Easter sewing

Look what bloomed while I was out to Easter lunch Sunday :)

What do you cook for your in-laws, or company in general?  I have a habit of cooking something new, something I've never tried before.  Sometimes it is a total flop. But even when it isn't, an unfamiliar recipe under pressure can be stressful, you know?  I usually kick myself a dozen times over and vow not to put myself through that again.  And then I do.  I suppose the reason I search out new foods for special occasions is that our usual fare is rather dull.  I have better odds of getting dinner into the kids if it is simple food.  :)

Well, this weekend I did kind of the same thing, but in front of my sewing machine instead of the stovetop.  You see, I decided to bring a hostess gift for my Sister-in-law to Easter lunch.  Instead of flowers, I decided to sew her a little zippered pouch. 

I'd never sewn one before,  or any zipper at all.  I bought the fabric and zipper Saturday afternoon and spent Sunday morning sewing.  This is what I came up with:

It turned out fairly well I think, although I had my doubts for a little bit.  See, the directions called for a zipper foot, but somehow mine is missing.  I can't think what could have happened to it, I've never even used it.  So I made do with my walking foot, but the zipper pull knocked everything out of kilter when I had to stitch beside it.

I had a teensy bit of trouble when I didn't follow directions, and used too small a seam allowance.  Oops.

The corners on either side of the zipper are a bit odd.  There were openings on both sides of the zipper, because of the wrong seam allowance, that I had to hand stitch closed.  Oh, well, my sister-in-law liked it, and I'm planning to give it another go when I locate my zipper foot.  And I'll follow directions this time :)  If you're interested, I used a tutorial from Kelbysews.  And just to be clear, all problems I had were my own creation, the tutorial was great.

I love this picture :)
As for Easter lunch, I decided to ask the kids what they wanted me to bring - corn on the cob and ants on a log.  Nice and simple.  :)