Lighthouses and Pink Cadillacs

What's been on my sewing table recently?

Napkins & Placemats.



I made my mom a set of mix & match napkins and placemats for Mother's Day. I found some fun fabric from Robert Kaufman with lighthouses and another with sailboats on it.



I thought they would be perfect for my parents to use down at the beach condo. I added a coordinating fabric for the backs of the napkins and used tan flannel to back the placemats. I was really pleased with the final product and my mom seemed to really like them. I am a little annoyed with myself for forgetting to take a picture of the lighthouse placement though... oh well.

What else am I making? Bags. Lots of bags. (this is probably self-evident but just in case you've been under a rock for the last few weeks...) Here's one I finished up last night:




I used some stashed Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric for this bag and while I am not normally a big fan of yellow but I find this quite pretty. (which makes sense since I did purchase the fabric after all) I put this bag up on Etsy this afternoon so hopefully someone else will find it pretty, too.

I have also been lucky of have to have gotten a few commissions from several friends to make some new bags as well. Three of these are still in the planning/cutting stage (to be sewn this weekend) but I have one that is finished. Sort of.



This is a cosmetic pouch I created for a friend of mine who reps Mary Kay and it is only "sort of" finished because I need to make another four. Apparently the bags that MK makes available to its reps are really small and not terribly useful so we came up with this instead.



My friend will be using them in gift baskets and as a gift with purchase- I hope they work well for her. I am happier than I expected with results- I really like the clean lines and the contrast of the hot pink and black and white polka dots. The buttons definitely were needed, it looked a little naked before they were added. Yup. Makes me happy.

But what really makes me happy is the opportunity to work in this way. To have someone say to me, I trust you, here's an idea or some fabric, have at it. I really appreciate being able to exercise my creative muscles. So thanks you guys for giving me the opportunity!