The Selfie Pouch Swap :)

I join TOO MANY SWAPS - I will just come out and admit it. With all the money I've spent on shipping I could have cut a week or 2 off my fabric diet! Therefore I've decided that there are 2 types of swaps and I need to be more selective:
1. Awesome must join!! swaps
2. Cool - should just make myself one - swaps

As for category 1:
Right now on my "awesome must join" swaps are the Pillow Talk Swap and For the Love of Solids swap. I am in the current round of both and finishing up next Monday by mailing my packages out. I was in the last round of both and had awesome partners and got really great pillows from both and hopefully made fun pillows that both of my secret partners enjoyed.

There is some much awesome talent and inspiration in these swaps, I love being challenged and inspired to create new things - even tho they are hard to let go - especially my log cabin pillow from this round of the Pillow Talk Swap haha. I will make time for these swaps, even tho my sewing time is SUPER limited these days.

As for category 2:
There are lots of cool swaps like mug rugs, mini quilts, pouches, purses, pin cushions, etc. that seem so cool but really - do I need to spend precious sewing time making these things and sending them to other people on a deadline and spend craft money on shipping? For these smaller items - I really could just make something for myself that I love - and that is what I've decided to do. I don't think this is selfish, I like making things for other people - but sometimes I think it is good to spoil myself and use my fabric and time for something fun for me :)

That being said, I want to be inspired by the photos in the swap and challenged by an inspiration mosaic - so I will still follow the swaps to see what others are making, and make a collage to get myself going in an interesting direction I haven't tried before.

That being said - a new round of the Pretty Little Pouch swap is starting up in the near future - so this will be my  first " follow - but make something for myself" swap. Here is my inspiration mosaic:

A few things my partner (aka me lol) is interested in:

Using some of my Heather Ross fabrics

Applique/collage effects

Cathedral Windows

Hexagons

Rainbows/scrappy

Hand Embroidery

Linen

Not sure what the purpose of the pouch will be - maybe the pattern will choose that for me once I've decided on one. I have several keykalou clutches I'd like to try out, but also there are several basket patterns I've been eyeing lately so something fun like that for my sewing room might be nice?

Who knows - guess I will surprise myself lol.

I may sound insane, but I challenge you all to make something lovely for yourself once in a while - you owe it to yourself to enjoy that creative talent too instead of passing all your cool projects along to partners, family, and friends :)

Will of course keep you updated on the progress of this selfie swap - giving myself until the end of April as a deadline - seems reasonable for a swap, 8 weeks? We'll see how fast inspiration hits! (Not the actual deadling for the PLPSwap since it hasn't started yet - just throwing out a timeline to get myself motivated :))