Open Wide Pouch

I was delighted today to have a painting reprieve and get together with Liz and have a bit of time for sewing.

So satisfying to complete a small project all in one hit and make this zippy pouch for my mother-in-law, to cheer her up a bit after long months of illness, culminating in an operation this week.

 

It's Anna's Open Wide Pouch tutorial in the 10" (medium) size  and it does open nice and wide to fill with a few pampering goodies

This great Ikea print is so cheery, it has a few incarnations at our house!





I like the way you can fold the sides down to make a more boxy shape too.

The other day I had a lovely couple of hours with another friend and managed to make a start on this month's "do.Good Stitches" bee blocks; for which two 12 1/2" blocks in green and cream have been requested.  Being a bit short of time just lately meant I didn't look too far and enjoyed making another x and + block like the ones that were so successful for Kirsten's solids' quilt

A bit of a press and a trim wouldn't have gone amiss...

I chose the fabrics for the other block, but didn't quite manage to finish the cutting out. Will have to make time to finish this off shortly...

Since this is Slow Bloggers link up week (see that nice snail in the sidebar?), I thought I'd edit this to add what else I've been up to/justify myself as a slow blogger! 

Some of you may know we're shortly heading home to NZ (via Cambodia, as you do...) after a 6 year sojourn here in Australia. So life has been supplemented by such fun things as: clearing out cupboards, showing moving companies around, preparing house and cars (not that we've done much on that yet) for sale (entailing painting, extra gardening and getting around to those gazillions of little jobs, one doesn't for oneself). It has been a fun diversion planning the Cambodia itinerary actually! Also, the day job (which seems to have had a burst of busyness lately) serves very well to keep life in perspective, (since the day job entails consulting with people about problems they face); next week a quick new school surveillance trip is planned to NZ, just after a 24hour Pedal Prix event next weekend with our son's school team,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=UUorrxaDL1jO1ZZoRCBJe0Yw&v=CqpLZJcGvi4

(how do you put the actual video in the post?!)

which will require earplugs to drown out the noise for snatches of sleep-can catch up on the plane we figure...

So sewing? Blogging? Not so much...