It has been a long time since I shared some projects on the blog. With the kids summer vacation, sewing time has been a bit limited. However, I did manage to finish a few quick projects before school ended. I made two open wide zippered pouches (tutorial from Noodlehead) and a few lanyards (similar to these). I didn’t take the time to picture all of them. But, here is the set that I made for my son’s teacher.

I also made a set of tea towels for my step father’s birthday. My mother and him just finished renovating their kitchen. Since he loves to cook, I thought he would love some handmade tea towels. I used some yarn dyed Essex linen in black and just added a strip of green quilting cotton to add a bit of punch.

I was looking for a good way to finish the corners and I found this great tutorial on how to do mitered hem. It really makes a neat finish.

I also started working on my Michael Miller Challenge organized by The Modern Quilt Guild. I’m making a tote bag. It’s based on Elizabeth Hartman’s pattern. I’m following her construction instructions. However, I’m not making quilt-as-you-go log cabins for the exterior. As mentioned in this post, I wanted to explore some fabric manipulation techniques to add texture to my project. I chose to make a variation on the cathedral window with some portholes. It was inspired by the windmill cathedral window block. I just love this version by Nylia on Flickr. As for the portholes, they were inspired by a quilt from Lucie Summers. Here she explains how she does her portholes. Today, the kids were at my mom’s place. So, I had time to work on my project and I manage to finish my portholes. Here are a couple of pictures of the process so far.

The next step will be the quilting. I hope you are having a great summer!