I’ve seen the ladies at the Guild with these bags and thought about making one but I never got around to looking for a pattern. One of the Tuesday morning ladies had this pattern she was willing to share and so we did it as a joint project at the bee.

The bag part has a pocket on the inside. There were a lot of comments about whether or not the pocket would be of any use, but I stuck one on mine just in case. I’m not sure how easy it will be to get the thread out of the bag. Maybe I’m supposed to put a brown paper bag inside?

The top part of the piece is a pincushion.

I don’t think I will add this into my setup at home, but I will carry it with me when I go to the bees. I’m usually the one sweeping the floor at the end of the day and I can’t believe all the thread and scraps that some of the ladies leave behind. Perhaps someone (definitely not me) should volunteer to make one for each sewer!

I purchased this book, and picked this particular pattern for Diane, long before I started quilting. The two cups and two pots are very reminiscent of Diane and I. I gave the wall hanging to Diane when I visited her for her birthday in 2011.

The challenge piece at Hands Across the Water was to make a tea cozy. I’ve never used a tea cozy and, at first, I thought I would skip the challenge. But then I remembered that I had extra material from the wall hanging, and I knew that Brian and Diane were tea drinkers so, voila, I had a purpose for my challenge. I gave the tea cozy to Diane for her birthday this year.

At the Guild wind-up barbeque in June 2011 someone made a couple of these and they were presented as door prizes. As soon as I got home I spent hours on the Internet trying to find a pattern. Along Came Quilting in Calgary carried the pattern and I placed my order.

Although the pattern wasn’t difficult, it was fiddly and took me right back to everything I didn’t like about sewing. I often said that if I hadn’t cut out the pieces for three of them at the very beginning I probably would have only made one! I made two gluten-free slices (for Stacia and Deloise) and one Happy Birthday one for Diane.

I am so happy that Stacia has requested the pattern as I know I will never make them again and it is nice to share!