Another Clutch and Some Finishes!

I made another clutch from some fabric I held back from a project bag I made a couple of weeks ago.

I love that I have a selection of snap colours to choose from.

Outside

Inside (ort catcher and felt piece for needles)

Two pockets large enough to hold a Smart Phone.

And a coordinating zipper pull.

Except for the bias binding, I had everything in my stash. With this project, I ran out of buckram (stiff woven interfacing) so replenished my stock at the fabric store after going for breakfast on Tuesday morning.

I have also finished the piece I have been stitching for Teresa Kogut. I'll get it in the mail to her at the end of this week. I mentally had the end of July as the deadline so am pleased I met that goal. Can you believe the beginning of August is on Sunday!?

I finished the last little bit on the Strawberry Thief. 

It was a very fun stitch. I haven't finalized my plans for FFOing it. Possibly a pillow or a framed piece. 

I also finished the Starburst Flag of Canada. I still need to check that I did all the individual cross stitches but here it is:

I took this photo to show the differences between Blanc and B5200. The differences are so hard to see unless under natural light. 

I did enjoy doing all the starbursts and stars. 

With those out of the way, I started another piece for Christmas in July. It's Holy Night by Barbara Ana Designs from the Christmas/Winter 2019 issue of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher Magazine.

I substituted a different olive green using Cody Hoover's substitution tool. I will also be substituting ecru for DMC 712 cream. I'm sure I have 712 in one of my UFO project bags but ecru will work well. I'm also thinking of using my HotFix tool for some of the snowflakes.

I do a lot of stitching in hand or rolling up excess fabric and clamping it into my QSnaps. To get the creases out, I place the piece face down on a terry cloth towel, spray the back with Best Press, and iron with a hot setting. I have never had a problem with dyes running because I don't saturate the fabric but some people discourage using a spray or steam at all with hand-dyed threads. 

One trick I learned from Vonna Pfeiffer is to use an atomizing sprayer for the Best Press, The droplets are much smaller that way. I purchased mine on Amazon. There are many to choose from like this. Barb told me another tip - to use a 50/50 mixture of Best Press and water. It will certainly make the Best Press go farther. 

I really like how the creases visibly soften with just spraying Best Press on them. Then with ironing, they press right out. Highly recommend. Your local quilting shop will carry it as does Amazon.