back to my routine

After the hustle and bustle of preparation for the craft fair, I'm finally back to my regular sewing routine. And, it feels good. 

I spent quite some time over the last couple of evenings working on these churn dash blocks. They are not "my usual" colors, and that might be the reason why I find them so refreshingly different. I love how these darker colors accentuate the bold, graphic look of the churn dash block. 

 I'm planning on using a 2" sashing in the same off white color to join the blocks, and I really need to start thinking about the back - not my favorite part at all. Any suggestions?

 I also made this pouch for myself. I needed a new one for my credit cards and money as the one I was using was about 2 years old and quite ugly looking by now.

After seeing this wonderful pillow on Flickr I decided to give these Tallahassee blocks a try. Mine are tiny, only about 4" each and I paper pieced them using the free pattern found here.  

I used some of my very favorite fabric by October Afternoon for the flowers and went with this dark linen look alike for the main part of the pouch. I then did some simple hand stitching to outline the blocks and added a yellow zipper and red ribbon for some pop of color.

And, to give credit where credit is due, my pouch was also inspired by this lovely pouch Chase made a while ago. Don't you just love the amazing amount of talent and inspiration all over the blogland?

Linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday.