A New Fika Tote

Is this bag sweet or what?  It is a Fika Tote by Noodlehead.  It's 18' wide and 15' deep.  One side has two patch pockets.  The other side has a large zippered pocket, perfect for a notebook or papers. The inside has a series of pockets as well.  

The biggest success of this bag are the two double-headed zippers, aka purse zippers.  Despite having yards of zipper tape and various zipper pulls, I always buy these zippers.  But this time I figured out how to do the double headed thing!  It involves offsetting the two sides of the zipper tape.  

The design wall holds all the leftover bits from the quilt I've been working on as well as from the Fika Tote.  I've started playing with these scraps.  To what end?  I'm not sure.  I'm just sort of goofing around and improving.  Here's what I have so far:

To be continued...

Scraps, Purses, New/Old Projects

So much sewing.  But space has been limited.  The studio has been housing some overnight guests, one for two weeks, but all is back to normal again.  Because space was limited I worked with what I could get to:  scraps.  

These four purses for Sew Powerful are from great niece Cassidy's shower quilt.  And the one in the left corner is from Sam's quilt.

The two below?  again, favorite scraps.  That's the last of the Periodic Table fabric.  I used a lot of that for masks.

 These four dotty sisters have some of my favorite fabric for the flaps.  And this fabric allows me to use almost anything for the body, lining, and straps.

In the previous blog post I mentioned my new favorite fabric designer Seth Apter.  The picture above is leftover from a quilt I'm working on. That quilt is at the bottom of this post, and I am halfway through hand-quilting it.  These leftovers are going to be something.  I just don't know what.  And I keep adding additional scraps to the design wall.  For me?  This is great fun!

My SIL in Florida was wanting a baby quilt.  The above is what I came up with using blue scraps and low volume scraps (are you sensing a theme about scraps?). She decided on a different quilt, so this one - its 48' x 60" has been languishing.  Well, no more.  I frankenbatted a batting and found a bed sheet that is the perfect shade of blue for the back.  Now it is all pin-basted and will be my next hand project.  I think I'll use a dark thread and try for something wavy.  We'll see...

But the urge to make purses and bags is so strong.  Using my favorite fabrics I am making this Fika Tote.  Its a great pattern.  I've made maybe five of them so far.  And I may actually keep this one!

As I was working on my stepdaughter's bed quilt I commented to her that I loved her quilt.  And she said I say that about all of my quilts.  Well, not quite.  This one above?  I thought I was going to love it, but as it came together, my eye told me something was wrong. Is it that green-ish limey yellow?  are those grays throwing it off?  I thought of my grandson Sam as I was making this.  While I do love Sam, I don't love this quilt.  However, perhaps this is my saving grace:  Sam is colorblind.  

Scraps and Little Things

Just as 2022 ended with a Fika Tote by Noodlehead, I started off the new year with a second one, a commission.  The one of the right is mine, made with leftover bits of Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric.  The one of the right has some of that lovely black with red Kanji lettering.  These bags are big - 15" x 19" x 5".  Very handy.

For my sister's 70th I made her a Fika tote that featured this lovely great metallic price.  She liked it a lot and wondered about a check cover and credit card holder from the leftover bits.  So we looked for some patterns, and these are the results.  Checkbook cover - wonderfully easy. Credit card wallet a lot fussier.

Ive been working on trying to get rid of my scraps - or at least organize them.  This wonderful pile of reds and blacks was on the table.  And just recently I made a RunAround bag (LazyGirl) out of those pretty grey scraps.  My sister was just here, and I offered it to here.  So then of course I had to make more.  These are basically 7" x 9" with a long strap - it's a cross body bag, so handy for shopping. 

More on scraps to come...I sort of have a plan...to be determined...

And so ends 2022…

This year was such a good one in the studio.  The Fika Tote by Noodlehead is my current bag crush.  This one is my third, and I have two more planned.  We aren't traveling much these days, so I have to find people to gift these bags to.  So far my sister and Cristina are the lucky one.  This bag to the left?  It doesn't have an owner.  Yet.  What is so special about this bag is the use of some bits of Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric. I'm awaiting the arrival of small additional red fabric with Kanji writing for the next bag.  

My current project is to work my way through my ever-growing pile of scraps.  Here are my purples and teals.  Below are strips made from blues and violets. Although there's a thin line between purples and violets and I cross it all the time.  To keep from getting bored, I think I'll tackle reds next.  Or perhaps oranges.  My goal is to make long strips of scraps and join them together with some leftover neutrals.  We'll see...

Occasionally I have projects that I don't care to do.  This one to the left is one of them.  It's a quilt top made in the late 1930's or early 1940's that was never finished.  The appliquéd butterflied and basket in the middle represent a  lot of handwork.  A LOT.  And somehow this top was folded up and boxed.  It took over 2 hours of pressing just to get the top smooth.  And these fabrics are old and thin.  It's been batted with wood and a Kona cotton backing.  There's machine quilting in the sashing.  And there's hand quilting around each butterfly and the floral basket in the middle.  While the quilt now is absolutely useable, it's still something I would not recommend washing.  You know that musty smell that old fabrics get?  This quilt top did not and does not have that.  I think the owner, the maker's granddaughter, will be pleased. This quilt top is now waiting for its label and then a trip to Atlanta to February for delivery.  While I wasn't particularly happy working on this quilt, I recognized that this quilt deserved to be finished.  Best of all, this restoration/completion was a paying job.  I think I may have to go fabric shopping!  

But now on to the fun stuff!  This quilt belongs to a guild buddy, and I volunteered to hand quit it for her.  Unlike the appliquéd butterfly quilt which weighed 7 pounds and was a beast to keep repositioning, This is a much smaller quilt and - imho - so much more beautiful. 

These dark days of winter are so perfect for hand quilting.  The process takes me back 8 years when my mom died and how soothing I found the hand quilting process after her death.   The same is true for me today.  And I'm eager to finish this quilt because I have one of my own in queue for hand quilting.  More on that in January.

Almost daily John or I will remark how the move to our condo has been such a good one.  We are thrilled with our space and where we live.  There's a long hallway leading to our front door, and currently no one lives across from us.  So I have started to look at this hallway as quilt-hanging opportunities.   And coincidentally both of these quilts involve my niece Leslie.  The small one at the end is made from leftovers of her high school graduation quilt.  And the big one will be going to her shortly.  She and her boyfriend are engaged, and they have selected this quilt at their wedding present.  

There is going to be great sadness in 2023 but there will also be great joy.  I'm so thankful for my studio and what happens here. 

In the bleak midwinter - correction

My mom died 9 years ago December 22.  It was actually 8 years ago, not 9.  I had to admit to all three sibs I was wrong.  Her death was welcomed and peaceful.  I remember spending the next few weeks adding stitches to the quilt I was working on - and at that point  I was still an emerging hand quilter.  And now at this time of year in these deeply dark and cold days, I find hand stitching so comforting.  A week ago I started adding stitches to this quilt.  Its owner says this quilt top is 90 years old.  Despite the age and fragility of the fabric, it is a quilt top that deserves to be finished.  In each block I am outlining the butterfly.  The sashing has been machine-quilted.  I'm not crazy about this quilt, but it is satisfying to give this shape and life. 

I love the Fika Tote pattern by Noodlehead.  It's so well-written and turns out nicely.  This is the second one I've made, and it went to Cristina.  I'm in the process of making another and possibly another.  For years I''ve been cutting from a roll of Soft and Stable that I bought years ago.  That roll is gone, and I actually had to purchase some by the yard from ByAnnie.   Bags cannot be made without it!  Imagine the bag below without the red clips!

 

These little butterfly purses are thanks to the scrap table at the last CMQG retreat.  There wasn't much of it, but I was able to make four flaps from it and think these purses very pretty.  So thanks, fellow CMQG guild member!

I figured out what stitching to add to my Left-handed Leftover Liberal Quilt.  And I like the effect.  I was all set to hang this in our dining room, but John asked me not to.  Hrumpppphhhhhh....

The people in our building are more than friendly.  Daily we open our door and find a little something there, like some chocolate or a little Christmas decoration.  So I've been making key fobs.  In addition to the hardware, you only need a 4" x 13" bit of fabric.  I may have to crank out a few more.

It's a peaceful cold gloomy day.  And I'm pretty content.  

47 Purses in the Mail - and My Reward

Combined with a few purses done in August, I sent 47 purses to Sew Powerful this week.  It is a great feeling of accomplishment and with such a great payoff.  There was a team from Sew Powerful in Zambia last week, and they posted pictures of young ladies receiving their purses.  Go to SewPowerful.org for these pictures. Along with those smiles were good reports from the various components of Sew Powerful - sewing, farming, soap making, etc.  This community-driven initiative supported by the Sew Powerful army makes me know that what I do, along with hundreds of other purse makers, is important.

Devoting an entire month to just purses means putting aside projects that I want to do.  And Ive been wanting to make my way through not only the fabrics I have but also the projects set aside that I've been meaning to get to.  The fabrics in the bag below were set aside for a different bag.  But suddenly I saw them on the FIKA Tote by Noodlehead.  This pattern was new to me, and it has so many different pieces.  My husband does word puzzles.  I do fabric puzzles, and this was like a monster 3-d puzzle.  But I loved how it turned out and of course want to make another. 

This bag is essentially 19" wide by 15" tall and 5' wide.  One side of the bag has two slip pockets.  The smaller pocket in darker grey (with my phone peeping out) is the last of a fabric that I have loved.  Holly and/or Sarah turned me onto it.  I tried to find more, and all I could locate was this lighter grey matching fabric.  Against the grey/brown grunge, I think both are striking. 

The reverse side of the bag has one big zippered pocket. The foundation of both sides as well as the gusset is Soft and Stable, which means this bag can stand on its own.  The handles are lightly padded with fusible fleece.

The bag has a recessed zipper and enough interior pockets to confuse the best of us.  What I think I like most about this bag and pattern is the final step.  Instead of leaving a seam in the lining open and birthing the whole bag through the lining, the interior and exterior are simply sewn together as they are meant to be and then bound.  I think the result is excellent and very polished.

Before I started on the Fika Tote, I worked on this years-old Jinny Beyer tote bag. The small panel above on the left is paper-pieced, not a way that I prefer to work.  But look at the precision!  There's another identical panel under it.  All the colorful leftovers from the paper piecing were kind of big, so I sewed them together.  There are two big sets of panels.  And wait!  There's more.  Look at the skinny colorful strips on the right.  All these bits - big and small - need to be featured.  I don't know how or what, but I'm thinking...

Next?  Hmmm.....