Those Pesky Scraps

This is an ideal time to clean the studio - we're leaving town Friday, my good machine is still at the spa, the lessons with the kids wrap up tomorrow, my graduation quilts are completed.  But could I clean?  No.  I had to use up the scraps from the last few projects.  The bag on the left - the scraps were foundation pieced onto leftover Warm N Natural batting, and the bottom is boxed.  The bag on the right is just a plain old Mors bag.  Now that these scraps have been used, perhaps tomorrow I can actually vacuum.

Back to some Mors Bags

A cousin of John's is hooking me up with a box of fabrics.  The least I can do for Sharon is to make for her and the fabric donor some Mors bags.  Using a tip from my quilter buddy Wayne, I actually used cotton mesh handles instead of making my own handles out of fabric and batting.  Talk about a time saver!  (If you're wondering why the handles are different lengths, so I am.  I must have cut one pair 28" instead of 18". )

 And since I'm at a welcome standstill with the quilts from Bradley's shirts, I began a T-Shirt Quilt project, using 18 t-shirts from an atheletic young man who graduated from York High School.  This project also has a Christmas deadline.  It's nice to feel like things are under control.  And to perhaps even think about making Mors bags for Christmas presents!

Medical Bribery? No, just heart-felt appreciation

For over 15 years John and I have been patients at Family Medical Center of LaGrange, started by Dr. Steve Sauerberg. With him in practice are Dr. Daniel Chen, Dr. Scott Robertson, Dr. Judith Lin, Dr. Michael Dupont, and PA-C Debbie Sleeper. I have been seeing Debbie for five years but have also seen and talked to Dr. Dupont. And John likes his relationship with Dr. Chen.


I'm crazy about everyone in this office. The referral staff, the reception staff, and the nurses are all terrific. I was thankful for the referral to my orthopedic surgeon Dr. Groya. When I had a blood clot in December, I was admitted into LaGrange Hospital within 45 minutes once Debbie knew. After 6 months of being on a blood thinner, I think each one of the doctors has at one point weighed in on my Warfarin dosage. I walk into this office smiling, and I leave this office smiling.

My parents are starting with Family Medical Center of LaGrange next week. The general practioners they are currently seeing do not inspire confidence. I'm happy they are willing to make the change. My mom is going to see Debbie, and my dad will see Dr. Dupont.


There are 19 worker bees and 6 doctors. I've already given Debbie some bags - and I think Debbie knows I would make her whatever she wants. So here are 24 Mors bags for everyone else on staff. I'm constantly appreciative of the quality of medical care that my husband and I - and now my parents - receive.


In appreciation also of the earth's resources, these shopping bags come with the mantra "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle." And for what it's worth, my fabric stash is now finally looking managable!

For My Physical Therapist Chandra

For the past 6 weeks I've been seeing Chandra, a physical therapist at the Paulson Rehab Center, LaGrange Hospital. She's a charming woman and an excellent therapist. We're now fine-tuning my walk and working on increasing my range of motion. She's already given me a script of exercises to do on the ship so that I can continue to improve. I'm hoping that after the next knee in April I can continue to work with her.

If you're thinking this Amazing Technicolor Dream Tote is similar to the one I just gave Oralee a few days ago, you're right. But since Chandra is a small woman, I took out one of the vertical strips and also shortened the handles. This bag is boxed and has a plastic bottom.

Physical therapy hasn't been easy or fun. However, spending this time with someone who is so outgoing and generous has made the therapy almost fun. Almost.

Behind Every Great Man...

 Since John and I first began our quest for Indian food, we have been drawn to what was Indian Garden in Westmont and is now Saffron. Over the years I have developed a great respect for the cook and have thoroughly enjoyed becoming friends with Prasenjit Roy, the owner. I've never met Mrs. Roy, but she did give me the name of a fabric store in New Dehli. Prasenjit gave us a "just in case" phone numbers of one of his friends in New Delhi. This simple boxed Mors bag is simply for shopping and just because I have had so many wonderful dinners at Saffron.

An Amazing Technicolor Scrap Tote

Time to change gears. Tomorrow I'm starting a series of grief quilts which have a Christmas deadline. This project is a sad one because the life being celebrated is that of a 31-year old young man. It's also difficult to put away all the bright fabrics I've been using. As I was cleaning up the studio, I used some of the scraps and made one final quilted tote. The effect of these scraps is terrific - I need to go off script more often!

Keeping Surprises - or not...

My sister Paula's birthday is December 1. Yes, I know there are still 2 weeks until her birthday. But considering I made her present almost 3 weeks ago, I think I've done a great job of keeping the surprise as long as I did! This bag is similar in size to the ones I've been making. But what sets this apart are the fabrics - all of them are batiks. These batiks were pieced onto a piece of muslin. The first trickier and similar bag to this one was pieced on paper. I like the muslin piecing better because the muslin becomes a part of the bag's foundation. Now as Paula struts down the street she can sing the chorus from J-J-J-Joseph: I am handsome, I am smart, I am a walking work of art! How I love my tote of many colors...

Happy Be-earlied Birthday, Paula!

Roy G. Biv and the Spectrum

Here are 14 Amazing Technicolor Dream Totes for my sister, ready to go to her on Thanksgiving with my parents. Some are the basic colors of the spectrum with colors repeated as they go around the bag. Some of them include the expanded spectrum with no color repeats. All are quilted with a sturdy boxed bottom (stiff needlepoint plastic canvas - who knew?), have a lining that matches the one horizonal band of color, and have a deep pocket on the inside. Merry Christmas to LMSSAC from one of Santa's bigger elves!

Chaos vs. Productivity

It sometimes scares me how efficiently I can operate in chaos. All my Reds, Orange, Yellows, Green, Blue, and Indigo/Violets are strewn about the studio, which is where I need to have them. Could I close any of the fabric doors? Apparently not. For the past week I've been sewing, almost maniacally.






The Jinny Beyer fabric here is one that's almost 15 years old and just needs to be used. So I made a couple of boxed Mors bags, and John gave them away at Autumn Green's November FM Jazz session before I could photograph them. I still have enough fabric left for a few more.







What I am loving working on are the totes of many colors. I'm learning to match the bottom horizontal stripe with the lining of the bag. I'm about to finish 2 that have a snappy yellow-orange band and a great lining.








My neighbor Pam visited the studio to see what I was doing and noticed a pile of scraps. And she wants a tote from all the scraps. A Scrappy Amazing Technicolor Dream Tote. I like it!

For Edward

Once a week I drive for the American Cancer Society. I've been doing this since last March, and it's been an eye-opening and rewarding experience. As the newbie, I have relied my passengers to tell me which route to drive and where exactly to go. Today my passenger was the newbie.

Edward is beginning his course of radiation and chemotherapy for lung cancer. He's a sharp dresser - nice coat, brimmed hat. But when he got in the car, he had an armful of various items. I'm driving him tomorrow, too, and giving him this bag. I think it looks manly.

Of course with each trip and patient, I think of Dodie and being her Week 5 driver for her radiation and chemotherapy. Perhaps that was the preparation for what I'm doing now.

Amazing Technicolor Dream Tote

Jinny Beyer is a quilter who understands color and value and has an exquisite eye for design. Her website is great for eye candy and inspiration. I bought one of her quilt kits, Around the World- it's the quilt on the opening page of this blog. Recently I saw her kit for a tote bag. I love the design and love the colors but the price? Not so much. I downloaded the pattern from her website (she really is very generous with her free patterns) and began to put a palette together. And then? Some obsessive paper-piecing and sewing. The result? You be the judge. I think this is fabulous. Time-consuming but fabulous.

Question: What's the perfect sewing music for this pattern?

Answer: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!

Truly, when this bag is carried, it is a walking work of art.

Paper or Plastic? Neither!

Instead of the offered laptop bag, Mani (Dodie's older daughter) requested shopping bags. She and Tyler have 3 children - Will, Charlie, Meritt - and are excellent parents who model what they want from their children. Weekly shopping bags must be strong enough to carry cans and a gallon of milk and big enough to carry an 8-pack of toilet paper. They must be washable because you know that something is going to leak. These are basic MORS bags with a boxed corner.

My goal: bags attractive enough for Mani to use but also manly enough that Tyler will want to use these. Ideally, everyone in the family will have their own shopping bag, including 3-year-old Meritt. Just as we have used our bags for over 10 years, I hope these bags will see the Reed family through at least the next 10 years.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - even for a shower present

There have been several pairs of old jeans on my closet shelf. After a difficult day of cutting apart these jeans, I had a nice assortment of pockets and strips. My goal was to make shopping bags. Not the pretty Mors bags that I gave everyone for Christmas but the kind that could last a lifetime. July 5 is a wedding shower for Patricia Dieball Sigcho. I am making Patricia and Byron a quilt for their August wedding, but I didn't want to go to the shower empty handed. So I began to think about giving Patricia something utterly practical, a nice balance to the quilted wall art. About 10 years ago we bought canvas shopping bags and have been using them ever since. They've been washed many many times and continue to be sturdy enough to carry a gallon of milk and canned goods. So I used those bags as a pattern for my sturdy, denim shopping bags. Patricia and Byron are getting two of these bags (nicely wrapped in a MORS bag).These denim shopping bags will last for a long time and be useful.

Three New Bags

I know my stash is too big. So I have begun to take out fabrics that are at least 15 years old. If I haven't used them in a quilt by now, then I'm probably not going to use them in a quilt at this point. So I've begun to experiment. The bag on the left is too large for groceries or anything of weight. It is perfect for pillows or quilts. In fact, I loaded it up with a couple of bags that I have made along with 2 baby quilts for my No Guilt Art Quilt Group which met this morning. It has outside pockets that will hold a manilla folder or a notebook. The middle bag is an unlined MORS bag - I think it's perfect for carrying in a purse or a car. I want to do more unlined ones. The bag on the right is lined BUT the bottom is boxed. I followed the design of the canvas grocery bags that we've had for over 10 years now. It's a perfect bag for carrying heavier groceries. The handles are sturdy.

For Katherine - and Prince Charming

Sometimes you meet someone and something clicks. That happened with Katherine from Long Island - we met her on our Central Europe tour in 2005. This past weekend John and I went to NYC to see niece Jen Peters dance . This terrific weekend concluded by having Sunday morning breakfast with Katherine and her husband Tony, one of the greatest men ever. For Katherine I made a flat-bottomed purple shopping bag. (Next to it is another flat-bottomed bag which also has pockets on either side.)

Neither John nor I will ever forget our night with Tony and Katherine in a castle in Warsaw. Tony and Katherine were dancing, and John cut in. Tony and John then waltzed off. 2 men cut from the same cloth, both very charming with a great sense of humor. Now we'll also never forget our ride to LaGuardia with them after our breakfast!