Time for a New Purse!

 Now that I’m finished making purses, I have time to make myself a new purse.  My favorite purse pattern for me is Hey, Mercedes - a Sara Lawson pattern from her book  Windy City Bags.  I’ve made this ourse several times, usually for myself.  The style suits me - liter slip pocket perfect for keys and phone, 2 zippered pockets, a roomy interior, and a magnetic snap.  

I’m pretty happy.  Now I just need to go somewhere! 😁

UFO, Inspiration, Design, and Retreats

 What a lovely spring it's been - perfect for walking and little road trips and a weekend getaway.   It's been a good time to finish a couple of small projects.  The red cork Hey Mercedes is something I started at the Fall Retreat in Racine.  I love this purse style, but it's not the best application of this terrific cork fabric.  Luckily, I lined it in a similar color to the cork.  I am working up my courage to do some top stitching.  And then this purse will be complete.

I quilted this cork fabric to the Soft and Stable interfacing. 

This gusset is such an important design element.  I am hoping with use that these pieces will fit together a bit better. Perhaps I could have done a better job of trimming and clipping.  Next time...

  This is another Sarah Lawson pattern, a Tudor bag. I've been wanting to make this bag for a while. The top picture shows the difference between the Sloan bag (my favorite for weekends) and the Tudor, which is perfect as a tote.  I took out some of the design elements because this fabric has such a great features.  There's an outer zip pocket, two inner pockets, and an inner sleeve to hold a water bottle.  There's a twin to this bag (it was my prototype) and now belongs my friend Jenny.  Same fabric, but different lining and handles.

My handymen were here, covering my design wall with gridded flannel fabric.  This fabric was something guildster Dani M was working with at the last retreat.  She graciously went shopping for me.  And it's only taken 6 months to get it on the wall.  I love it.  

At last Sunday's guild meeting one member showed these wonderful little boxes.  I was so taken by these that I totally forgot who brought them.  But I found the pattern and bought it - this will be on deck for the retreat.  I hope to make three and have zippers and infacing for Melissa and Eileen.

Here's a UFO that is so old..."How old is it?"  Well, it's so old that I was working on it at a retreat sitting across from Mary P, she who was our Chicago MQG president 2010-2011 and has been living in Texas for the past 4 years.   At last Sunday's meeting I was sitting with Melissa, and she had a couple of ideas for what to do with scraps, and one of them was for this pattern.  It uses cross-cut blocks.  And this made me go home and get out these blocks.  I have perhaps 60 of them and fabric for me.  When I was working on this, I had in mind Rossie H's Double Plus Good quilt.  But then I became disenchanted with what I was making.  Perhaps my crosses weren't wonky enough, and I think my insert strips were too wide. 

So I am trying to make the inserts narrower. This weekend might be the right time to redeem these blocks and make something functional.    The above tutorial from The Quilter's Table involves making blocks, sewing them together, and then cross-cutting them.  So, I'm thinking...

The other possibility for retreat sewing is taking a jelly roll of fabulous metallics  - Modern Backgrounds "Luster" by Zen Chic.  Two strips make 2 blocks.  With an outer border these blocks are 10" x 16".  Sometimes to make the best of sewing time at a retreat, a simple repetitive task is just the answer.  Also, to be absolutely honest, I just like touching these fabrics.  The picture below has the strips in pairs.  I just need to cut and pack them.

Going to the Siena Center in Racine is a privilege.  I'm taking with me a quilt to donate - Sister Claire will know what to do with it.  

  

All Retreat Projects, Great and Small

It's always tricky planning retreat sewing.  This may sound strange, but it's such a luxury to devote entire days to quilting projects.  For this retreat at the Siena Center, I knew I had to start with something I've been wanting to do that requires a lot of simple sewing.  So I took my Marcia Derse fabrics to make a quilt I have made before that my senior-in-college grandson has (which coincidentally was made at the Spring 2014 retreat).  I finished all the strip sheet sets and will insert them into the lovely neutral that makes the light strip in all the blocks. 

I finished these easy but tedious strip sets by late Saturday morning and got out my red and black cork fabrics.  Since I haven't sewn with cork fabric before, I had to do a wee bit of test sewing.  And I discovered it's fabulous to work with.  I quilted the cork fabric onto Soft and Stable interfacing and created the front, back, gusset, and outer pocket for Sara Lawson's Hey Mercedes bag, a purse size which I really like.  I would have kept going on this project except I didn't have the right hardware with me.  Since I am thrilled with how this project is going, I have a feeling I'll finish it fairly soon.

Now it's late Saturday afternoon, and I have nothing completed to show (and my guild is so fond of ding-ding-dinging the bell announcing a finish).  And what do I do when I need to have a completed project?  Right!  A Mors bag.  I brought with me a fat quarter, some Kona brown, and strapping for handles.  The scrap table gave me the fabrics for the inside of the bag.  This bag is going back into my car for trips to Mariano's and Walgreen's.   And now - what to do the rest of my precious retreat sewing time?  Some of my guildsters and I joke about taking our fabrics for rides in the car to various retreats.  And my pile of Alison Glass scraps have gone of several sewing weekends with me.  But this time?  I actually got them out!

My scraps were all 3" wide and 14" - 18" long.  In between each row is a 4" strip.  So far this top is about 60" x 80".  I will need to do a little bit of piecing in the upper right and then may use the rest of the scraps to make outer borders, but I am loving how this is turning out, especially since it's been so long in the planning.  And this kept me busy until Sunday night!  I am very happy with what I got done.  Last night I slept for 9 hours, a rarity for me.  I think I was pleasantly tired from the weekend.

Guild vice-president Amy has been heading up a charity effort for Sarah's Inn in Oak Park.  We are making pillows, zippered pouches with little luxuries, and napping quilts.  Amy finished piecing this quilt, and I volunteered to take it home with me for quilting and binding.  Funny to come home with more than I took up.  But it's a good thing.

This isn't a retreat project - I just have it out and want to get to it.  I made this quilt for my father-in-law years ago.  It has a nice, neat, big hole in the border.  Mending this is in my future, and I may wait until after the November Chicago MQG meeting where Heidi Parkes will be our speaker and her topic is intentional mending.    Or I may just reinvent this wheel and forge on ahead.  And I must take a breath and put away the piles of fabrics so I can at least close the cabinet doors. 

It was a good retreat.

The Opposite of Quilter's Block

We just had a week on the road visiting the Hoover, Truman, and Eisenhower Presidential Libraries/Museum.  Two bonuses of this trip?  A stop in Kansas City at the World War I Museum, and a visit with former Chicago guildster Mary who moved to Hayes, Kansas - she drove 2 hours to Abeline KS to meet us for lunch!

When I'm away from the studio, I am constantly making lists of fabrics, quilts, and things I want to do.  By the time we got home, this list was pretty long.   So my first day in the studio, completely devoted to what I want to do, I'm paralyzed and can't decide which of these projects to start on.  Instead of dithering on what to do, I immediately went to my favorite fabric (AGF Bonnie Christine's Hello Bear) and my favorite purse pattern - Sara Lawson's "Hey Mercedes"  from her Windy City Bags book.  I love the size of this purse and made it before using Yoshiko Jinzenji fabrics.  And of course this fabric matches the Sloan Travel Bag (also a Sara Larson pattern) I use.  

The other side has a wonderfully deep pocket.

The side gusset becomes an interesting design detail when done in a contrasting fabric.

But now?  Back to quilts.  Two key fabrics in the above pile are from  Janet Clare's Wordsmith line.  I'm thinking a Trip Around the World, the first quilt pattern I learned and still a favorite.

 These fabrics are by Heather Givens from her Paper Obsessed line.  I'm thinking blocks that are 8.5"x  11" to continue her riff on paper goods. 

 This growing pile of blacks and white and greys are going to perfect for a log cabin, another one of my favorite designs for quilts.

The Marcia Derse fabrics will become the above quilt.  I already have my cheat sheet for the cutting measurements.  I've made this quilt before - grandson Ryan has it at Ball State.  But I need to make another.

And what about these Marcia Derse fabrics?  They are the only ones that don't play nicely with all the others.  A nice napping quilt perhaps?  I have already made a winter quilt for our bed, a table runner,  and an Aragon bag.  But I'm just not quite finished with these fabrics...

And here's the one project with a December deadline.  All the strips are sewn and need to have the background added.  I have the fabrics and even know what measurements I need to use.  

It's just a matter of getting started!  No more purses...for a while...   Just quilts. 

This Week in the Studio

My sister-in-law picked up her "Hey Mercedes" bag from Sara Lawson's Windy City Bags.

Of course I had to make myself one, too.

Only one side of the bag has an outer pocket.  There are two zippered pockets inside.

Adding the gusset/bottom of a constrasting fabric worked well.

Meanwhile, it's t-shirt quilt time.  This is the second one I have done for this mom.  The first was for her older son, the hockey nut.  This younger son is all about firefighting. 

All the bits are connected and currently at Terri and Frank's being longarmed. 

Yesterday at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild meeting, we did our pin cushion swap.  This is what I received from Iris, and I love it.  Victorians thought tomatoes ensured prosperity and warded off evil spirits.  Since tomatoes are seasonal, the sewing community co-opted this symbol for their pin cushions!  I love the strawberry filled with emery sand so I can keep my needles sharp. 

Thanks to Melissa, I learned how to make this pin cushion and did one for my partner Sue R in Marcia Derse fabrics but forgot to photograph it.  This "practice" pin cushion has been gifted to guild buddy Mary.  

It's time to turn to and get into Easter mode - lots of lamb cake baking this week and minimal sewing. Which for this week is fine. This will be a time for some creative ideas to percolate.