Open Wide

Well I'm back from my quilting retreat, and it did not disappoint! A HUGE surprise was that our fourth member was able to join us after an absence of 12 years(!) due to her move out of state. So it was a sweet reunion plus good food, hours upon hours of sewing, and talk, talk, talk. In short, *awesome*.

Just for fun, we had planned ahead to do a small project all together. We chose Noodlehead's Open Wide Zippered Pouch. It was a fun, easy sew, and I'm thrilled with how mine turned out!

My exterior fabric is Etsuko Furuya's Echino Insects paired with Essex Linen in Lime. For the interior I used a gray print from Zen Chic Juggling Summer. Where I used the Pellon 101SF that Noodlehead suggests in her tutorial, my friends all used fusible fleece. It does make quite a difference in the feel of the bag - mine obviously isn't as poofy as theirs, but it definitely stands on it's own. I'm also the only one that made the large size (10x13"), and it's really a good-sized pouch. 

I loved how each in the group jumped right in personalizing their pouches!

There were several quilted bags . . .

Even a couple with interior pockets!

The over-achiever in the group (not me!) actually made four pouches before she moved on to her previously-scheduled project!

All in all, it was a very fun project. I'll definitely be making this pouch again.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.