Pretty Perfect Fabric and Patterns

Pretty Perfect Fabric is Art Gallery Fabrics!  "Feel the Difference" is their motto, and it is a good one, love the feel of their fabrics, I can even tell when it is AGF fabrics and they don't have their selvedge, just by the feel of them.
AGF is having a giveaway of 100 yards,  in order to enter the giveaway you must post a selfie of yourself with something you have made with AGF.  A selfie is a “photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone and shared via social media”
How good are you at doing Selfies? 
I am NOT very good at taking selfies, so difficult, eekk.. you can see my nose hairs, oh now you can't see my nose at all, talk about double chin, hey where'd the bag go?  so on and so forth, I took about a dozen different selfies.

So I made 2 items to enter, one is the Pretty Floral Divided Tote by Thread Riding Hood.

I made it out of the new Skopelos fabric designed by Katarina Roccella, these are the 2 exterior fabrics, Paparounes Pastel (that's poppies in greek) and Greeka Skouro (the greek key like symbol in Dark -Skouro) and for the Interior I used Underground Route from the Jungle Ave collection by Sara Lawson.

I took these pictures at a girlfriends shop, she sells Greek trinkets.

Paralia means beach in Greek, but it is also a place here in Greece.

 I tried to take some selfie pictures at the outdoor market or in Greek - Bazaari, but was feeling pretty exposed with everyone walking around and several neighbors were asking what I was doing, the Greek community always wants to know what that strange foreign women is up too.

I used some hardware from Emmaline Bags, the handmade bag label and a magnetic snap inside.

I picked up some strawberries at the market and picked up 2 birthday packages from the post office.

I also made the Perfect Petal Purse for my daughter a pattern made by Fenna from a Fabulous Home Sewn. out of Art Gallery Elements, Floral and Nature, I love basics and just love AGF Elements, can't wait to get my hands on some of the newer Prisma ones.
For that selfie you will need to go see it on my Instagram account :) -link on the side bar.

 I made a little stumpwork bee for the center of this sunflower purse.  I even made him wings out of some AGF fabrics, but decided that they were a little too big and was afraid they might get caught on things as my daughter wore her new purse.

So no wings for the little guy, but surrounded by delicious french knots representing the center of the sunflower.

The zipper has some bag bling with an Emmaline bags handcrafted zipper pull

See a Pretty Perfect Fabric and Pattern Pairing!
Did you make anything out of AGF?
#ShowUsHowYouAGF, #artgalleryfabrics & #wearefabrics

Snowflake Pouch - Giveaway!

This Snowflake pattern is courtesy of Sewing Under Rainbow, she is holding a Last Minute Christmas QAL, and you still have time to join in, in fact it is perfect to join in on the last minute, yes?  You have till December 26th to make anything from the 12 FREE patterns that she provides, there are some great prizes to win.
Although you can't really be a beginner at paper piecing except maybe for the first block which is Christmas trees, real cute.

Now it actually took me a long time to do this snowflake, because I said to myself "Why don't I make it smaller?"  Well this is a first for me in Foundation Paper Piecing but I saw Snips Snippets do it and it looked easy enough.  I took it to the printers and had them shrink it to 70%, well I first did 50%, but that just looked cra-cra, and we bumped it back up to 70%.  Now what I totally didn't take into account was the tiny seam allowance it would create, instead of the 1/4 in normal seam allowance this was somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4, so for the first time I sewed all of the papers and fabrics on together and made this little pretty number.

I normally take the papers off after sewing the block and then just sew each block together with a 1/4" seam, but I couldn't do that in this instance and needed to follow the line.

I stitched around the snowflake with embroidery thread.

I realize I need to work on making my points meet, I will blame it on the fact that I shrunk the pattern ;)
Didn't it make the cutest snowflake.

 This pouch is part of the Bracelet Giveaway, that I am having on my blog, check my earlier post.

The interior is a red on red snowflake pattern.

I quilted the back of the pouch in a diamond shape with Variegated Aurifil 4663

The interior of the pouch measures 7" x 10" maybe enough room to put a tablet in?
Linking to Sewing Under Rainbow Last Minute Christmas QAL with Julianna.
and to TGIFF, cause for a while there I didn't think I was going to get it done, lol.
and Let's Be Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts.
Don't forget to check out the giveaway.

Friday Finishes

I finished my Liberty Shorts,

They turned out pretty cute, I gave them a hand wash and dried them in the Greek shade, they will be off  to their new owner on Monday.

I did some edgestitching with Aurifil 28wt 2540
My next finish was for a Swap.

 It's kind of little on the funky side, not my style, but my secret partner's.  I did a little practice FMQ, I really, really need to practice that, probably shouldn't have practiced on a gift for someone else though, lol.

 You can go look at her mosaic to see why I made this mini quilt.  But it is a secret and I have not shared any photos on the flickr group cause I am sure she will know it is for her right away.

Birds bones, she loved the image ALOT on Pinterest, so I figure it will be good, she has a thing for skulls and the colors red, aqua and purple (we have that in common :)  I had some scraps of skull fabrics and they were odd sizes so I made a QAYG/crazy interior for a pouch.

Now I was super lucky and really happy when I saw Vera of Negligent Style (you should follow her if you don't already, she makes the coolest stuff) make a post about her Le Challenge small project, skull bracelets!  I asked her if she could make me a zipper pull (she is famous for them) with the skulls and I would buy it, well she was so kind and sent it to me for Free, so I could give it to my partner who LOVES skulls, so wonderful!

 Isn't it fantastic and perfect!  LOVE!  Well the zipper pull arrived on Friday, I quickly slipped it on and put this little swap package in the mail, just in time!

Our swap mama has been quit stringent on the Rules and August 8th was the posting deadline.  She also said no extras and well I broke that one, I didn't know about the rule until after I made the pouch and asked Vera for a special zipper pull and there was no way I was NOT going to send this to someone who I just know will love it.  So off it went with the mini quilt.

TGIFF

I know it is Thursday, at least I think it is Thursday?  Since Nik isn't going to school I loose track of time, well I am just so darn glad I got all of this in the mail.

Oh Yeah all of those packages left the house today, my 4 giveaway packages, 2 just cause I like you packages, 1 swap, 1 PIF (Pay It Forward) and some cash I owe a good friend.

Very Heavy!  Costing 44euros or like $60 some dollars!

Now you are really lucky if you are getting something, cause my daughter wanted to open them back up, lol, I had a hard time convincing her that these "packages" were for OTHER people and not for her.
1 package contained the 4 FQ's that I put together for Natasha, I am so glad I asked her for more details in her favorite colors (aqua and grey) cause she sent me to her Pinterest board and she has the cutest fun prints pinned.  So I really hope you like these fabrics.

4 FQ's and 2 Threads from Greece

 "Adventures" by Stephanie Wright for RJR Fabrics, "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" for RJR Fabrics, and "Apple Jack" by Tim Beck for Moda.

 Plus some Valori Wells "Metamor-Stonewash", now she asked if there was any Greek designers, and although I do not think there are, I do know that Anne Marie Horner is of Greek ancestry, and at first I was totally thinking this was an AMH print and then found out it wasn't, but it fit her colors so well, that I decided to go with it anyway, hope you like it!

Full picture of the FQ, it is a very "Large" print.

Plus Butterfly Fabric and Butterfly Thread just go together!
I also sent out a little surprise and my first attempt at making a fabric postcard.

Get It!  Tou-Can Party, the name of the bird on the fabric is a Toucan!

 I won't show you the other side, it is a surprise!
I also sent out this little surprise.

Again only showing a little, the full reveal will happen next week!

And letting you in on a deal, make sure to go over to Massdrop, yes if you follow this link and sign up, then I might get a package in the mail, yippeee!!!!

 Okay so Massdrop is having a super deal on Aurifil Threads, this is a small box of Tula Pink's Collection, you will be getting a large box!! with 12 spools (the small boxes only have 10)  9 of the 12 are shown above, they are ALL variegated threads, you just have to play with them, although my favorite the one below is not included, so sad, as you can see it is on the machine having quilted the above projects is almost gone, boohoo..

Aurifil 4660

My other fav is the pretty variegated yellows of 4658

They also have 3 other boxes that you can choose from, but Tula's has all of the Variegated threads, the 2 extra though are not variegated.  The price is $79 and in the US you get free shipping so that comes out to $6.70 a spool, you won't find a cheaper price and even with the $13 shipping to Greece it still comes out to a good deal at $7.75 a spool.
So be sure to go over and check out Massdrop and see the good deal on Aurifil and read my friend Erin's post if you are looking for a new Iron!

One of my favorite sayings is "Go Big or Go Home"  they are doing another poll for the Aurifil boxes on Massdrop, so if none of the boxes above tickle your fancy then you post another one on the poll, go here for the Aurifil kits part 2 poll, have fun.

Linking to these good linky's - New to Me in June - for the fabric post card.
Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday - on Friday.
and maybe some others, will post when I do.
Have a great weekend, oh and if you get a package from me, be sure to save the stamps, they are from Greece!!!
Hugs

Calling all Europeans

Well everyone is invited and this post is a little all over the place so hang on.
Today is the last day to enter in my Big Birthday Bash Giveaway.
SWAPS:
Let's talk swaps first, I want to start a European version of the F8 Fabric Swap that started in the States, by Laurel of Drowning in Fabric.  She also just started a Weekly linky party on Saturday just for talking about Swaps.
Okay let's talk the European F8th Fabric Swap:

1. There will be 8 spots for each swap, if more people are interested we can do more than 1 group of 8.
2. Each month will have a theme, this is what I was thinking of for right now, July-Text prints, August-Low Volume, September-Halloween/Black & White, any suggestions will be helpful.
3. Purchase 1 yard each of 2 different prints for a total of 2 yards (you might even have 2 yards of 2 different prints in your stash) and cut into 8 pieces each, for a total of 16 pieces.
4. Okay more rules for later, what do you think?  Anyone interested, shipping shouldn't be to bad to send 2 yards to Greece and it cost less than 5euros for me to send it back to you, plus you will get some really cool Greek stamps!

I want to share this fabric.

 Would you like some of this pretty Adornit print, talked about it last Sunday Stash, it has a really pretty hand and great words.

These are also all 1 yard cuts, starting from the top left, Timeless Treasures Fabrics (black and white) crossword puzzle, ABC words for VIP fabrics (black and white with a splash of some rainbow), bottom left, "Back Talk" by Maria Kalinowski for Canvas (black and white), "Wordplay" by Michele D'Amore for Benartex (light green w/ brown and cream sewing words).

Any body interested in a swap!

Still speaking of Swaps, I am participating in Amy's Need a needle book swap, and last night during my Friday Night Sew In (FNSI), I put it together, just a sneaky peeky photo for now.

I also worked on my feather last night and I hope to finish today and show you tomorrow. It was a great time at my FNSI, I drank a whole pitcher of "sweet tea" (insert Texas accent), and also watched my favorite show "Person of Interest".  My partner who is sending to me, the lovely Sheri of Sunshine in the Attic, has finished my needlebook also, in fact she did 2 and gave me a choice of which one, go check them out, she even put zippers on the inside, really beautiful work on both, it was a hard decision, can't wait till it comes in the mail.
FRIDAY FINISH:
I had a Friday finish also, (photo heavy), it was for the Chris W Designs Photographic Contest.
Tell me what photo you like:

This is the one I sent in!

 But there were so many others, I really need to get into shape again, my upper arms, grrr...I used to be a massage therapist and had great upper arms.

 My husband directed and took these photos of me,the bag and the Vespa!

 My daughter took the photos of use at the coffee shop, theses 2 are the same photo, just different PicMonkey effects.

I really liked this one, that she took.

And would have loved to send in this one that I took of her.

So which one do you like?
Chris wanted a person in the photos to show the scale of the bag.  Here are some close-ups of just the bag.

 Her patterns are excellent with lots of photos, but the best part is that she also has a section with just the Text Only Instructions for Printing, it is in black and white so it doesn't use up all of the colors on my printer and is only a few pages, versus the over 60 some in the PDF.

Inside fabric, "Spa" by Deb Strain

 I originally wanted to make an interior zipper pocket, but my yellow fabric that I used for the piping was a scrap piece and I ended up not having enough for the bottom piping of the bag, so I had to use the fabric that I was going to use for the pocket for the bottom exterior piping.

 I omitted the 2 exterior slip pockets for the back, I like the big design on the fabric.

 This is an Emmaline "handmade" metal bag label, makes the bag look so professional, along with the metal rings and I also added purse feet.

I used the Lovely Aurifil thread, Yellow Varigated 4658 50wt, and a China blue that perfectly matched the blue Dear Stella fabrics, 2725 40wt.
This pattern was pretty tough with the piping, but would be a lot easier if I had a machine that I could move the needle, it was pretty hard to get close to the edge of the piping, but I love it and I think it will look great for dressing up or for just going about town.  What is really awesome is that my dear friend Shirley of Simple Sew got this for me, and I had pinned it on Pinterest over 50 weeks ago, I loved the look of the bag and couldn't believe that you could sew it up and look at that over a year later, I sewed myself a Sugar and Spice bag, from Chris W. Designs.

I feel like I wanted to talk about something else but I can't remember, linking up to all of these fantastic linky parties.
TGIFF
Saturday Swap
SewJo Saturday
Show Off Saturday
Sunday Stash
Have a great weekend.
Tell me if you are interested in the Fabric Swap.