Seeing Red

I've been making progress in dribs and drabs this past week - a quilty project is giving me frustrations and is now in a little heap in the corner - while I have moved on to other things.

Lazy Girl Designs just came out with a wonderful new bag pattern - Claire. You can read lots and lots about Claire on Joan's blog, including seeing the Claire that my Lazy Sister Sue posted, making her the first one to tell us about her Claire.

I was having difficulties picking my fabrics on this one - there are three different fabrics in the cover, and though I had a lot of pairs in my FQ stash that I would have liked to use together, I did not have any trios that did it for me - except for some I have set aside for a gifty project and so are off limits. Having seen pictures of all of Joan's samples as she shared them with her Yahoo Lazy Girl group, and actually having held a Claire in my hands prior to the pattern going to print - I was full of all these ideas and just could not decide.

Today - on my way through JoAnn's in search of children's scissors for the Munchkin, I noticed a cool red floral FQ - where the flowers looked almost like popcorn to me. And if you ask anyone - anyone in my family -they will tell you how much I LOVE popcorn!!! My life in Japan was frustratingly incomplete until I found a source of raw popcorn kernals and could make it the old fashioned way!!! Got me through many bouts of homesickness I'll tell ya!

(oh - and YES - the FQ's ARE on the way to the kids crafting supplies - really - trust me - they are!!)

In addition to being a fun print - this red combo really felt summery to me, and gets me geared up for our annual big Fourth of July picnic - I think our guest list this year is around 50 for fun and food in our backyard. This put me in the mood. Don't know if you can see it well in these photos - but the red on red has almost a starburst/fireworks motif.

Anyway - I found my trio -and got to sewing after the Munchkin went to bed. About 2 1/2 hours later - here she is - my finished Claire.

I opted for less variety in the inside -using a white on white yardage for my lining, and a second FQ of the polka-dots for the inner pockets. I have enough left over for a Wonder Wallet, too!

Oh -and over the weekend I finished up a pillowcase for my father-in-law for Father's Day. He's fixing up an old car, so this fabric was perfect for him. Now to figure out MY dad - who is coming to visit soon after Father's Day. Hmmmmm...... I got nuthin!