the one with lots of brackets and a turtle

Apart from the standard piecing, results of which I cannot show you yet (although if you look closely at the photos below, you might be able to notice some pieces), I've managed to make a little gift for my godmother.
I generally prefer simple stitching but this flowery stitch looked so neat I had to try it out.

I used Anna's (of noodle-head.com) make-up pouch tutorial, with two small modification - I added zip end covers (a trick I learnt from Florence's tutorial) and an inside pocket/divider.
I didn't have any heavy weight interfacing that could make the pocket less flimsy, but my clever sister gave me a plastic mat (see the big pink flowers below) and it worked perfectly.

It was thin enough to cut easily, stiff enough to serve its purpose and flexible enough to survive the operation of turning the fabric right side out after sewing.
I think a couple more mats like this might be my birthday wish.

And before I leave for a short holiday in my home town in the mountains, I wanted to show you why my lovely new machine makes us laugh:

(look, it even has an eye and a mouth)

a world of difference

/*Warning: some of the following images may severely affect more delicate (or more skilled) quilters/

I've been trying to learn free motion quilting for some time now, but apart from some slightly wobbly clovers at the beginning of my adventure with quilting, every try would end up like this:

I tried adjusting the tension, lowering feed dogs or leaving them up, adjusting the speed with which I move my hands and the force with which I push the pedal, but I couldn't make it work. So I thought it was probably just one of those skills I could never grasp.

But today I tried FMQ on my brand new lovely beast of a machine (i.e. pfaff expression 2.0)
This is the very first try, from just a few minutes ago:

Clearly I don't have any control over the length of stitches yet, but I'm in awe anyway.
Now I'm starting to believe I will be able to learn.

And I'm even more happy about my new machine now (if it's possible).

summer stitching

It's funny how in winter I waited for the summer hoping for long daylight hours for sewing, but now that summer is here I don't sew all that much. Still, there are a few finishes I want to show you.
First - the granny squares quilt:

It's 100% hand quilted. You can see a bit of quilting here.
The backing is solid soft yellow :

Now it's only waiting for the recipient to come home. I hope she will like it as much as I do.

Second - a quick gift for my friend's birthday: (I might or might not have finished it on the train.)

It was so great to watch my friend when she realized it wasn't from a shop :) I'm so happy she liked it.

And finally, something for my EPP:

Sarah hinted she might prepare a tutorial for EPP sewing kit and I'm looking forward to it, but in the meantime I found Amy had a great one, too. I had to put the scissors vertically, as they are bigger than Amy's, so I need to think up a way of preventing them from slipping out of the pouch.

As you can see I finally cut into my treasured (and only) piece of Heather Ross fabric. I love this cotton/linen blend, it's nice and soft and easy to work with.