Some Saturday Makes

Today I tried my first project from the I Heart Patchwork book by Rashida Coleman-Hale. It's the cosmetic pouch, pictured below. Even though I don't use cosmetics, I figured it would work for many other things.

I dithered and flip-flopped over the fabric I wanted to use. I finally decided not to pick anything too precious since this would be my first attempt and would probably come out pretty rough. I chose Summersville mostly because I would not have to repeat any pieces. The linen I'm using is the natural slub linen from Joann's, which I scored for 50% off with a recent coupon.
I didn't have fusible fleece, so I decided to use some fusible polyester batting I had. That turned out to not be such a hot idea. As you can see from the picture below, the adhesive bled through the linen, and despite wiping it with a damp cloth, it still remains. I may try again with some Woolite on the gentle cycle of my machine.

Other than that, everything went pretty smoothly. I didn't follow the directions in the book for inserting the lining, instead I used the tutorial that Fiona posted on her blog. Here are a few more pictures of the unblemished sides. The lining is from Joann's. I'm just loving a lot of the prints they have lately. This dot comes in at least four colors.

My daughter has already laid claim to this pouch, so that means I definitely get to try again, for one for myself.
I also made a wallet today. I don't usually carry a purse to work, I shove my license and debit card in my back pocket and I'm good to go. Due to this abuse, the magnetic strip on the back of my debit card was totally wrecked. I just got my new one, and in an effort to avoid having this happen again, I decided a little billfold was needed.
I went with the very good tutorial found at Modest Maven. There were pictures for all the steps and it was all clear, with no confusion.
I used 3 prints from the Flea Market Fancy release, all nicely orange coordinated. I really like how quickly this came together, but again, I think I will need a do-over. Some parts could have used a bit more seam trimming to cut down on the chunkiness, and unbeknownst to me, my tab slipped and was off center. By the time I realized that, I wasn't going back to fix it! So, yeah, I can do better. Maybe I'll try it with the blues next...