A Sewing Malaise in Marrakech

So it`s been a little quiet here at Marrakech Towers the last couple of days - the thermostat on that sun is still turned up way too high and has zapped me of my creative mojo and good humour.  What with that and a sick little dinosaur to care for and visitors to entertain and provide for, not much sewing has been done in these parts.

Yesterday, I tried to come up with my `goodie` for my partner in The Scrappy Swap 2011 and made this little puffy pouch from scraps. I used this tutorial by the super talented Ayumi.

It`s lined with the fabric which you can see in the middle pleat.  I would like to say I whipped this up in a jiffy but what with the heat, evaporating mojo, fevers, lunches to prepare, plate spinning and magic tricks (okay I made the last two up), I struggled with the top part and so it didn`t meet the exacting standards of quality control and will remain on my dressing table looking little, puffy and pouchy.

I had some fun this morning trying to come up with a cohesive design for my partner in The Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap being hosted by super good bloggy pal Susan.  I am not such a newbie at swaps now. I have learned that it is all about what your partner wants and it`s not for me to inflict my taste and wants on them.  So my partner likes traditional colours, trees, wonky stars and very fancy things, which I`m not yet up to doing.  So I came up with this design, minus the very fancy things obvs.

If I was making this for me, the colour palette would be more muted and Scandinavian but as I`m learning to be less me, me, me this is what I`ve come up with.

I`m sorry if I haven`t been to visit you recently or am late in answering your email but I am super behind and will catch up once the dinosaur is less hot and back at pre-school.