Bee Sewcial Holiday Swap

Bee Sewcial had a fun holiday gathering over zoom this week, where we swapped handmade items we'd sent to each other in the weeks leading up to our 'party.' Let's just say, it was a very good swap!

From Karen @capitolaquilter, I received the most beautiful quilted bucket. I adore her fabric choices - the lining and cuff one of my favorite fabrics ever.

The bucket is machine-quilted, and then along the top, Karen did some lovely hand-stitching.

The construction of the bottom intrigued me!

Lucky for us, Karen has written a tutorial for this darling Beginner Friendly Quilted Bucket Tutorial! I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

Aren't handmade gifts just so precious?

Meanwhile, I was assigned to make something for Stephanie @spontaneousthreads. I made her a large Split Pouch, using the pattern from Carolyn Friedlander, with an Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic for the exterior, and for the lining, a long-stashed Suzuko Koseki fabric. 

Just for fun, I made a tiny pincushion and needle book from the quilted pouch scraps. 

And a new touch was to use leather for the zipper tabs.

I quilted the outer fabric onto Soft and Stable with Aurifil 28wt [Wine], and I really enjoyed the contrast, with a zipper to match

Both the snaps and the made bias tape on the interior were in black, to coordinate with the black in the lining print.

The zipper pull was made from leather lacing, and I added a checkerboard label from Sarah Hearts to the pincushion, just another black and white detail.

Well that was a lot of fun. I love the gift Karen made me, Stephanie seems plenty happy with the gift I made her, and we had a very enjoyable zoom. I'm grateful for creative friends, that's for sure.