Menu Monday~Sweet Trips Embroidery Pouch~

My gosh did last week fly by! Between dental work, illness, moving stuff and kids activities, I’m surprised I spent time in the studio at all! But I did manage some studio time mostly because my 2 older boys have started to do their homework in there. It’s working for us so we’ll stick with it!As I promised to share last week, here is my Sweet Trips Embroidery Pouch finally finished!  I will be using it as my Sashiko stitching storage for when I’m on the go. Everything fits well and is very easy to slip in my bag.

Let me tell you, this cute little thing took me all week. The pattern itself was very easy and straightforward. What took the longest was the front block you see above and the binding. I am still learning how to do blocks, but I’m getting better! I think this is my best block yet. All the corners met together and nothing looked too wonky. My only error was that I forgot to add 1/4″ around the sides of the main rectangle – thus seeing a few points chopped off-.  I did remember to add them everywhere else, so all is not lost.

Here is a back view where I added 2 Japanese printed linen squares from my stash. I just used a simple zig-zag stitching around the sides to secure.  I also hijacked Debbie’s idea of adding ties to secure it closed, and am really happy I did.

The finished interior has a nice oil cloth pouch to hold some of my threads, clippers and my Sashiko directions. The top has 2 rectangle felt pieces stitched down the sides to hold my Sashiko needles.  On the left there are 2 linen topped pockets to hold some linen pieces and future stitching projects.

This week marks the end of the Zakka 2.0 sew-along. This week is the pretty patchwork pincushion. This was the first project I completed in this book so I am officially done. I am so sad to see it end and had the BEST time meeting and seeing other bloggers work. Now I have to hunt for a similar sew-along so I can have my Zakka fix! How do you get your Zakka fix?

Now that my sew-alongs are done, I plan to work on a Halloween throw pillow I started this week. I will share the finished project in a few days. I am also working on a prototype for a funky leather-cotton bag that’s been in my sketch pad for some time. I also have a long ago pattern I created being reworked. So what are you all working on?