Pretty {little} Pouch

Oh my gosh I love Spring! I spent this lovely April Friday stitching up a delightful pretty pouch for a swap on Flickr. My partner’s preferences were boxy, zippered, and for traveling. I had an easy time using the awesome Prudent Baby tutorial: Man-Gift Toiletry Bag with Oilcloth. The construction is simple, but it does leave the inside edges a little unfinished. However, the added oilcloth as a liner, with cotton+interfacing as the focus, made a very sturdy bag just perfect for the girl on the go.

My only changes to Prudent Baby’s tutorial: I had to have finished seams around the zipper. I couldn’t help myself. I like a clean line. And handles. I had to have handles. It’s harder than you think to close a boxed-shaped bag with a zipper when there is nothing to grab.

I choose bright and cheery aqua and cherry, to brighten up and be visible inside larger suitcases. The bag itself is just around 9″x6″, with about 4″ height. Perfect for the 2 oz travel bottles to stand upright. The lining is some cute cat oilcloth from my stash. I added in some japanese linen “handmade” labels on the inside despite that I wanted to make some of my own but have been too lazy.

Using scraps, I had to add in a fabric envelope with a vintage pearl button. I absolutely love buttons now that I have a machine that will do holes! I want to add buttons to everything! The flap is a bit loose, so you can stuff cosmetics or jewelry or whathaveyou inside.

I am a bit sad to send it off – it looks so good in my sewing room! I love the photo below. You can see how the Spring sunshine starts to move across my studio. I have hung up crystals that shimmer rainbows across my cutting mat as I work.

What have you been stitching up? Anyone else up for a swap?

Love,

MaLora

PS: I was also practicing my free-motion quilting foot to try out writing with my machine… Syko makes it look so easy! I need more practice, as this is my 5th try.

Swapping Pretty

I am excited to join the Pretty Little Pouches Swap on Flickr. The rules are simple, and being able to see the talent of everyone in advance, as well as their awesome mosaics, is very inspirational! Check out some of my favorite collections below:

Stitched in Color

Tiny Apartment Crafts

Very Kerry Berry

And mine, which I accidentally deleted all the credit and links and can’t find them again!

Bird and Bicycle

I guess my recent color obsessions are coming out: aqua, cherry, and butter yellow. I don’t want to be in my office today – I want to be home in my sewing room! The pale grey sky of Seattle is weighing heavily on my spirits, and I want to be surrounded colors and textures and crafting day dreams.

Once my partner is assigned, I can’t wait to see what their mosaic contains! I have some fun ideas about small clutches that would be just darling, and finally put some of my Japanese linens in my secret special stash to use. Best part: I’ll probably have to make a practice one for myself, just to make sure I do a good job for my swap-partner!

Love,

MaLora

PS: Small Sewing Rant! I grow tired of sewing patterns in books covering at most up to a normal US size 10. It’s hard when my normal size is a 12/14, and many sewing patterns and sewing books consider this a XXL or don’t even include it. I am positive a 12/14 is a very average size. I never have a problem finding pre-made clothes in both boutiques and department stores. Isn’t anyone else frustrated by sizing in sewing patterns?! I purchased the Anna Marie Horner Handmade Beginnings as well as the Sew Serendipity and discovered that I have to size up every pattern. I don’t even have paper as big as the tissue patterns to re-draft the pattern to my size. This is ridiculous!  I am not overly large by any means. Ugh! So Annoying!

hand-made gift bags for the foodie like you

My friend HavivaH (Her name is a palindrome! How can you not capitalize on that?!) got married last weekend, and at her bridal shower I knew nothing other than a foodie theme would do. So we went to a fantastic eaterie, Cafe Flora, in Madrona. The menu is fantastic, especially the Strawberry Marscapone Waffle described as:

“Our crunchy cornmeal waffle topped with fresh local strawberries, vegan vanilla mascarpone and toasted almond slivers. (vegan and gluten free)” – Cafe Flora

I would’ve taken a photograph, but they didn’t last long enough!

The best thing about being friends with HavivaH, is her appreciation for the artisan in us all. She appreciates the delicacies and hard work of the individual crafts people out there, and is well-known at Ballard’s farmers markets.To show my adoration for her, I hand-made some delightful lined draw-string gift bags using some Americana floral and satin ribbon. Some had vintage lace, which has made me a fan of magical fusible interfacing. Yay – like magic! And the narrow ribbon doesn’t get on your iron! (Yes, I had to purchase the Rowenta iron cleaner. It stinks up my entire 1,000 sq. ft. apartment and makes my dog turn her nose away in disgust, but it works so well!) This little bag is my favorite, with the bright oranges and blues.

In each gift bag, I slipped in some fantastic locally made salts, Secret Stash. Everything from Coconut Marsala to the coveted Truffle Black Sea Salt. I let the ladies pick each bag, and the salt was a mystery surprise!

The salts I purchased from the amazing Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center, where I dragged my husband along for another year. I refrained from purchasing anything else, but I have a handful of business cards to start planning my holiday shopping!

For HavivaH’s wedding favors, she and her groom spent months preparing flavored liquors and limoncello, gifting them out in little cute bottles.  I had to help on such a fun crafty project, and convinced them I’d make a fabulous taste-tester. And I was so happy I did! I still have two small coveted bottles of this delicious liqueur – let me know if you try it! It is very much worth the wait.

Here is the basic recipe:

Hazelnut Liqueur

Yield: 1 pint

6 oz Hazelnuts
1 Vanilla bean (1 inch)
1 tsp Allspice
1 1/2 c Vodka
1/3 c Sugar Syrup

Chop the hazelnuts to release the flavor of the nut and add to vodka, vanilla bean, and allspice. Age for 2 weeks, shaking lightly occasionally. Strain and filter until clear. Add sugar syrup, if desired, and age for an additional 3 weeks. Ready to serve.

Makes a nice gift and is nice over ice cream as well as an aperitif.
Alternately, try using pistachios which also make a delicious liqueur. If flavor is too weak, add more nuts and re-steep a week before adding the sugar syrup.

Love,

MaLora