I Made a Bag!

I have been wanting to make a small-ish messenger bag for awhile now. I had loved the fabric, and finally caved and bought some. And then it sat for several months. On Friday, when I went to sew, I discovered that my projects are all at quilting or pin basting stage and that's not what I felt like doing.
So I pulled out my fabric, I sat down with my paper and pencil and made a quick sketch. And then, I was off.

I love this fabric so much! I bought this print in canvas, and as sturdy as that is, I decided to add a layer of Pellon 809 to give it a bit of extra body.

This is the fabric I chose for the lining. I added a few pockets for things. I don't like my pen or pencil rolling around in the bottom of my bag. The shorter pockets are for lip balm and nail clippers and such. I left the printed selvedge on and just hemmed it under. It makes seeing the top of the pocket very easy.

The side is a mere one inch wide. I told you I like a small bag. I attached the strap with a sturdy X in a square, double stitched.

And this is a look inside with all my stuff in it. Everything fits just right. I don't want so much room that I can keep stuffing things in there.

And I added a strip of red to the edge of the flap for color and interest. The strap is long enough so I can wear it cross body and right at my hip. I love my new bag! And as many bags as I have made over the last year for my craft fairs, this was a pretty quick one to design and put together. I think it only took about 3 or so hours. I started in the morning and was done by lunch time.

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

Wednesday, No W.I.P.

I know most blogger post and share WIPs on Wednesday. We love that alliteration. I don't really have any to share, but I do have a finish and I can't wait until Friday because I am working Friday. So, here we go.

 I am calling this quilt the Octopus' Garden. I bought this fabric a long while ago with the intention of making a baby quilt with it. When the baby came, I had several other quilts for her and my daughter asked me to make something bigger, because you can only use so many baby quilts. Right?

 So I noodled around and finally found a way to showcase all the prints from these two lines that I had bought to go together. I did not end up using them all, there is a scale print that I have and I already have an idea for that.

 Everything outside is wet today due to an overnight storm, so all the pictures were take indoors.

 I quilted the main portion with a rather uneven wavy line to mimic the water.

 Then I went around the outer borders with the same wavy lines, just easing around the corners.

 The binding I decided to use the bright orange print for one final pop of color and I love it!

 So this is the whole thing, laid out on my queen size bed. I think when Miss N gets her first big girl bed it will fit real nice. Of course she's only 6 months old, so it will be awhile.

 This is the back. I was originally going to piece a back, but then I found this! Extra wide backing fabric from Amanda Jean's Good Neighbors line...on SALE!...at Connecting Threads. I love this!

 I can't say enough good things about how cute this is and I am so sold on extra wide backing fabric. I love the thriftiness of piecing a back, but this. This was awesome!

 Here is my label. All attached and ready to go. Quilt has been washed and dried to a soft, crinkly finish. All the Pieced side is organic cotton, by the way.

 Folded up and ready to go to it's new home. I know it will be well loved. I mean, mermaids!!

But it will have to sit on a shelf like this for a year or so first. I'm okay with that. Talk to you soon.

Winter Sewing

So cold outside. A great time for some winter sewing. In addition to quilting the three quilts I pin basted a couple of weeks ago, now on hold while I wrangle with some sewing machine issues, I am still making new quilt tops. Guess you can't have enough.

 Remember these? The top three are from Lilly Pond by Rae Hoekstra. They are so soft and organic too! The bottom three are a line from Monaluna. I forget the name, but they are also organic. I love how these two lines play together.

And this is the beginning of the quilt I am making with them for Miss N. More of a big girl quilt than a baby quilt, but it's going to take some time to get done. I am kind of designing it as I go and I like it so far.

More cold and maybe snow on the way, so more time to sew before spring gets here.

A Wonderful Day

Such great progress made yesterday, for a Monday no less. I had to work, but when I got home, I decided I needed to make some sewing progress too. I have lots of tops that need to be pin basted and quilted, so I started on that. Pin basting is so much harder for me now because my knees can't quite take the crawling around on the floor like they used to.

 Remember this? It is the final quilt top made in my Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. It has been pressed and on a hanger on my door for a loooong time.

 And I recently assembled this sweet top made from Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew's pattern Suburbs. This was the second one I made from that pattern.

This Christmas version is the first. So now, all three of these have backs and are pin basted. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, they will get quilted and bound and off to their new homes. The X Plus quilt stays here with me, to remind me of all the wonderful women who were in my bee for three years.

 In between quilting, I am assembling a couple of quilts. I am doing the HKQAL with Amy at Sukie Don't You Know. The quilt top is a little further along than this, but this is the only photo I have so far. I am caught up as of today. Only 12 more blocks to go!

And I am also working on another quilt for baby N, using these great organic fabrics by Rae Hoekstra mixed with some sea prints from Monaluna. I am loving this one for sure.
Talk to you soon.

The One With Lots of Pictures

It has been very busy around here this last week.  Not too much actual sewing, but some.  Also there has been sewing prep and gardening.  Once I get to sewing this week, I should be able to make some great progress.  Here's hoping.

 First up is the 4th bucket hat that I made for my brother.  He is a chef, so I thought this print by Monaluna for Robert Kaufman was appropriate.  I have a pair of chef's pants in this print, made by Chef Wear.

 The other side is this swirly green batik.  I love this one and it's been in my stash for years.  I have used bits of it here and there.

 Went to the big box hardware store Sunday and got these...African Daisies, I think they are called.

 And these little beauties.  The picture doesn't do the color of the tiny blossoms justice.  They are a deep periwinkle blue in real life.  There was a large one there that was just gorgeous.

 Lots of pots of Mondo grass for edging.  Our yard is a bit of a disaster, but we are going to try and fix that.  Poor soil, critters etc. can only be overcome by diligence.

 One of the nicer things we do have are the Azaleas that someone planted before us.

 These are just a few of the many we have all over the property.  All are abloom right now.

 V is here today on spring break, and we are going to paint the faces of some of the Angry Birds and pigs on these cans that I spray painted yesterday.  I saw the idea on someone's blog, but I can"t remember who.  If you Google Angry Birds, I think it will show up.

 Next I spent some time prepping some sewing in an effort to get some of my many projects moving forward.  The original 19 items on my 2012 list have been joined by 11 more so...gotta get going here.  This is a diaper bag I am making for the arrival of baby B.

 The backing fabric and batting have arrived for my sister's quilt.  She chose a lovely Moda Marbles in grey, which will really compliment the front.  Just need to piece the back and off to the quilter it goes.

 I went against my own rule and cut out all the rest of the pieces for my last three Swoon blocks.  I had been cutting as I sewed, but I was losing ground fast, so I hope this helps get me back on track.

This is the pieced back for the Jack and Jenny Zigzag quilt for baby B.

 Sorry, this picture should have been with the other up above, but I couldn't make it move there.  This is the Amy Butler book with the pattern for the diaper bag I am making.  Her patterns are so detailed and they take me quite awhile to assemble.  I do love the result though.  So I had to get it all cut out.

And Saturday I bought all these stabilizers and fleece for the above diaper bag.  This better turn out good.  That is a lot of fleece and stabilizer.  Almost $30 worth for one bag!! Yikes.  So, what are you doing this week?