Christmas Finish Postscript

There's no W.i.P. Wednesday this week, so I thought I'd tally up the Christmas finishes I haven't shared yet.

Ruby Star Wrapping Pillowcase Pouches - This pattern saved the day for me. Though I had planned on making oodles of fabric gift bags this year, I missed my goal by a long shot. But on Christmas Eve, when I finally got around to wrapping my gifts for my family, I realized that not only did I not have as many fabric bags as I had planned, but I also ran out of paper ones. Thank goodness pillowcase pouches are pretty quick! I think I even was working so quickly that I forgot to take pics of a couple.

Drawstring Bags - I could not not make one for daughter dear, the queen of fabric gift bags! It was The Artist Bag (16" tall x 14.5"), in blue and gray snowflake dots.

Infinity Scarf - I mentioned last week that this item wasn't very photo friendly, and truly, I was afraid the project was a fail. Even though the fabric was a lovely voile, I wasn't sure it draped well enough. But once my daughter-in-law-to-be slipped it on, I knew it was fine. It looked just darling on her.

(fabric was cut 11"x42"; shown here looped once)

Zakka Frame Purses - I made three for gifts, two with the pleats, and one without, just to try it. Unfortunately, I only managed to take a finished picture of one of them.

Frame Purse - For this little one, I actually drafted a pattern to fit my frame, and I love its unique shape.

And lastly, in addition to running out of gift bags, I also ran out of tags! On Christmas Eve! So I cut into a quilted scrap from the stocking I made recently, and quickly stitched up some tags.

I'll definitely be making some of these again!

For next W.i.P. Wednesday, I hope to also report on the couple of projects I did not get done!

Linking up with finish it up Friday.

W.i.P Wednesday

Thanks so much for your encouragement as I guest-hosted W.i.P. Wednesday last week! It was fun visiting even more of your blogs than I am usually able to manage! SO many lovely projects in the works!

Many of the projects below I have already blogged about, but at least for today, I'll list them all in one place.

Finished projects
Name Tag and Patchwork Lanyard - The name tag is so not what I had in mind, but oh well. The lanyard was adapted from this tutorial and went together quickly and easily.

Logo Card Holder - This was made from my tutorial, for daughter dear to use at Sewing Summit.

Weekender Bag - This bag was  my major accomplishment for the week, and the reason why most of my quilt projects weren't touched. You can read more about my experience making it here.

Ongoing projects
Glue-in Frame Purse - I've gathered supplies for the one hands-on class I got into at Sewing Summit. I'm anxious to compare the glue-in frame process to the sew-in one I've already tried.

Halloween Stitchery - Just a little hand-sewing project for traveling.

Mod Pop Quilt-along - Still working on piecing those curves.

Modern Crosses quilt, Christmas quilt,  and Dresden projects - sadly, no progress.

Upcoming projects
* scrappy Metrolink - who knows when, but I still really want to!
* another frame purse
* use Polaroid blocks
* placemats
* Binary quilt using blocks from Modern Blocks Bee
* Sew Lux Challenge project
* UR Priceless Blog Hop project
* Christmas!

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.

Zakka Along Week 22 :: Pleated Coin Purse

Oh, little frame purse, where have you been all my life?

This week's project by Karyn Valino of make something was THE project I wanted to make when I purchased Zakka Style and started the sew along. It's taken twenty-two weeks to get to the project that in this moment seems like the cutest stitched up treasure I've ever made. (Familiar words - could it possibly have anything to do with the fabric choice?)

It started out as a bit of a treasure hunt weeks ago, as I was planning ahead and searching for the purse frame called for in the book. Then it was announced in the flickr group that we really needed a different size frame. Thank goodness Karyn had them in her shop, and shipped some right out to me, arriving just in the nick of time.

I must say I was a bit nervous though. I could not even imagine how something so cute {with metal involved!} could possible come together without major difficulty. Shape Moth shared the absolutely adorable purses she made, though, so that encouraged me on. And my friend Simone shared a link which armed me with back-up galore as far as technique goes.

Humor me. I'm going to list some links here for safe-keeping, as I sense more frame purses in my future! 
Sew-In Purse Frame Tutorial
Glued-In Purse Frame Tutorial
Making a Tutorial to Match your Frame

So, one night earlier in the week, I started, pulling out some of my very favorite Ruby Star Spring. Before long I had the front and back all pleated up.

 I laid the frame close up, and things looked very hopeful!

Now was the super scary part - attaching that frame! I had even bought glue, E-6000 as suggested by the clerk at the fabric store, since they didn't have Weldbond. But when I realized the frame I had purchased had stitching holes, well I just had to use them!

Considering I only have three colors of Perle Cotton in my stash, I was happy to find a perfect shade of green to coordinate with the Ruby Star and lime Essex Linen lining.

It was a little tricky, yes, but by the second side, it felt pretty good. And boy is that purse snug in its frame.

The project description in Zakka Style reads, "This design brings a crafty classic into modern times. The charming coin purse with a purchased metal frame features sweetly appealing pleating." I couldn't agree more.

Linking up with LRstsitched and TNT Thursday.