Too Much Excess!

I finished my first custom quilt! I really like the way the quilting came out. The flowers are very cute and the color thread I used really makes them stand out. The thing I like the least is the picture - I just wasn't able to get a very good shot. The yellows don't blend into the background at all, but it seems like they do in the picture.

After I finished the quilt I discovered that I had estimated my fabric yardage a bit on the plus side (better than not having enough!). I didn't want to put the extra fabric in my stash because the stash is just too out of control at the moment and these pinks don't go very well with my other fabrics. I figured I had to use them now or condemn them to years and years in the stash. I just love small, scrappy projects so this was lots and lots of fun.

First up is this patchwork purse. I've been seeing these scrappy purses all over blogland and have been dying to try one of my own. These scraps presented the perfect opportunity to try it out. It came out rather larger than I intended - it's more of a totebag than a purse, really. Next time I make one, I will adjust the pattern so it is smaller and I will use fabrics with more interest.

I also made this oven mitt. Yesterday, I received a yard of Insul-Bright that I had ordered in the mail. Right there on the package were instructions for how to make an oven mitt. Brilliant! This was a quick project, but it gave me lots of problems. I had to resew the area around the thumb three times. I just couldn't get it to turn out right and it was really frustrating. I think that what happened was that the angle between the thumb and the rest of the hand was just too small and it couldn't handle turning inside-out. I remade the pattern template to account for this and to also make the main hand section a little bigger. It may be a while before I make another one, but I know I will eventually and I want to get it right.

Also, I may have gotten the pattern from Insul-Bright but this oven mitt was totally inspired by these fabulous scrappy mitts from Pink Chalk Studio.

I haven't used up all my scraps yet, but I only have the pinks left with a tiny bit of the green and yellow. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. Maybe a little stuffie? Or a couple of little stuffies?? ;)