Open wide zipper pouch extraordinaire

Sometimes I have an idea for a gift and I just have to make it. My dear colleague and friend Ceylan has left our office to pursue her dreams in Istanbul. I knew I wanted to make her something handmade and it was suppose to be something useful, too.

I decided to make Ceylan an open wide zipper pouch in extra big so she can use it as toiletry bag. And since Ceylan loves nail polish, I downsized the free pattern of the nail polish quilt block by Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet and made three of them in different shade of pink.

The bag was suppose to be very chic and classy so I went with Robert Kaufmann Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic in beige and that worked so well.

The other side of the bag has her name in the same shades of pink. The letters are hand drawn first and then transferred into fabric. I quilted in simple diagonal straight lines with this beautiful pink of 50wt Aurifil thread. The bag has a great texture!

 The zipper is pink as well and it's such a great contrast to the beige linen fabric.

 The lining fabric is a pink oil cloth so it suits the bag's use and it can be easily cleaned.

This pouch is seriously my masterpiece in form of a bag. I'm not a big fan of zippers but I do like the open wide zipper pouch by Noodlehead and these bags make great gifts. The size is customised though and it's about 15" (38cm) long and 7"(18cm) high.

In total it took me about 10 hours to make the bag and it was done in two days, all after work until the middle of the night.

But it was so worth it! Ceylan absolutely loves it and she said she always thinks of me when she sees the bag, so what is better than that?

Scrappy Kindle case

I recently enjoy sewing small things with quick results. I really do enjoy the process of quilt making but every now and then there has to be a speedy little sewing project.

I have always wanted to make a case for my kindle... I suppose just to have one, because really the kindle is in a hard cover and protected enough... but a self made case is sooooo nice, right? 

I made this from scraps, my scrap glasses really do inspire me as I see all my scraps every day. And since the storing space is limited I need to use them.

I used scraps  in grey and orange, this is such a lovely colour combination (and matches the orange coloured kindle hard cover my husband got me together with the actual Kindle!)

The individual scrap pieces are 2 x 3'' big and sewing them together in rows of 5 x 4 created an almost perfect fit for the case already. I have used this tutorial as a guidance, but adjusted the flap to the whole width and measured the size of the kindle and added approx. 1inch to each side in order to estimate the size of the covers needed.

The kindle fits perfectly in it even though the I calculated the position of the velcro wrongly. I measured without the kindle being in the case, so now it just catches.

And as I was finished I thought I could have just added another row of scraps to the one case cover and not sewn the flap on separately. 

But this is something I can adjust when I make a second case.

Linking this to Scraptastic Tuesday.

Mug rug swap with the lovely ladies of the MQG Individual Members

I am super excited to be involved in my very first swap project! This one is from the individual members of the Modern Quilt Guild! 

My swap partner is Carmen and she wrote about her favourite colours:

orange, green, aqua, that pinky berry color :), not too many colors I don't like. I will love what you make so please don't stress over what to make - make what speaks to you and have fun doing it.
Very nice! 


So, and that's what I made her:

I emptied my scrap glasses and selected a few of my favourite colours: turquoise, yellow and red.
I went with kind of a coin block design and stacked the scraps from medium to dark volume. I absolutely love the cross hatch fabrics by Carolyn Friedlander and they go so well with the bright colours.
I used simple straight line quilting in irregular distances and yellow binding.

The size is about 8 x 7,5''. That's big enough to hold two espresso cups or....

one large mug and some sweets to go with your tea or coffee.

For the back I used this lovely fabric with little vintage TVs, I just loved the idea of having a tea in front of the telly.

So, Carmen, I hope you like your new mug rug, it will go in the post tomorrow!

Linking this to Crazy Mom Quilts and Sraptastic Tuesday.