Umbrella Prints Trimmings and a special gift for a special friend

Completed Projects 2014

Apr 26

I'm not sure if you are familiar with Umbrella Prints or not. I wasn't until my good friend Sarah told me about them on our way down to SewDown Nashville a couple of weeks ago. As it says on their website, they are an Australian textile house specializing in organic printed fabrics and a boutique range of thoughtful and useful product.

For the last several years they have held what they call Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competitions. This is when you can use some of the "trimmings" from their various fabrics to create something unique and wonderful.

Sarah knows that I'm a big fan of any and all shades of blue, and she was sweet enough to order me a little set of blue "trimmings". The little pieces of fabric that were in my package are below. Sarah ordered herself a set in dark colors and I can't wait to see what amazing thing she comes up with!

Since my package had a lot of pieces from the same fabrics I decided to pick my 2 favorite (and the ones with the most included) and use them to create a little something special for another friend.

I created a large open wide zipper pouch (pattern by Anna of NoodleHead) with these adorable glasses on the front. The pattern for the glasses are from Sew-Ichigo and can be found here. Penny and Kerry are SO GOOD at creating fun and unique paper pieced patterns.

I decided to add my new quilt label to this one too...check it out, isn't it cute?!? I purchased these labels from Michelle of Inked Papers and she was wonderful to work with. Check her out if you need labels.

Okay, back to the zipper pouch. I think the tiny polka-dots on the bottom of the glasses frame are so adorable! And the blues from Umbrella Prints trimmings match (dare I say it...) PERFECTLY with the amazing Parson Gray - Seven Wonders print I used for the bag bottom, back and lining. For the background behind the glasses I used Essex yarn dyed linen.

You can see the lining and back of the pouch in this photo below.

And the best thing about the open-wide zipper pouch...is that it opens WIDE! You can really get a lot of stuff in this large size. In fact when I delivered it, I had a few surprises hidden in there as well. :)

Here is the special friend I made the pouch for, the always inspiring Heather of Crimson Tate. She's been such an amazing friend to me in the last year and a wonderful supporter of Material Girl Quilts as well. And look at her, isn't the pouch pretty much perfect for this girl?!?!