Fourth Project Finally Finished

Kirsten and I began this collaboration at Lammas and we have managed to finish during Lent in the run up to Easter. Each month we each made two patches [hence 'two by two'] and kept one, swapped one, until we had twelve each. These were 7.5cm square. What a diversity of pieces

1. A printed Noah's Ark scrap, cut in half [she got the ark, I got the rainbow] over stitched with running, back, and chain stitches, plus French knots
2. An autumnal piece on rich brown fabric, with tumbling leaves
3. A darned patch done on evenweave fabric using the speedweve darner
4. A sparkly snowflake with silver threads, beads and sequins on midnight blue satin
5. A nine-patch created from different fabrics used in previous collaborations
6. A red and black poppy for remembrance
7. A representation of the ironwork on the great door of Norwich Castle Keep
8. A landscape of sea and sky in shades of blue 
9. A crochet Granny Square 
10. A Manchester bee, on a honeycomb of Manchester spun cotton
11. A sampler on the fabric from the Shed aprons, with a coded message
12. A Christmas fabric overstitched with running, back and satin stich to give texture

What to do with them? K suggested making a pouch. I had some soft grey woollen cloth, and some cheerful red viscose in my stash so sent her some. I opted for a largish rectangular pouch with 8 patches on the back, 4 on the front. I mounted them on the grey wool, and put a layer of curtain interlining next to give some strength. Then the red viscose, having first pleated a pocket to go inside. I cut a very long strip of spare viscose and made binding to hold all three layers together and added magnetic catches.

We each stitched a rubric on cotton tape, with our names and dates. It is so important to do this, so that in the future we can work our when we did it! And now my pouch is finished and already being used to keep my next little project tidy [no more bits and pieces scattered all over the coffee table!]

A huge Thank You to all of you who have encouraged us with this one [special shout to Annie, for suggesting that there should be some clear division between the patches. I added a row of dense blue chain, which made all the difference!]

So that's it for now, Kirsten will post pictures of her piece too. A very different interpretation! 
We have decided on a hiatus for a while, we both want to pursue some different sewing techniques. We are still very good friends and I am sure that before long we will come up with another idea we can collaborate on. I would really recommend working together like this it has so many benefits!