Sew Cute Fruit Pouch

I've been influenced by zakka -- the Japanese concept of making pretty, practical items to beautify your everyday life -- since I first started sewing back in 2011. This has led me to spend a lot of time finding books and fabric by Japanese designers, which are full of wonderful inspiration in this area. My latest purchase is Sew Cute Quilts and Gifts by Atsuko Matsuyama. I had already bought a copy of the book from my favorite online shop Sunny Day Supply when I got an email from Lindsay at Zakka Workshop asking if I would be interested in joining the book tour, so the timing was perfect. I'm eternally grateful to Zakka Workshop, which has taken so many wonderful Japanese craft books and translated them into English so that even more people can enjoy them.

For my project, I chose the round fruit pouch, because I had never made a pouch like this before. This is one of the things I love about Japanese sewing books: they always seem to be full of interesting techniques that I haven't tried yet. I was pleased with how easily the pouch came together, including the applique on the front, which is something I don't get the chance to do very often. Thankfully my dear friends Mary and Shawn at Sunny Day Supply had the zipper I needed in stock, and they were kind enough to send me the leaves and flower for applique as well. Be sure to check out their shop this month, because they're going to have all kinds of wonderful supplies for the projects in this book on hand if you need them!

The back of the pouch was supposed to be a four square block, but I fell so completely in love with this new print by my friend Elea Lutz (of which I'll be sharing more with you next month during her fabric tour!), that I just couldn't resist using it all in one piece. I used the tiny floral print from my Date Night collection for the lining and binding on the pouch which gave a nice continuity from the outside to the inside of the project. I love the color and small scale of this print, and I'm going to be so sad when I run out of it!

The hardest part of this project by far was sewing in the zipper by hand. The directions were perfectly clear and helpful, mind you. I'm just not used to putting a zipper in this way, and it took me a few tries to get my stitches right. Once I got in the swing of it, though, it came together nicely.

I'm so pleased with this sweet little pouch, and it feels great to tuck a few more skills under my crafty belt. The book is chock full of adorable projects featuring more techniques that I haven't tried, so I'm probably going to be pulling this title off the shelf now and then in the next year whenever I want to learn something new. If you're on Instagram, be sure to stop by my post to leave a comment so that you can be entered to win a copy of this book for yourself. I really think you'll like this one.

Let's Bake Table Runner

Today is my stop on the Let's Bake Sew Along, hosted and created by the amazing Lori Holt. These sweet little blocks feature ingredient canisters, a hand mixer, and a quartet of cupcakes. They're from another one of Lori's beautiful applique quilt patterns, and I decided to turn them into a runner for our breakfast nook table.

I used a mix of prints from several different Riley Blake designers as well as some RBD basics to get the eclectic look I love so much. It was a surprise to me how small these pieces are -- the individual blocks finish at about 6" square -- and this makes the project go quickly, even with the hand sewing. Applique is something I very rarely attempt but always enjoy. Adding extra touches like a ric-rac "cord" and "cherry" buttons just make this piece so much fun.

I made a few changes from the original pattern. There is no ric-rac at the top of the cupcake liners because I forgot to order it in time, and I only made 4 cupcakes instead of 6 so that it would fit more neatly on the runner. I also fussy cut a few words from Lori's adorable recipe print for the canister labels instead of embroidering the words from her pattern. My daughters thought "Doughnuts" and "Cookies" were a great idea!

The runner is backed in a mixing bowl print from Lori's Bake Sale 2 collection. It's a perfect match for the front of the runner, and I love the way it looks with a frame of aqua and white striped binding.

It's been a goal of mine to make seasonal runners for the little table where my girls eat breakfast every morning, so it feels great to add another one to our growing collection. Baking is one of my very favorite things to do, and now that my daughters are starting to help out in the kitchen more often with me, I know they'll be thrilled to have this reminder of those special moments in front of them every morning when they wake up.

Happy sewing, friends!

Bee Happy Blocks

There are people in this business who never cease to amaze me, and Lori Holt is one of them. She has an unending store of creativity with new ideas constantly on the horizon. It's so wonderful to see! Riley Blake asked if I would be a part of her Bee Happy Quilt Sew Along this month, and though I was afraid that last weekend's wonderful trip to Quilt Market would keep me from finishing my blocks in time, it all worked out in the end.

My assignments were the Pin Cushion and Coral Flowers blocks. I almost never do applique work, so it took me a while to get in the swing of things with this project. Once I hit my stride, though, I really enjoyed getting the chance to do some sewing by hand for a change. Instead of waiting for time at my sewing machine in the afternoons, I could work on this at my teacher desk while homeschooling my daughters. (Did I mention, by the way, that I have three desks? One is for sewing, one for teacher work, and one for designing fabric. No wonder I'm always running around like a crazy woman during the day!) It was a real treat to sew in the mornings during school, and I'm quite tempted to take up more applique in the future just so I can do more of this.

For my Coral Flowers block, I wanted to bring in more color than the original block called for, so I alternated red, pink, aqua, and navy around the corners with a yellow flower in the middle. The green leaves and stems balance it all out, and I like the way this has an almost folk art look to it. I started to quilt the flowers, but decided that I liked them better as they were.

Blue gingham paired nicely with the front, and I stitched a line just inside the edge of the pillow cover which gives the illusion of piping. This pillow looks just perfect sitting on a chair in our family living room.

The pincushion block is surprisingly intricate for such a small piece, but I love the way it turned out. I simplified the "Bee" inscription on the mason jar, using one line of stitching instead of the original pattern's two lines. I also left off the "pins" on the far left and right so that I could use just one button of each color to make a rainbow at the top. That fussy cutting on the lid makes me so happy!

I turned this block into the cover of a little kit for holding small notebooks and pens, almost a simpler version of my Stationery Kit tutorial.

These projects were such a pleasure to make, and I enjoyed getting the chance to broaden my skills a bit. Every new challenge, however large or small, is always exciting for me, and I think it's good to keep looking for these opportunities to grow. Just when I think I might be getting a little stale, I find myself falling in love with sewing all over again...

Sweetie Pie Sew Along: Pear Block

When I signed up to be on the Sweetie Pie Sew Along tour a few months back, I decided to go with the pear block because a) it looked simple and b) my husband (who loves to work on his vegetable garden and small fruit orchard in his spare time) has been informed that our part of Texas is pear country. It just seemed like the way to go...

Lori has a such a genius for themes in her books and patterns. I love the way she took a traditional Dresden plate block and put her own spin on things: i.e. the Dresden circles are "pies" which we "fill" with the fruit applique...so clever. We were asked to use Riley Blake/Penny Rose fabrics for our block, and I had a ball picking out a rainbow of prints for mine. It was so hard to narrow it down to what you see here!

I never would have guessed that a Dresden would turn out to be one of my favorite quilt blocks. It always looked too complicated to me in the past, but I've been surprised by how forgiving it is. There's really no stress over matching up seams, and since I do all my embroidery and applique by machine, it comes together pretty quickly. Using a cream colored thread works so well on light colored fabrics because it easily blends into the print and reflects the background color, looking as though you took the time to match the color of your thread to each fabric. I stitched everything down onto a linen square -- patchwork and linen are ALWAYS a match made in heaven -- and it makes another fun pillow to add to my growing stash.

I couldn't resist adding a little apple tag to the right side of the pillow to keep the fruit theme going.

You can get the whole scoop on the Sweetie Pie Quilt at Lori's blog right here as well, along with a peek at the bazillion amazing projects she always seems to have in the works.

Happy sewing, friends!