Valentine Zipper Pouches

Here are a few other Valentine items I made for gifts last week.  These are all made with Surrounded by Love fabric by Deb Strain for Moda

I love how they all turned out and the ladies that received them, seemed to like them as well.  Hope you are having a great day.   

Princess Zipper Pouch

Here is a Princess Zipper Pouch I made for a dear friends daughter.  She is totally into princesses and everything pink & purple.  This fabric actually shimmers so I thought it was perfect for her. 

 

I did the lining in white and lavender dots and I think it compliments the bag nicely.

 

I especially love the princess charm.  I loaded up on some fabulous charms last month when I went to my hometown.  I found two stores with every charm under the sun and went bananas, you'll be seeing them for months because I literally got about 100 different kinds.

Thanks for stopping by.

Buying Handmade for Staff Appreciation

Last week I got an order for eleven zipper pouches.  Woohoo, it's my biggest order to date. 

Eleven ladies in Ormond Beach Florida have a really fabulous boss --This sweet lady purchased personalized zipper pouches for her entire staff for Staff Appreciation Week.  

The sweet thing was she wrote me describing each person and then I sent-posted pictures of previous pouches I had made for her to choose from. I thought it was thoughtful and the best thing was she didn't try to haggle on price and paid to ship over night!

Guadalupe Zipper Pouches

With all the rain on Saturday, I got some sewing done. 

 

I made these two zipper pouches to donate to the Guadalupanas ladies group fundraiser at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Mission (my hometown).  My Mom is in the group.  I was actually baptized there as an infant and married there in 2004.   I've been wanting to make them something for a while. 

I have two versions...  This is first zip is made with a folklorico style print fabric, very modern.  

Inside I used a goldenrod tone on tone print fabric, it was the exact color in the flower print on the outside.  (I love it when I have the right colors in my stash).

The second one was is a realistic painting print.  I've had this for a long time and have been wanting to make "something" for a while.  I was so afraid the stipple quilting would look bad across the faces of the virgens but I think it's hard to see. 

I am excited to mail these to my Mom tomorrow.  Her group has a meeting later on this week, I hope these draw in some cash for the church's needs.  I have a tote bag in the works for later on this fall, I am looking forward to donating that for the big Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration in early December.  Hope you had a great weekend.  

Wine Cork Zipper Pouch

Here's a wine cork zipper pouch I made for a friend that loves wine AND does crafts with wine corks.  This fabric was just too perfect. 

My favorite thing is the wine corkscrew charm I found, it couldn't be more perfect!

Speaking of wine, I am ready for the weekend.   Hope you have a great one!

Zipper Bags

Here are a few zipper bags that I have made in the last couple of weeks.

Weenie dogs wearing rain boots zipper pouch for our daughter Micaela (we love weenie dogs). 

Also available in green. 

Bees & apples theme zipper pouch for a friend who just started teaching preschool and the theme in her classroom is bees...

Black & White spotty dog zipper pouch for our own piebald double dapple weenie dog Oreo, we decided he needed one too.

Dallas Cowboy zipper pouch for a big fan visiting my friend from Germany

Lion zipper pouch for a childhood friend who teaches Kindergarten and the theme in her classroom is Lions.

These are all available in my Etsy store, the button is on the right side bar.   Thanks for stopping by!

Zipper Bag for Music Teacher

Our daughter's music teacher was off on maternity leave at the end of the school year so we didn't get to give her an end of the year gift.  I had been looking for fabric with music notes/symbols  in purple ever since our daughter was in Kinder (yes, a long time).  Well the other day, by chance-- I found the perfect fabric and the timing was just right to give her the gift at the begining of this school year. 

Here is the zipper bag.

The lining was music notes.

We appreciate so much what all of our daughter's teachers do, it's just one tiny thing to say Thanks.  I am so glad it's Friday.  This was a short week for me but it really felt long.

Chevron Zipper Pouch

First time to use chevron fabric, one hundredth time to use this pattern.  Yes, another zipper pouch.  Amazing all the looks you get with different fabrics.  This was a special order from a friend for a bride and these are her new initials.  What a thoughtful gift. 

I finally do something in chevron, I am behind the curve.  Everyone has been using chevron fabrics for more than a year and I finally got some.  I wasn't a fan of the large prints because I make small items but when I came across this at Applique Getaway, I had to purchase a fat quarter.

Love this fabric, I think it would be cute in my office!  Hope the bride likes her gift.  And, hope you've had a great weekend. 

Hula Girl Zipper Pouch

Micaela was upset when not a single gift shop in Kauai had her name on a souvenir item-- you know the little license plates, key rings and gadgets.  We could not find "Micaela" on anything, anywhere!  I promised to make her something when we got back with some of the fabric I bought at one of the fabric stores.

So here is her very own Hula Girl Zipper Pouch with her name on it! (Poor girl doesn't have very many personalized items-- not). I told her no one in the world has one like it-- that sorta helped.
This print is so darn cute, I got a yard of it and plan to make several things.  Hope you are having a great Monday, thanks for stopping by!

Fabric Basket Swap MMQG

A Modern Quilt Guild just started in McKinney.  When we met in June, we exchanged bags of fabric for a fabric basket swap. 

This is what I received....

Holy cow was that ALOT of different fabric strips and one half yard of pink solid.  Gulp!

I decided I would use as many of the strips as I could and make the basket itself pink.  I tried piecing the strips together several different ways until I decided 2" strips diagonally worked best.  Here are the strips pieced together. 

I trimmed the strip to 1.5" and top stitched it all around the bag.  There are 16 different fabrics all the way around.  I was originally going to have the top edge fold down but decided to embroider the recipient's name on it and just top stitch a decorative stitch around the top. 

This is how the basket turned out.

 

 

I decided to make a few things to fill the basket.  First a wonky pieced pin cushion.  Instead of leaving the seams plain, I top stitched a decorative stitch that looked like beads and added a big B to the center panel.  I think this turned out pretty cute.

The next thing I made was a crisscross tissue holder.  I didn't have enough of all of the fabrics so I pieced strips together to make it work... the inside is "lined" with different fabrics. 

The last item I made was a zipper pouch.  If you follow my blog you know I have made many of these.  This is actually the first one I make in a solid color. 

This is a college of everything I made for BettePat. 

I was not at the meeting because I was in Kauai but here's a picture of BettePat when she received it. 

This swap was so much fun, I look forward to more of these opportunities.  Thanks for stopping by!

End of the School Year Gifts-- catching up!

Wow, the last two weeks have flown by.  I've done alot of sewing. 

These are a few of the zipper pouches I made for some of the teachers and administrators at our daughter's school for end of the school year gifts the first week of June.  Each pouch was specifically made for the recipient.

This one was for the art teacher.  She is kinda funky modern artsy and I thought this fabric was a nice match for her.

This one is for the school principal.  She has two little boys under 5 years of age and LOVES baseball.  I thought this fabric would be fun.  I monogrammed an A for her last name in gray.

 This one was for the assistant coach.  She is a modern beach babe kinda lady and I thought the sunglass print would be fun for her.

 This one was for the front office manager.  She saves the day for us often when I deliver Micaela's forgotten lunch money, glasses, and books.  Sandy likes jewel tones and coffee so the inside of this one was lined in a brown polka dot print.  I also included a Starbucks gift card for her. 

 This one was for the assistant principal.  She loves the beach and sun so I thought the flip flops on yellow would be fun for her.

 This pouch was for Micaela's BFF, Emma loves monkies especially sock monkies.  I love this print!

Well, that's the zipper pouches.  I also made two pillows.  I will show those in a seperate post. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Flip Flop Zipper Pouches

Remember the summer flip flop pouches I showed the other day, well-- I had someone order five for a girlfriend beach trip.  Isn't that fun! 

Instead of embroidering the letters, I did applique this time.  I did them all different too....  These shipped to Alabama the other day...

 

I wish I was going on a beach trip with girlfriends!   We keep talking about a trip somewhere but can't decide where...  we'll get it figured out soon.   Have a great day!

Cowgirl Zipper Bag

I have a local friend that has made my little zipper pouches her "go to" gift for little girl birthday parties.  Last week she texted me looking for something for a little girl that was having a birthday party at Storybook Ranch, a local venue for western themed events.

This is what I came up with.  I was originally going to use denim but it was too stiff to double turn inside out plus add lining, so I opted for this blue tone on tone paisley I got as a remnant at one of my LQS.  I love the Giddy font, I was happy the recipeint's name had an i so I could use a star to dot it.

I think it turned out pretty cute and I hear the little girl was happy to receive it.  Thanks for stopping by.

Summer Zipper Pouches

Here are a few recent zipper pouches I have made.  These are all available in my Etsy store. 

Red Red Red

TGIF, what a long week.  This is my last free weekend before I have big city events every Saturday from now til practically Memorial Day.

Yesterday, I co-sponsored a Wellness Lunch & Learn with our HR department for our employees.  The speaker was a long time friend of mine who actually mentored me back in the early 90's when I was a college intern. It's so crazy that 20 years later things came full circle for me and we are able to work together on projects.  I never would have thought I would still live in the DFW area much less the same city where she is based.

I wanted to make a little thank you gift and this is what I came up with... tada a zipper pouch.  Is anyone suprised?  I think these zipper bags are my go-to gift now.

My husband made the matching pen on his lathe.  He's getting really good at wood turning, I love when I am able to find acrylic or wood in his stash to match fabric in my stash, it makes the gifts more complete. 

The lining in the zipper pouch was a polkadot print from SU Candy Cane collection.  I am so pleased that the reds all matched.  Believe it or not, I am working on some stuff that isn't zippered bags, I just can't show until the recipients receive.  Stay tuned for some baby items as soon as these new family members hatch.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Weenie Dog Pouches

Last week I got an order for a little herd of weenie dog pouches... nine of them!  To be honest, I thought it was a prank but when the payment showed up in my PayPal account, I was quite pleased.

I think these little puppies turned out pretty cute.   The buyer wanted them all to be different so I made the top band different colors and added the embroidered name.

I've never made so many pouches out of the same fabric before so this was a first.  The buyer was giving them to her girlfriends on a Bachelorette trip.   Isn't that fun? 

Want one with your name on it?  They are available in my Etsy Store.  Thanks for stopping by!

Dr. Seuss "Cat in the Hat" Zipper Pouch

One of my friends asked me to come up with something for her daughter's Dr. Seuss loving teacher.  I had some Dr. Seuss fabric from a baby project a couple of years ago so I used it to make a zipper pouch.

Here is what I came up with.

I used a black & white pin stripe for the top flap and black zipper.  

The inside lining is white and black polkadots.

I think it turned out pretty cute.  This is available in my Etsy store.  Hope you are having a great day!

Springy Owl Zipper Bag

Hi there--
Hope you are having a great day.  Does it feel like spring where you are?  We were doing great with nice warm weather then all of the sudden over the weekend we were back in the 30's-- Crazy Texas Weather.

I just made this little owl zipper bag for my Aunt Bettye who had a birthday last week.  She turned 85 years old!  Her birthday is the first day of Spring.  She has collected owl stuff since I was a little girl and she is my favorite Aunt on my Dad's side of the family.  I thought this little zipper bag would be fun for her to carry her glasses and stuff in. 

This fabric is from JoAnn.  I matched the owl pattern at the zipper opening of the bag.  I always like to do that if possible-- hate decapitating things with zipper seam...lol

I lined the inside of the bag with a fun bright pink polka dot.  The charm is from my friend Ruthie-- love it!  This is going in the mail today and I look forward to her receiving it. 

Hope the rest of your week is wonderful, thanks for stopping by!

Gifts for Friends...

Wow, what a busy week we have had.  Our daughter has been off for Spring Break and poor thing we have been shuffling her between us while we had a crazy week!  At the last minute, we decided take a last minute trip to visit our dear friends in Arkansas a few hours away.  I have a rule about never going to anyone's house empty handed, here are a few things we made our friends for hosting us. 

Our friends have a daughter six months younger than our Micaela, we say the girls are God Sisters since the parents (our friends) are our daughter's God Parents.  Micaela helped me pick out some fabric to make the daughter a few things.  First we made a purple plush blanket embroidered with her name and an appliqued an M.  Micaela picked out the cupcake fabric. 

The second item was a matching little zipper case.  I used the same cupcake fabric and a swirly purple fabric for the top.

We made the parents an Easter hanging kitchen towel and some matching coasters.  Sorry these are such poor pictures, I literally took these before we left their house.   The coasters match perfectly IRL but look quite bright in these pictures I took with my phone.

Troy made the Dad, our compadre- a couple of pens on his lathe. The first one was wood and made from Olivewood from the Holy Land.

 The second pen was acyrlic and dark green-- his school colors. 

 

We had a wonderful time in Arkansas and we look forward to having them visit us soon. 

Hope you had a great weekend.