link!).  The front is a quilt-as-you-go log-cabin design; however, the butterfly I wanted in the center was much too big for the 2" square the tutorial asked for - my middle square is a 3" instead. I also cut my strips at 1 1/2" instead of 1". I still can't believe my good luck in that I had matching pins to add just in case she didn't recognize it was a pin cushion right away (I'm glad I did add the pins, since at first she thought it was a sachet. :) It did smell nice, as I like to add dried lavender left over from my wedding to my pin cushions. I just throw it in with the usual polyester craft stuffing).

 Instead of using one fabric piece for the back, I decided to use up some more scraps. I quilted it to muslin just like the front, but I used my triple-zigzag stitch instead of quilting in the ditch... I think it adds a nice detailing!


It was so fun to talk to the recipient last night (the gift arrived yesterday)... She liked it! :)

Linking up the wristlet with Ellison Lane Quilts' Summer Sewing Contest!

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