FTLOS awesomeness!

This is what I first put as my title:

For the Love of Solids {a modern swap} Round 1 complete!

But that's really long, and kind of boring. :)

I was kind of hit and miss during this swap... there were a LOT of pictures, so I kind of just picked ones that really stood out to me in one way or another to comment on and every time I look at the group pics I find more that I really like and that I missed before... but overall it was a blast! I received my package on Thursday of last week and it was FANTASTIC!!

I actually received it from Leigh - leedle deedle quilts, who in my do. Good Stitches circle is the ring leader (I don't know what the official title is). :) Which is cool. :) I love what she made for me!

I had asked for a huge beach bag that all of our towels will fit in for when we go to the poole, or the beach, or whatever, and let me tell you, that this is AWESOME!

Check out the huge pockets on the front and back as well

I love the design and colors of it too. I think I need to find more reasons to use this, especially since summer is over. (Can't wait until next year!)

She also sent along some cute potholders, which I have been thinking that I need some new ones. :)

and some cute fabric!

Thank you Leigh!! :)

Now onto what I made...

Can I just tell you that I haven't enjoyed sewing anything for a while as much as I've enjoyed sewing my two projects?! I truly had a blast putting these together, and I didn't drudge one part of it, not even ironing! And that is saying a lot! :)

Going backwards, I made this pillow:

and this little zip-itself coin purse!

and starting over:

 After I sewed the first set of pieces together for the blocks, I hung up the strings in my window to keep them from getting tangled, and they looked so fun just blowing around in the light breeze that I kind of went picture crazy taking pics of them! :)

and then... I finally decided that I should make a pillow and not send my partner some random squares sewn together as a banner. That is NOT what she asked for. ;)

So here it is. The pictures didn't turn out quite like I hoped, but it was so much fun and I hope she likes it! I was really intimidated to sew something for her because she is AMAZING! But when she commented on my draft picture that she thought it would be beautiful, I was able to relax a little, and I love it! (I used this quilt tutorial I can't find it. But I know I have it on another post. I'll find it and update ths... and after the fact someone pointed out that this is a disappearing 9-patch. duh. That could have saved me a lot of time. Don't hold me to it, but I'm going to post up how I would do it differently if I were to do this again in a 2 tone project... like for my bed spread?)

For the zip-itself coin purse I used this tutorial. I realized after my first attempt that she was totally talking about hand stitching it and not machine sewing it. lol. Anyway, I also didn't really like the ribbon I was trying to use, so I started over and decided to use fabric strips, and still machine sew it, except this time I knew what I was doing. I think I just might post my alterations a little later - because I like to remember those kinds of things, and then if anyone would also like them, awesome. :)

So, here it is!

My zipper was longer, and I was planning on cutting it shorter, but to get the right shape I needed to keep it's original length, which meant my fabric was too short, but I actually am glad because I like the little color change right on the end. :)


So fun!

I also threw in a couple more zippers - I know she loves red and white, so there you go. As well as the bunting of two rows that I was planning on putting on the back of the pillow, but in the end I decided that I liked it better without them. So now she can hang them in her window, or use them in some other matchy-matchy- project. Or whatever. :)


I sure hope she likes them!

p.s. I think this must be Neil's favorite project too. Whenever I've brought up anything asking him what pattern I should do for this or that, he just tells me to do it just like this, and with the pink and orange... even our bed spread. :) (If I made this for our room, it would be blue and green though. ;) )