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.

Busy Busy

I have been so busy with so many different projects. I have not take the proper time to share here.

 This is the front of a quilt for a sweet little 4 year old boy who loves dinosaurs. This is such cute fabric.

And this is the back for that quilt. It's difficult to see, but the blue fabric is printed with cars all over it. His second great love is cars. So really, It's like getting two quilts in one!

I will be back soon with more to share. Have a great week.

Long Term Project

So I started this project several years ago. I'm not sure when, but it was before I moved 2 1/2 years ago. I began making my yellow slab, thinking that when I used up all my yellow scraps, or when it was big enough, I would quilt it.

Well I finally took it out and began on it again. I finished the slab and got it pin basted. I ended up using my pink lemonade jelly roll quilt top for the back. It was almost the perfect size. I had decided to do some machine and some hand stitching on it.

And in this polka dot area, I decided to tie it. This is just a long term meandering, do as you please project. If it sits for awhile, that's okay. I will work on it as the spirit moves me.

 The hand stitching is Pearl cotton in #12 size. I love how easy it is and I really want it to be visible.

 I am letting each section speak to me about what it needs. I know it will take awhile to finish.

 But I like the idea of a long term, slow stitching project. It is perfect for the summer time and when it is finished, It will make all my days sunny.

Some of these fabrics are nearly 20 years old! I bought them when I was just looking for something to go with something else for a quilt, with no thought to designers or collections. I sort of long for those easier days of fabric buying.

Have you ever done a long term project? How long did it take you, start to finish?
Have a lovely day.

New Pillow Covers

I have projects in the works. Some have deadlines, some do not. But some days, I don't want to work on any of the things I am supposed to be working on. When that happens, I do  something just because I feel like it. Today, it was new pillow covers. What drew me in was the fabric. I ordered a couple of new fabrics, which I do not do often right now to save money. They sat there looking at me until I caved.

The new fabric is the cat print and the little pink flowers. I had the blue on hand and I loved the way they worked together.

 And this is the way it came out. I love it. The colors are more muted than I usually use, but I am very happy with them.

 And on the back, I used a zipper, instead of the usual envelope closure I usually use. I used to avoid zippers, but I have done so many with the bags I am making for my craft fairs, I am no longer avoiding them. I just put a small flap over them to hide them.

And it looks like this when it's done. I love the way it looks and the zipper is hidden. This fabric was from my stash.

And then I wanted another one, same fabrics, different design. So I made this one. It too has a zipper, hidden under a strip of fabric. I used the same backing fabric.

And here they are together. The second one turned out a bit smaller than the first. My measuring mistake, but fortunately I had a pillow that fit into it anyway. Now I have to get back to my regularly scheduled sewing. Talk to you soon.

Rotary Cutter Problems

I L.O.V.E. rotary cutters. I began quilting back in the day when they were relatively new and I know I didn't have one for the first small quilt I made. In 1991 when I made my first bed size quilt, I knew I wanted to get one. Money was pretty tight then, so I couldn't afford a larger one, which I wanted, so I got this:

This is a 28mm cutter. It worked fine for me for awhile. When I bought it, I also couldn't afford a large enough mat, so I bought an 11"x17" self healing mat. I still have it and use it for sub-cutting and trimming. The 28 mm cutter I use for curves now.

Once I could afford an upgrade, several years into my quilting, I bought a larger mat and this:

This is my 45 mm cutter and I used this baby for years and years. This is now the cutter I use for paper and other non-fabric cutting.

When Olfa came out with this model, I though that might be good since the guard moved back into place when released and you could secure it with the red button when done. I felt like it caused my blades to dull even more quickly with the sliding feature, so now I use it for my specialty blades like the pinking blade you see here and it is a dream for that use.

So then, Olfa came out with the Splash cutters in the early 2000's I think, and I loved the new quick change blade feature. I felt that it was a lot safer way to go. So I bought one. But recently, there has been a problem with it.

See how the guard doesn't really cover the blade? This is, I feel, a recent development. But I couldn't figure it out, so I ordered a new cutter. Then I decided to mess with this, because what else could I do to hurt it if I wasn't going to use it any more?

 So right here, where my stiletto is pointing, I usually have a build up of lint, which I clean out every time I change the blade. I cleared it, and it still wouldn't move all the way into position. So I forced it.

And that's when I noticed there was a ton of build up between the cutter handle (blue) and the guard (yellow). I used a pin, a tweezers, a business card to slide in there and after about 10 minutes, I was able to clear out all the lint, pretty much.

And now, you can see, my guard is all the way up again. I wanted to share this, in case anyone else has had this problem. I tried to google it, but no hits. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. So if this has happened to you, I would love to hear what you did to solve it. If it happens to someone you know, you can pass this information along to them.

I still L.O.V.E. rotary cutters and have only ever used Olfa. And now I will have another one to add to my collection tomorrow. I bought a pink one this time! Have a great weekend.

Long Time Gone

I sorta fell off the edge there my friends. I got busy doing things and I kept thinking when I had something finished, I would blog. I am now thinking that I need to just get on here more often and talk about what I am doing, finished or not. So this will be an update post.

 First of all, there have been lots of roses blooming here at the Garden House. This is a small selection of some of the beauty.

 This gorgeous rose is new this year. It is called Sedona and it's beauty is in the color variation from the center to the exterior petals. It smells lovely too.

 There have been lots of great strawberries at the farmers market and I baked this wonderful treat. It is a vanilla cake covered with a whole pound of strawberries. You can find the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.

 I am working on crocheting this blanket for my oldest daughter. I am almost half way done.

And I am participating in the Summer Book Club QAL with Kate Basti on Instagram. Never too late to join in if you are interested.

I have been working to restock my creations for my next craft fair in the fall. This is my box of ear phone tacos.

 And I had an idea for something and I went searching the internet for Grosgrain ribbon. I found a reasonably price source and bought a few colors to start.

And this zippered pouch was the result. Another new item for my craft fair. Plus, I am slowly working on quilting my big yellow slab quilt and am doing some quilts for Christmas gifts. So you see, I have been busy, even if I forget to document it here.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you soon.

Yellow Yellow Yellow

Yellow has long been my favorite color. It is sunny, warm and happy. I love all yellows. I have long had quite a stash of yellows, and when it starts to get low, I panic a wee bit and buy some more. I know this is my aesthetic, and not everyone's, but I try and incorporate it whenever I can.

When Cheryl and Amanda Jean released Sunday Morning Quilts, I learned about making slabs out of scraps. I loved the idea. I ran a flickr bee where we used the book as inspiration for three years. A lot of great quilts came out of that bee. But when that finished, I still hadn't had enough of slabs. I decided to start a yellow slab and see where it took me. That was 5-6 years ago and I am sorry to say that project has languished in a bin for quite some time. Yesterday I decided to pull it out and see how it made me feel.

 This is the big chunk I have done so far. So many of these fabrics are so old. Some ten or more years old. Some nearly 20 years old. I am so happy to see them again, like old friends. I remember buying them at my LQS, which has since closed. It melts my heart a bit.

Yesterday I made the strip on the left to add to the big chunk. I am thinking this will end up a comfortable lap size quilt.

 I still have quite a few strip pieces that I am debating exactly what to do with. I don't want just a bunch of long strips, so I may sub cut them after joining them together.

And I still have a bunch of smaller scraps as well. The goal is to use all of these up. I haven't yet decided if I will use any of my more recent yellow scraps, which all live in another different bin. Those scraps are more tame, as I began cutting my scraps into usable sizes a few years ago, so 2.5 inch strips, 2.5 inch squares, 3.5 inch squares and 5 inch squares. I did save a very few odd sizes, but not many. I did this with all my colors.

 As I was sewing and pressing seams, I saw this small strip of aqua colored Newspaper Butterflies left from a recent project, and decided to add it into the slab for just a wee bit of interest among all the yellow pieces.

And when I trimmed it to fit, I had this one small square, which ended up in a log cabin block that I love. This will also be incorporated into the slab, once I decide it has enough logs on it.

I am truly enjoying working on this once again. It is fresh and new for me and I am thinking of ways to quilt it, some machine, some hand embellishment. I am excited with this. I needed to find something to re-energize my sewing. I was in a funk. This may just have been the ticket out of the funk. Off to sew now. See you soon with an update and hopefully a finished top!