Noodlehead Divided Basket

Just before finishing that last pillowcase, I FINALLY finished this basket! I think it spent the entire last year on my FAL list with not much progress! Originally, I had chosen different fabrics with the intention to make it a new baby gift and fill it with baby goodies. Fairly Merry has definitely inspired me as she cranks out beautiful baskets like clockwork!

Once the baby shower passed and the moment was over, I changed over to some fabrics for ME! I used 3 different Kokka  fabrics from a website in China called Modes4U. Although they take a bit longer to arrive than I'm used to, the prices are much better than any shop I've found since moving to Europe, and they offer free shipping with a minimum order.  The cacti fabric on the pocket fabric reminds me of my Arizona roots.

My basket is happily holding all my bedside table junk and looking pretty! If and when I make another, I'll use a stiffer interfacing, but I really love this one! 

FMT

a cute new pillowcase!

In continuing with my quest to backwardly document my finishes for this quarter, next up is the ballerina pillow! 

This was just a simple effort with fabric I purchased at least 4 years ago. At the time, I had vague plans for a quilt, but it never seemed to make it to the top of the to-do list. I guess I wasn't inspired, although I loved the multi-cultural little ballerinas! 

In comes the pillowcase idea!

 I just went with a simple cover and a contrast edge, separated by a cute pink ruffle.

The back is mostly white with more of the splash of dancers and more ruffle. I'm happy to report that she loves it!

FMT

walking backwards

Hey stranger!

Boy, I've caught a lot of blog posts recently by people expressing their difficulty in finding time to write. It's so easy to post to instagram and move on! I've been sewing a bit & traveling a bit & planning projects these last few months and haven't made myself sit here and catch up - and the longer you wait, the harder it is!

I think I'm addicted to paper piecing .. at least to searching for beginner patterns and printing them. I have quite a stack going and it's hard to narrow down what to work on next!

Last night I found this free pattern called Confetti Star. I think it will be fun to work on it as I have time and build it into something rainbowy. I pulled out 3 baskets worth of scraps and realized that I am keeping way too many!

Realistically, I will never work with tiny pieces so I started throwing them out and what a great feeling!

Now I just need my son to come and empty my can so I won't be tempted to dig anything (else) out and keep it.

Anyway, back to paper piecing: I found a really cool (and also free) pattern called Graceful Dancer a couple of weeks ago and had it in mind to turn it into something for my daughter.

Happily, it worked out well as a front panel for the messenger bag I needed to make as part of my Finish Along 2015 goals! As I was multi-tasking and actually testing a pattern for the famous Katy of The Littlest Thistle, I can't show the whole thing yet, but it has already made it's first journey and received lots of compliments! Here's a little sneak peek. & the pattern will be released in early April.

FMT