And he found my camera! There was much rejoicing! For some weird reason I had set it down on a high shelf that I don't use much. Huzzah! (see, much rejoicing)
And with it I have the pictures of the Gratitude Wrap I made last week for my friend's birthday. I followed the tutorial by the wonderful Amanda Soule. It's a fabulous little pattern - went together in an afternoon/evening even including a run to the store for some bias tape and three tries at using said tape!
Original Joel Dewberry Aviary in Pink (oh how I love his fabrics) for my friend who loves Pink.
Cute plum gnomes inside!
I had fun filling it with envelope stickers, 4x6 patterned scrapbook cardstock for notes, and a stack of hand made note cards. My friend is always quick with a cute hand written note, so I thought she would enjoy the variety of stuff.
The bias binding - oh my. The whole thing has rounded corners to make binding a little easier.....for those who can do it I suppose. I am not one of those people. I had all kinds of trouble.
First I actually made my own double fold bias binding out of a pink stripe that I thought was going to be awesome. Oh, when you cut bias binding strips from a sequenced stripe that has a specific direction, you have half of the pieces flowing the wrong way when you cut it while folded. ahem. Once it was finally done and ready to attach though, I hated it with the Aviary. So I ran out to the store to see if I could find a good pre-made match and was happy to get this solid pink.
Happy as a clam I attach the tape as Amanda instructs and after one corner find I've missed catching a bunch. Rip it out - pull out my binding clips - rig up the whole perimeter and try again very slowly. Well I caught it all, but I stood there looking at it and hated it. Seriously NOT GOOD at machine binding, it was wobbly and I could just hear Heidi Klum saying, "It looks Home Sewn." Rip it all out again. Measure and am relieved that I actually have enough left to try again without having to use the piece with lots of holes up and down the edge.
This time I opened up the double fold tape all the way, and kind of stitched in the ditch of the fold on the inside - trying to ease around the corners. Yeah, not very good at the whole easing thing, either. But at least I didn't hate it after once around.
Then I folded it around to the front as if I was finishing off a quilt, and hand stitched that front edge with the ladder stitch. It is much easier to ease around those corners with hand work. But I was kind of wishing they were just simple miters. I know how to do those! Once I placed the final stitch I sat back and was very happy. This was how I wanted it to look! A final pass over both the front and back with the steam iron settled it all into place very nicely.
I finished the whole thing off with some cards made with stitched on scraps. Very relaxing after the binding saga.
So glad Caleb found the camera so I could share the gift with you. I had such a good time making and giving it.
.
