Spring Inspiration

Even though it was a rainy weekend here, the  vibrant purple and pink flowers in my yard 

seemed to jump out of  from the greens, and say, "Hey!  Look at me!!"

From my backyard

I love these colors together!   I have not worked with a lot of solid colors for the main fabrics of a quilt, but would like to make a quilt in  a modern pattern someday.  I love reading about modern quilting and try to   absorb the  style and  technique information  from all of the talented modern quilters' blogs out there.

After I saved this picture on my computer, I remembered  seeing a blog,  Little Bluebell, where Adrianne told us about a really neat tool, called  Palette Builder 2.   (Thanks for this great information, Adrianne!)

I just went to Play Crafts, and clicked on  load image, to upload my photo.  Look what colors I have picked out, to inspire me to find these colors of fabric!

Purple Wildflowers 

Isn't this so neat?!
I went ahead and made these other palettes... and filed them under "Inspiration."

Bleeding hearts fuschia and greens

Mossy and lilacs

Oh, I could spend hours playing around with this new toy!   That link is:  Palette Builder 2 @Play Crafts

Those yummy browns and greens remind me of a Diaper Bag set that I made this past month.  I wanted to make a diaper bag, which could "double" as a tote/purse, and include  a few fun and useful pouches , made in coordinating fabrics.  

The Pattern:    Pocket Parade Tote    by Penny Sturges at Quilts Illustrated.com

The fabrics:   

Kate Spain's  Fandango     photo courtesy of  Fat Quarter Shop

I used the brown and green and blue colorways of this Fandango.  I added some blender brown fabric  from  Connecting Threads.com

Mirage Brown

The Pocket Parade Tote Diaper Bag set...   note the four outside pockets on the tote

Pouch Patterns:     The Secret Pocket Envelope Clutch from  MichellePatterns.com
                                   Open Wide Zippered Pouch     by Anna of Noodlehead.com   * this is a tutorial,  and if you look for the link on this page, you can see the measurements for 3 different sizes !

Special touches that I added:
Pocket Parade Tote:    I added a zippered pocket in the  inside lining
Open Wide Zippered Pouch:

•    I used   Insul-Brite  for the batting  (to keep bottles cold or some food warm).  I machine quilted this to the outer fabric.  Don't iron it!
• I used the PUL (Polyurethane Laminate) White from  Fabric.com  for the pouch lining. This is a laminated knit fabric, that is waterproof.  (I just used clips instead of pins, as I didn't want to make any extra pin holes in the laminate .)  It was easy to use.
• I made the pouch the medium size.... big enough for 2 small bottles and various food containers for babies

Secret Pocket Envelope Clutch:     I made the largest size.  It has a pearl snap closure.

Diaper Bag set.  The pouches match the lining fabric.

I wanted the set to look modern... I think I succeeded.  Her mother told me that when she opened up the diaper bag, and pulled out the Secret Pocket Envelope Clutch.... she said, "Oh, what's this?  A clubbing clutch?! "     giggle
Hope you are finding inspirations all around you!

I am linking up today :     to a new feature found  at Ali Makes  blog....   called  Tutorial Tuesday Linky Party . 

Your  Link up is a project you recently made or are currently making in the form of a blog post or Flickr picture. This can be anything sewing related.

Hop on over (Alie Makes ) and see other great tutorials that folks have found!  This is a great way to find  blogs , and find awesome tutorials!  Great idea, Alie!

Also linking up to  :     Sew Cute Tuesday @ Better off thread
                                 Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

I'm off to my sewing room!

Connectors and Cords Pouch Set

I have been making a lot of pouches lately.  I love making different shapes and styles and trying new patterns for them.

Last week, I  actually made myself a set of pouches.  I had acquired a tangled pile , which included my I Phone usb cord,  ear buds,  camera usb cord , flash drives,  and a spare I Phone  power cord. It was time to get that  all organized .

Fabrics Selected:  various  Denyse Schmidt  DSQuilts   
My favorite is the gray and cream dots!  But I can't walk away from a turquoise zipper!!

Large Pouch:     I decided on the large size of the Open Wide Zippered Pouch,  by Anna of Noodlehead.  I used this tutorial for sizing the large pouch. 

My Open Wide Zippered Pouch    large size

Ear buds:     I used the tutorial by   Erin, of Dog Under My Desk  for my Circle Zip  Earbud  Pouch.  These are so dog-gone cute!   I made a loop in the lining of my big zippered pouch, to attach the earbud pouch to.
    
Zip drives:   A perfect way to use my  "uh -oh,  this pouch is too small for my I Phone with its protective case" , that I made last week.   It was good  practice for putting a snap onto the flap.

I added a circle zip pouch for my earbuds.    Zip drives go in the snapped pouch

Pouches for cords:   Lastly, I  made 3 more smaller  pouches, with zippers , in my coordinated fabrics.  I like to mix and match. 

Three more basic pouches in coordinating fabrics

Mixing up the fabrics

Filling up the pouches

All nestled into the  one big pouch

' Do these dots  make me look fat?.....'

I keep my pouch set right beside my laptop now.  It is easy to find the right cord, and to grab the whole pouch for when I travel!   I can't help but smile when I see these bright colors and some dots!!

I'm off to my sewing room!

I am linked over at  Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!  @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict  
and  Sew Cute Tuesday @Better Off Thread