Is it possible to love something even before it’s completely finished? Because I am totally smitten with my quilt-as-you-go cross stitch pouch – and so far it’s not even sewn together!

 It’s been over four months since I last sewed and I’m really glad this was my first project to get me back into it. This is the back panel for my pouch, with another Dear Jane block as the feature. I know I’ve said it before, but I really think the D.J. book is a fantastic resource for inspiration and some really ace traditional quilt block styles! This one is M4 – Stepping Stones and as much as I’d love to do a whole quilt of these blocks, there’s 45 pieces… in each individual block! Ouch! But still. Even though it was fiddly and complicated and took forever and came out wonky, I love it.

 I’ve included some of my very best favourite pieces of fabric in this panel. There’s some Japanese printed linen, a liberal sprinkling of Heather Ross favourites, and one of my more treasured scraps ever – little 1” linen bear.

You guys, I’m the hugest “precious precious fabric hoarder no touchy” stasher but I realised recently that life is short and fabric is meant to be seen and touched and loved and used. I have more fabric than one person needs (hands up who’s guilty of that!) so my new sewing goal for 2013 is to sew things that scare me, and sew from my stash!