Tuesday Tutorial... and what I love about blogs.

It's Tuesday so I am going to post another tutorial, or at least I'm going to post something I made from a tutorial and then give you the link.  But before I do I want to tell you a little bit about why I love blogs. 

Bloggers are amazing.  When I thinkg about what I've done/made over the past few years it was mainly inspired by crafty bloggers.  I love taking part in challenges and sew-a-longs.  They are great motivators and I love the community aspect of sharing your work.

In the past I have participated in the:

• Creativity Bootcamp
• Kids Clothing Week Challenge (spring and fall)
• Ice Cream Social

Currently I am following:

• Project ReStyle
• 40 bags in 40 days 
• Linking to Soule Mama's This Moment

These projects have been great for me because they have helped me really improve my sewing and photography skills, plus I got the kick in the butt I needed to clean my house.

The thing is when you follow other peoples blogs it can be very easy to lose yourself.  I think DIY's are the coolest thing since sliced bread but I want to spend a little more time designing and creating from my own sources of inspiration.  I will continue to collect and use terrific tutorials, don't get me wrong, but I'll also be exploring ways to express what makes me unique.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do this but there may be more gaps between posts while I take time for inspiration.  I also expect there will also be more bursts of spontaneous creative output as well.  In other words my format maybe changing a bit.

Where do you seek inspiration?  How do you express what makes you -you?  Cooking, knitting, how you dress?  I think my first step will be a freshly sharpened #2 pencil and a blank piece of paper.


Now, back to that terrific tutorial. 

One of the nice people I work with got married over last weekend and I wanted to make something for her.  Most of the gifts I make are for babies and kids, weddings are a little more difficult.  I decided to try out this Pretty Potholder from Prudent Baby's tutorial (here).

This project was a challenge with the quilting and all those layers but I'm happy with how it turned out (just don't look too close at those stitches).  I even pulled out my bag of sewing machine attachments and used my quilting guide for the first time.  I never even knew this handy tool existed but it sure made sewing straight lines a lot easier.

While it is fresh in my head I'd like to try a few more and stash them away for future brides or new home owners.  Do you have any other wedding gift ideas?  I'd really love to hear from you.