0 one of those days ...

Yesterday was one of those days. You know, those very annoying days when you have time to sew, and you so looked forward to it, and get all excited, and then can't decide WHAT exactly you want to work on. And you change your mind, and jump from one project to another, and couple of hours go by and you have nothing to show for all that wasted time. Yes, that kind of a day :(

So, after much thinking, sewing, ripping, and re-sewing again I ended up with a simple courthouse steps pouch. (which I actually like so I can't complain much)

I combined one of my very favorite Suzuko Koseki fabric (that red color is amazing) with some gray scraps to make courthouse steps blocks which I outlined with some hand stitching.

I then added more Suzuko Koseki, this time text print, for the lining and the matching red zipper. I thought about adding a gray zipper, but that would have made the pouch too busy looking.

My most favorite part, though, is this little pincushion zipper pull. Isn't it such a fun little feature? I got the inspiration from Nova's amazing sewing set I pinned long time ago.

All in all, definitely not the most productive, but still kind of ok sewing day. You know, one of those days :)

Hope today will be better and I will actually work on things that need to be done. Svetlana

Detail: one of those days ...

0 pretty little tote

I while back I came across a picture of this lovely tote bag on Pinterest. And, since I had that exact same Suzuko Koseki fabric in my stash (waiting for just the right project), I decided to make one as soon as I would have time. You know how that goes, right? Many months passed by and I never had time to make it.

Yesterday though, I really, really needed an instant gratification project to work on so I finally made time and sewed up this pretty little tote.

I was planning to go with gray Essex Linen for the main body of the bag but as soon as I placed this beautiful Suzuko Koseki cheater print next to Riley Blake's gingham I knew this was a match made in heaven. And that red cross hatch was such a perfect addition, too. Lovely, isn't it?

Then I decided more gingham would make this bag even more happy looking, so I used Riley Blake gingham in pink for the lining. I think linings should always be so fun. Makes me smile every time I look at it.

I then added bright yellow webbing handles and my pretty little tote was finished. It's a perfect size for a magazine and a book or two. Yes, I still carry books with me when I go places :) Electronic reading simply doesn't do it for me.

Now that I got this tote out of my system it's back to Economy Blocks. I have made 130 of them so far, only 68 more to go :)

Talk to you soon. Svetlana

Linking up to AmandaJean's Finish it up Friday.

Detail: pretty little tote

0 more placemats

My quilting mojo seems to have left me for the moment :( I was sure I'd make quite a few Scrappy Delight blocks for my son's quilt over the weekend but I simply did not feel like it. Instead, I did some small project sewing and quilting. Nothing too fancy or complicated, though.

 I decided to cut into this lovely cheater print by Suzuko Koseki and make some placemats for our new dining room table.

 I've been thinking about my quilting and use of color for quite some time and one thing I'd really like to concentrate on is using deeper, saturated colors more. It doesn't come easy to me, I must say, so using this mustardy yellow for the binding was a small step in that direction. Plus, there's some BROWN in Suzuko's print. I'm learning to embrace brown, too.

Do you have certain go to colors? Or some you tend to avoid? Do tell.

Detail: more placemats