Sent and Received

Not too long ago I won a contest over at John's blog and this week I received my prize: an embroidery book plus a hoop, floss, and towels to try it out on! How great is Quilt Dad?! He's hosting a quilt-along right now, so if you've never checked out his blog, now is the perfect chance to join in on the fun. He makes really great quilts, has great taste in fabric, participates in just about every swap known to man, and seems like an all-around great guy. Thanks so much for the package John!

So of course I couldn't just let all those supplies just sit around - I started embroidering that night- drew myself a little owl, stayed up way too late, finished it the next day, and yesterday I threw it into a little mini quilt.

Looks pretty darn cute with all those Anna Maria Horner fabrics if I do so say myself. I still have to sew on the binding, it will be brown with blue circles.

My little cousin Jelena knows how to suck up and get exactly what she wants from anyone and I just can't say no to her, she's so sweet. Last year I made her a horse quilt to match her new horse room (photo above). She wrote an essay about it in school and gave that to me; it was so cute- misspellings and all. So when she asked me to make her a bag for school, how could I say no? Her requirements: tie-dye, peace sign, hearts, pink, pockets inside for pencils and stuff, and it needs to hold her lunch bag and shoes.

Voilà:

I used freezer paper to stencil in the faux-tie-dye heart/peace sign.

Adjustable strap so she can grow into the bag.

The front inside has two big pockets, kind of hard to see in this photo. I used a magnetic closure on the flap. Those things are stronger than I expected! The top has an open zipper to keep everything safe.

Inside the bag (sorry this photo sucks, my camera was dying) has a zipper pocket and a couple spots for pencils and other little things.

I hope she likes it and I hope it works well for her. I have to stitch up the inside lining and then I will send it off to my grandparent's house with some other goodies for another cousin. Also, it was my grandpa's birthday and I want to make him something to send, but I can't figure out what kind of handmade gift a grandpa could want. Any ideas? I was considering knitting a hat, but I'm just not sure.

I sent my DQS7 out today to my partner. I hope she likes it because I really had nothing to go on - she has very few pictures in her photostream and NO favorites! I love the way the quilt turned out, and I hope she will too.