The Bag Lady

It seems like I've been making lots of bags lately.  I've been told that you can never have too many bags, so maybe it's OK.  This bag is for my partner in the Sewing Room Swap, and is made from the Tinker Tote pattern from Craftsy.  I decided not to do the Quilt As You Go (QAYG) method on this one, but used a Duck cloth interfacing instead.  It didn't have the substance I was looking for, so I took it apart and added a layer of headliner foam and put it back together.  Now I have a bag that will stand by itself.  And it's nice and soft - maybe you could use it for a pillow too!?  It was a bit plain, once it was done, so I added a big fabric flower to the tab.  That jazzed it up a bit, I think.  Classy, with just a touch of pizzaz.

To go along with the linen bag, I made my partner an iron cozy.  The pattern is available from Oh Fransson!  What a great idea!  I will have to make myself one so I can take my iron to guild meetings.  I also managed to get the pattern on sale, which always makes me smile...

And I'm playing in the Secret Tote Bag Swap again.  My partner want's a large bag...  What do you think?  She wants pockets, which I didn't put in this one, but maybe a bag insert with lots of pockets?  And I've been meaning to add a big button on the tab...  Maybe in pink?  Or yellow?  We'll call this semi-finished.

I also taught my first class at Derrels of Pensacola last week.  This is my sample bag.  The pattern is by Very Purple Person and I shamelessly stole borrowed the idea from a swap item I received from Joanne (JoJo33) in the Modern She Made swap.  I got so many complements on it, they asked me to teach a class. Like Joanne's gift, I did the two sides in different colors on my sample...

But not on the one I actually made in the class...  I only took my "red bin" with me (rather than lug several to the store, you know) - a fact which made Bob, the owner, laugh.  (But I have to admit that it's very convenient to have my scraps sorted by color now.)  And I'm teaching another class on September 10th if you wanna come...

The sample is all red and pink, with a bit of HR goodness in the fussy cut center.

One of my students actually finished the quilting on the outside of her bag as well.  It's so fun to see what other people come up with.

It's so pretty in these batiks.  Much more subdued, but gorgeous. Sadly, my other student left a bit early, and I didn't think to get a picture...
 

And I'm teaching a 2-day class on Weekender Bags at Derrels on September 12 & 19.   If you live near Pensacola and want to make the bag, head to Derrels website and sign up.

I made some other bags from the VPP pattern.  This one is in a whole cloth quilted style with Japanese character/texty lining.  The fabric is Rooftop Garden by Moda.  I love the big flower motifs and the contrast of colors in this piece.

This one is a flower print (for the life of me I can't remember what it is and apparently I didn't save the selvage?!) is one of the Michael Miller fairy prints and the other side is AMH Mixed Signals in Summer.

And this one is the fabric remaining from Abby's dress and AMH Mixed Signals in Summer.  I really love that pennant fabric.

These bags are available in my Etsy shoppe including a Custom Bag, where you choose the colors and/or fabrics.  Wouldn't they make a perfect gift?

Today is Wednesday, You Know What That Means...

It's Wednesday again, and once again I'm playing along with Freshly Pieced and WIP Wednesday.  It's been a bit of a frustrating week because my **BRAND NEW MACHINE** had to make a visit to the emergency room last week, and was gone **THE WHOLE WEEKEND**.  (Good thing my son came to visit so I wasn't quite as distressed at not having her home!)

Luckily I had finished this tote for my partner in the Sewing Room Swap before my machine broke.  All I had left was the flower on the tab, and I pulled out my trusty old Singer to run a little gathering stitch along the raw edge, then gathered and stitched it to the bag by hand while HS and I were watching BYU get beat by Virginia in the last few minutes of the game after a several really stupid play(s).  (NOTE TO QUARTERBACK:  When the field (and thus the ball) is that wet and slippery, and you're winning in the last 2 minutes of the game, don't try to pass...  Just keep the ball as controlled as possible and everything will be fine.)

Then I used Sally (Singer) to make this iron cozy for my Sewing Room Swap partner.  This pattern is such a great idea, and I was jazzed to find it on sale over the weekend in Oh Fransson!'s pattern shop.  Sweet!

As I reported the other day, I finished these three citrus quilts, which was totally fun.  I tried three different quilting motifs and just had a blast.  I hadn't ever done leaves before, but I'm thinking that might become one of my go-to favorites.

Woodland by the Lake II is sandwiched and ready to quilt, and might actually have gotten quilted if my machine hadn't broken.  It's on tap to get quilted very soon - hopefully this week.  I'm thinking a combination of loops and leaves for the quilting on this one.

And the faux string quilt is also sandwiched and ready to quilt.  I'm thinking of echo quilting hexagons in the white space, maybe with a flower motif in the middle of each one?! 

I haven't made much more progress on the Scrappy Trip...  I just need some time at the sewing machine to sew strips, then I can sit and watch TV while I'm seam ripping.

I actually worked on the GMFG a bit last night for the first time since Memorial Day Weekend.  After working on it for an hour or so, however, I was reminded of why I hadn't worked on it much this summer - the bigger it gets, the hotter it is.  Maybe it will cool off here in a month or so and I can get at least the top done by the end of the year.

And my Modern Maples needs to be sandwiched and quilted.  It's a Guild QAL, and the reveal is scheduled for a week from Saturday.  Better get busy on this guy.

I haven't done anything on the bookshelf quilt since I added the borders.  It needs to be sandwiched and quilted too, but no deadlines, so this one will probably wait awhile.

And I've made NO PROGRESS on these lovelies...  They're still sitting on the table where I left them.  I'm going to blame it on not having a machine all weekend...

And I've finished all the pinwheels and gotten the fabrics cut for the flying geese...  It's just a matter now of sitting down to do all 90-ish of them...

So, I think that's it.  Whew!  I think it's time to go take a nap!

I'm on Stash Match Today!!

A couple of months ago, my friend Ali invited me to play along on her monthly Stash Match feature.  She sent me the above fabric swatch and asked me to dive into my stash and see what fabrics I might put with it.  The swatch she chose is Koi Ebb and Flow in Multi by the fabulous Rashida Coleman Hale.

I have to admit that I really struggled with this assignment.  Wow!  Talk about pressure.  I played with it two or three times and then hid it away again in the back of my mind.  Then, the day of the deadline, I woke up in the night in a panic that I not only hadn't sent Ali my fabrics, I hadn't really made much progress on the assignment.  So, in a middle-of-the-night frenzy I tore apart all my precious bundles, delved into all of my hiding places, and came up with a stack that I'm pretty happy with.

Here are the rules for choosing the fabrics for my stack:
1)  Stack must have at least 10 fabrics, no more than 20
2)  Each piece must be at least a Fat Eighth (no tiny scraps!)
3)  No buying new fabric specifically for this


I think I did OK, but it was stressful.  Ali said I should give you some hints about my Stack, so here goes...

1)  Don't let the fact that I dislike gray fool you - I know when it works!
2)  "Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."  John F. Kennedy
3)  I was well-trained in fabric stacking by a certain etsy shop proprietor that just happens to be related to me, although it's not exactly to her standards (but in my own defense, it was very late at night early in the morning.)


Well, I hope that helps.

You know, Ali has a prize up for grabs, so head on over there and check it out.  Good luck!

13 in 2013... It's September??!!

My goal for August was to finish my citrus quilt.  It turned out that I had so many blocks I made 3 quilts, and have almost enough for a 4th one, so I'm going to count that as a finish!  I really had fun with these.  I've had company, and today the weather has been awful, so no full quilty pictures yet, but I just had to share what I have so far.  I actually ended up quilting all three quilts on the same day.  It was a really long day, but once I got started, I just couldn't stop.

I did swirls on the first quilt.  I really like swirls - they are fast and fun.  And although my technique isn't perfect yet, it has come a long way from earlier this year.

I am really enjoying having the large table in my new sewing space to hold the weight of the quilt.  It makes for much better control and it's soooo much easier on my neck and shoulders! 

On the second quilt, I decided to do paisleys.  They are really fun too, but not quite as fast as swirls.  I think my paisleys improved too, from the first one to the last one, so I'm pretty happy with the result.

I did get a bit tired of seeing this as I was quilting though, and my machine has a large-capacity bobbin...

On the last quilt, I was getting pretty tired, but I'm still pretty happy with the leaves I did.

I did the binding on all three by machine, just because it's fast.  These will probably be charity quilts, after all, and I didn't really have the time or the patience to do them by hand.

So all in all, I'm pretty happy with the results of my efforts.  And I got 36 blocks out of the "someday" basket.  It feels great to get another goal checked off the list.  Quilt #4 will be a goal for 2014, I think. 

So now it's goal setting time for September, isn't it?  I've got BD#1 and family coming next weekend, and I'm teaching 3 sewing classes in September - and then I'm out of town one weekend later in the month, so it's shaping up to be a pretty busy month. 

Here was my list from January, along with their current status:

1.  Jelly Roll Quilt, finished March, 2013
2.  Fairy Tale Friends, finished March, 2013
3.  Teal/Red 3x6 Bee Blocks, finished 2 quilts, July, 2013
4.  Citrus quilt(s), finished 3 quilts, August, 2013
5.  Granny Squares Quilt, finished March, 2013
6.  String Blocks Quilt
7.  Bow Tie Quilt
8.  Bento Blocks Quilt
9.  Breath of Avignon Quilt
10.  Anthropologie Duvet Cover, finished April, 2013
11.  GMFG - this one is about 2/3 completed
12.  Lark Pinwheel Quilt - I used most of the blocks for Weekender bags, so I'm counting this one as finished
13.  Basket Quilt

So out of 13 quilts, with 4 months remaining, I have 6 quilts to go.  Whew!  I thought I was doing better than that.  That's what happens when you get behind!

I think for September I am going to try to finish the Bow Tie quilt.  That should clear a bunch out of the WIP basket.

And if I'm really ambitious, I'll work on the Bento Blocks quilt too.  It will feel so good to get these done!

Dressed for Success

In addition to the quilty madness around here lately, I have had some fun making dresses for Abby.  Her mama, as you may know, owns a fabric shop, and so while I was there in July, she handed me some fabric and told me to get to work.  Abby was really excited to know that Grandma was working on something just for her, and must have asked me a hundred times if I was done.  It was fun making little girl dresses - easy peasy and so fresh and fun.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed sewing for little people.

I finished two dresses while I was there (you can read all about it here)...

And brought a third one home to finish.  Apparently, the flower and ribbons have now become a fairy wand and can work magic....

And although I didn't take a picture of dress #4, Her mama sent me a photo of her wearing the dress...

And she's playing with the dress in the video above.  Is she not just the cutest???!!  (Ok, I'm maybe a bit prejudiced...)

But then I decided that her little brother shouldn't be left out, so I made him a pair of shorts and added matching trim to a purchased onesie in his size, but it seemed a little...  plain.

So I went to Google Images and found a line drawing of a fire truck...

Got out the wonder under and did a little applique, added some buttons for the tires...

And a super cool button for the "flashing lights"...

And Britton had a new outfit too.

That was fun!  I think I need to do more sewing like that!

WIP Wednesday - Or, How the Heck Did it Get to Be Wednesday Again??

It's another Wednesday, and as usual, I find myself wondering, "How did that happen?"  The weeks just whirl by, don't they?  School started this week and so did early morning Seminary, meaning I have 8 high school students that show up at my door at 6:25 a.m. ready to do a little gospel study.  Needless to say, aside from lesson preparation, my sleep cycle is a little disturbed this week.  But I have to say, it's a great way to start the day.  My little den is full-to-bursting every morning, as my class doubled again this year, for the third year in a row.  If it doubles again next year, I'll have to find a new classroom, I think.

So here's my big finish for the week...  This cute little stitchery is winging its way to it's new home.  It was my offering in the Super Swaps swap on Flickr.  The assignment was to create something for your partner with "embellishments"....  If the embroidery didn't qualify, the buttons should.  I thought about rick rack and ribbon, but decided to let this little piece speak for itself.  This little cutie is part of my friend Ellyn's Stitchalong.  Too cute.  She has done one a month in 2013, and I had a difficult time deciding between August and February.  Maybe I'll get to February soon.  I haven't done a lot of embroidery lately, but it's so relaxing just to sit and stitch.

I FINISHED FINISHED the bookshelf quilt top the other day.  After giving it serious thought, I decided did want to add borders to the bottom and the top of my Bookshelf quilt (it's hanging sideways on the fence so it won't drag in the dirt).  It really bugged me that it was wider than it was long.  It was such an easy fix - especially because Leona gave me a couple yards of the fabric last week when we met for lunch.  I added a 3 -1/2 inch white border and a 5-1/2 inch pink border to each end.  I am so much happier with this quilt now!  As it happens, I am out of batting after my marathon sandwiching session at the ECMQG meeting, so quilting this will have to wait awhile, but I am happy with it now, and will put it away for a bit.

The ECMQG is doing a Modern Maples QAL, and of course, I need to be a part of that.  I cut out the focus fabric before I left on vacation last month, but hadn't done the background fabrics because I didn't know what I wanted to do.  My friend Krista suggested doing some low volume fabrics as the background, and as soon as she said it, I knew it was perfect.  Not only that, she shipped me the fabrics to use, since I'm more of a brights kind of gal and haven't really invested in low volume fabrics (aside from one "Inside Voices" bundle from my favorite fabric shop).  I really have wonderful friends, don't I?

I mis-read the instructions in the pattern, and cut 72 4-1/2" squares for the blocks.  Not sure why I thought that was such a good idea that I didn't say "huh?" and go back and re-read it, but apparently I was in a cutting mood, and cut I did.  Needless to say, I had a BUNCH of low volume squares left over after I finished the leaves.  BUT, making lemonade out of lemons, I decided to piece some of the background-only blocks, and I'm really glad I did.

I really like that ghost of a leaf right in the center - can  you see it?

So here's another top finished, and in to the to-be-quilted pile, right behind the other 5 6 waiting to be quilted...

In other news, I've been playing along with Amanda's Starflower QAL, and I'm so excited.  I'm actually keeping up!  I usually stink at QALs, but with this one, I was determined not. to. get. behind.  Amanda's instructions are superb and almost every block came out with perfect points.  I teased her about using the word "obtuse" to describe the angle, and she said, "That's what it's called, isn't it?"  Yes, of course, dear, but I honestly haven't used that word to actually describe angles since I graduated 9th grade I think.  I had to really stretch to remember what it meant. 

I now have a lovely pile of beautiful stars, just waiting for the next step in our QAL.  (See, perfect points!)  The fabric, by the way, is Beechwood Park, by Jeanean Morrison.  I am really loving it in these star blocks.  Of course, you can buy it here. 

As I said, I must have been in the cutting zone that night, because I kind of over-did the diamonds for the stars as well.  There is surely enough here to make another quilt. Oops!

And I finally got to work on the fourth (and last) "commissioned" quilt for Leona in repayment of my Accu-Quilt debt.  This one is a Scrappy Trip Around the World, all done in dots and solids.  I really LOVE these blocks.  They are so bright and happy. 

And I'm actually getting to play with my new design wall, which is really fun!  Maybe it will be useful after all.  (I really love how bright and happy these blocks are!)

So here's where I am on this project...  Again, sorry about the lighting - an electrician is on the list when the budget allows. 

So, that's what's been happening here.  What are you working on?