Small Finishes – Mouse Pad and Zip Pouch

Just a couple of small finishes to share this week as I’ve mostly been working on the pattern for Lexie the Hexie Turtle.

Getting the turtle eyes right has proven to be a challenge. Our middle daughter declared one version of the eyes as really creepy so it was back to the drawing board so to speak to come up with an uncreepy version. One thing I discovered along the way was that different eyes give the turtle a completely different personality, so I’m going to include at least two options for eyes in the pattern (though not of course, the creepy version.)

Anyway, onto those small finishes I mentioned…

Dave has his laptop set up on the glass topped coffee table in the living room and for a mouse pad he’d been using a knitted cotton dishcloth with a piece of paper on top of it. So one day, while he was out for a walk down to the beach, I decided to surprize him with a new mouse pad.

I took four pieces of the Aloha shirt fabric that Stephanie had sent me, pieced them so that they were big enough and then I sandwiched them right-sides together with a scrap of batting, sewed all four sides, leaving an opening for turning. Then I turned it right-side out, sewed the opening closed, pressed it well and to finish it, I sewed 4 lines of quilting using the presser foot as a guide. I was slipping it under his wireless mouse as Dave came walking up the stairs.

It was fun to surprize him with something I’d made in the time he was out exploring the beach and taking photos.

This is the top:

The back is made with a different print of the Aloha shirt fabric so the mouse pad is reversible.

My second finish is also laptop related. When we travel, in addition to all the laptop cords, I also store my cell phone charger cord, my iPod cord and various other cords in my laptop bag so that I have everything organized into one spot.

But I’ve found that the cords have a tendency to get tangled around each other. To remedy that I made myself a zippered pouch with lots of pockets inside to keep the cords separated.

I’d been saving a fat quarter of ladybug fabric given to me by my sweet friend, Nancy. This seemed like the perfect project for it as the zippered bag would be something that I’d be using often and would have the fun of seeing those ladybugs whenever I needed one of the cords.

As a little side note:  I have a thing for ladybugs and often friends and family will give me ladybug themed gifts. In fact, I’ve declared it a sin to kill a ladybug… but more on that another time.

After making the inside pockets, I had just enough of the fat quarter left to make a pocket for the outside with an overhanging flap closure.

There are five pockets inside… two on one side and three on the other.

Cords separated into their own little pockets.

All that was left of the ladybug fat quarter was a tiny 1”x1.5” scrap, so I’d call that an excellent use of fabric.

Wishing you all a wonderful heart-centered weekend with much Aloha!

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