Be happy. It's one way of being wise. -Colette

A couple of weekends ago Alex and I headed up to the blue mountain for our friends' wedding - we had a grand time and it was a really lovely celebration. I decided to make myself a clutch for the occasion since I didn't own a small purse that matched my dress.

I used Anna's Envelope Clutch pattern and made the small version with a pointed flap. I didn't have a swivel clasp on hand (and no time to head to the fabric store) so I inserted the wrist strap directly to the pouch while sewing it together. I used Essex linen/cotton in natural for the body and some Liberty of London tana lawn in Caesar for the flap. The Liberty was a gift from the super-awesome Jo and is actually available in her Etsy shop right now!

For the interior I used the turtle bay print in aqua from Tula Pink's Prince Charming collection; I also used the same print in cream for creating the little accordion pocket (which I think I messed up by the way, but it still works). I included one of my labels that I printed through Spoonflower... ya know, just in case I forget who made it *wink*!

As always, Anna's pattern was well-laid out with lots of pictures and great instructions! I really enjoyed making this clutch and will definitely be making more in the future. I want to make a bigger version with the other flap style for carrying around day-to-day when I don't need my huge purse; I also want to try a version with piping since I've never tried it before!

I also made Tim and Julie a card to go along with their wedding presents. I absolutely love using small fabric scraps for making cards and have made quite a few in the past - it's especially great for using up little bits of fabric that are too small for actual patchwork. As you can see there are some small pieces of original release Flea Market Fancy in there that I've been keeping; I keep all of my teeny pieces in a sandwich sized zipper bag so that they're easy to access when I'm card making.

If you stay posted to my little space here you just might see some more cards coming in the near future... just sayin' *double wink*!!

My Little Not-At-Market Crafty Party!

Hey y'all! How's everybody doing? As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I am not at Quilt Market this year - pretty darn sad I must say, but I have been following my peeps and all their exploits online so at least I get to live vicariously though them. It's okay though, hopefully I will be back in the Fall (or next Spring at the very least).

Remember back in this post when I shared the Go Anywhere Bag I made and said that it was the second one that I had made? Well now I can finally share the first one that I made as a gift!! Hurrah!

This little bag was a birthday present for my bestie Jennifer - it was quite late in arriving since I didn't get it sent out quite as speedily as I would have liked and that was compounded by the fact that it ended up coming back to me with Jennifer's address (which I had written in permanent marker) completely rubbed off the outside of the package! So of course then it had to go out again, but it arrived this week (unscathed, thank goodness).

I used the Go Anywhere Bag pattern by Anna Graham of Noodlehead which I think is just fabulous! The two exterior fabrics are a blue chambray and a print from Patty Young's Flora & Fauna line (it just occurred to me that I bought this fabric at Crafty Planet in Minneapolis with Jennifer during my first Quilt Market). The main interior fabric is from Tula Pink's Parisville and, just like the other version, I did two pockets on the inside.

And again, just like the other one, I bound the two exterior pockets rather than using piping or simply folding over the layers and top stitching. This particular fabric is from Oliver + S' City Weekend. And yes, for anyone who might be wondering, in the first picture that is a little model of Green Gables holding up the bag *wink*!

Just this past week I was asked to join the Joy Circle for do. Good Stitches - fun! Tonight I made my very first blocks for May...

For this months blocks we followed the tutorial for Boxed Strings that Becca posted to her blog. We're not cutting them up and re-sewing them at this point though - Becca will do that once she receives them all. The idea here was to go for fun, girly fabrics that would be appropriate for a teenage girl or young woman.

I am super-excited to be participating in this bee and doing a little good for charity; I also can't wait to get to know the ladies in my circle (hey girls!), many of whom are fellow Canadians.

I also started knitting a new pair of socks! These are the Diagonal Lace Socks from Wendy D. Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up. I'm using the magic loop method and the yarn is a Harvest Gold fingering weight (superwash merino/nylon) from Aspen Moon Arts on Etsy (shop is on vacation right now while the owner moves). I've had this book sitting on my shelf for quite awhile now (quite possibly about two years) and I finally just said to myself "okay, let's do it". I've never knit socks from the toe up before but I knew even before trying it that it would be my preferred method.

Now, I must get back to my sock knitting and crying not-crying over missing quilt market! Let me know what you're up to this crafty weekend - did I mention it's also a holiday weekend in Canada? Happy (193rd) birthday Queen Victoria!

(Please ignore the giant gaps between my toes...)

For the Love of Tula...Pink that is!

Happy Easter and Happy Passover to y'all! The past week has been a whirl of organizing, paperwork filing, and just general busyness; I feel like haven't really accomplished much, even though I did do a number of things that were on my to-do list (that I would have rather just put off) and I made a new quilt top (yippee!). Alex and I also went and saw The Hunger Games (which I thought was fab!) so I guess there were a few things!

Now y'all know how much I love Tula Pink, right?! That girl is awesome - so friendly, so warm and genuine, and of course super-crazy talented (I mean seriously)! When I first met Tula I must say that I was a little bit intimidated and in awe, but she made me comfortable fairly quickly with her big personality and sharp sense of humour, and with her willingness to work and play with everyone. Her mum (who owns The Quilt Shoppe in Stewartsville, MO) is also awesome. I have made a fair number of items using Tula's fabrics (some of which still haven't made it, and won't for a bit, to the blog) and many of those items have been my favourites including the Get Stacked quilt. I have two things I want to share with you today, neither is a quilt and one was actually a gift for the lovely lady herself.

You may have seen this particular item on Miss Tula's blog just a few weeks ago. After hanging with Tula at Quilt Market last May I knew immediately that I needed to make her a little giftie to thank her for being not only just an all round super-cool chick but also to let her know how much I appreciated her kindness and friendship. Unfortunately, it did take me longer to complete and then mail out than I originally intended so it only arrived at it's destination back in February.

I based the cross stitch on Tula's Modern Alphabet quilt pattern; each letter is 1x1" and the whole thing took one to two weeks to complete (I think - Alex was away at the time so it is entirely possible that all I did was cross stitch the whole time he was gone). I have been told that this little guy is getting framed and put up on the wall in Tula's studio - now isn't that nice?!

The second item I made that has a connection to Tula is Anna Graham's Go Anywhere Bag! This pattern rocks and this particular bag was actually my second time making it (the first one was a gift and hasn't made it to recipient yet, but will be blogged once it has). The Tula connection comes from the print on the outside pockets and handles which is Dandelion in Indigo from Tula's Prince Charming collection (the other exterior fabric is 100% natural linen). This bag was already in heavy-use (read: everyday) for about a month before this picture was taken so it's not quite as fresh as it could be.

The main interior fabric is Flower Fields in Sunglow from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow, and the pockets (there are two since I added one - the one on the other side of the interior is split evenly in two) as well as the outer pocket linings are Kona Medium Grey.

I didn't have any piping on hand, or supplies to make any, but I really liked the look of the purse's in Anna's pattern that featured piping, so instead I decided to bind the edge of the both of the outer pockets (you can't see it in these pictures but there is also a large pocket on the backside of the bag). I believe that my original binding strips were cut to 1.25" wide, then I ironed to create double fold binding, and just top stitched the binding to the bag.

Can I just say again how much I love this Tula print?! I almost had a little heart attack when I went to use it for this bag because this is all I had so now it's all gone - I know that some retailers still carry it but since I have been unemployed for a week now I probably shouldn't be buying any fabric, right?! Love it though!