That Damned Elusive Free-Motion Quilting

I'm impressed by quilters who are able to do free-motion quilting. I've taken classes in free-motion quilting. I've practiced this technique without much success and have never felt confident or comfortable with it. And so I always resort to the safety of my walking foot when it's time to quilt.

Almost a year ago I met my quilting Doppelganger at a Fiber Arts show in Glencoe. Wayne is left-handed, has the same Husqvarna sewing machine, is drawn to geometric designs and modern fabrics, keeps a blog of his work, and quilts with the same passion I do. In our e-friendship we've discovered some amazing similarities. We have successfully incorporated his wife Wendy and my husband John into our friendship and have tried when we are with them to keep quilt talk and spousal eye-rolling to a minimum. One of the things Wayne does very very well is free-motion quilting.

Friday we got together for the first time as quilters and did our own workshop. Wayne coached me on the technique. And this bag is the result. I won't claim that I've mastered the technique, but the two sides of this oversized bag are a great start. I thank Wayne for helping me with the breakthrough of this technique!

Those Pesky Jacket Leftovers

It's always an issue: how much to buy of a fabric? If I find a fabric I like that is reasonably priced, I'll get two yards. And of course when I use it in whatever project(s), there are leftovers. Occasionally, like for my sister's jacket, I buy specific yardage according to the pattern. And still there are leftovers. I have a big wicker basket of scraps. I have two small baskets of scraps. I have a pile of scraps in a corner. More scraps on a bookshelf. I have scraps leftover from scrap quilts. Some of my scraps even have scraps.

So Paula's jacket leftovers are now a bag. It is a bit bigger than a MORS bag and flat-bottomed AND both sides have a pocket. I still have lessons to be learned about symmetry and flat-bottomed bags, and then there's the whole issue of how to get a bag to stand on its own. Something to look forward to with future projects.

The more immediate issue is what to do with the leftover scraps from this bag. A glasses case? A camera case? A cell phone case?