Focusing for August

August already?  Wow.  Time is flying.

These two hobo bags are complete.  I added a D-ring to the brown one to make the strap longer, which is what one of the moms wanted to do.  The blue one used the rest of a fabric that I have loved.  Both of these will be samples for future workshops.  The quilting is simple, and both bags are terrific.  So, enough about purses for the time being.

Let's move on to duffel bags.  I really love how this turned out.  It's big - 22" wide and 10" tall.  I used Soft and Stable byannie.com - such a great purse lining.  This pattern called for quilted material, and the bag would go together quickly if that was the starting point.  Since I quilted my own, I had to adapt the pattern directions.  Easy enough at this point.

The only thing I would change now is the straps.  For such a hefty bag, they should be wider.  Next time.

The inside of the bag has three pockets - the one here and then one on either end of the interior.  I like how the zipper goes all the way across the bag, giving easy access to all parts of the interior. 

The wedding quilt for this Saturday was quilted by Ebony and is now ready to bind - the binding fabric is in the bottom right corner.

A woman who was our our Great Parks of the West trip loved my quilted jacket and ordered one in "Grand Canyon" colors. This box of fabrics is the start of this palette, and now I just need to make some decisions and get busy.

Finally, a jazz friend of John's has some interesting t-shirts and wants a reversible lap quilt with his shirts. He's a graphic designer and knows precisely what he wants. It was good to work with someone who knew exactly what fabrics he wanted incorporated into his quilt. So far I've stabilized these shirts with a thin fusible interfacing - just something to stop the stretching so I could cut them accurately.

Here's to August and a continuation of the dog days of summer. I love my studio air conditioning.

The Thrill of Victory

It happens every time. I don't care whether the quilter is 7 or 70. When someone finishes a project, there's a big goofy smile that just doesn't leave. Look at Debby and Jenny. They are thrilled with how their Hobo Bags turned out! And I am, too. They did great work in this 6-hour workshop, and it has paid off handsomely.

Although both Deb and Jen have handled sewing machines before, they hadn't done any quilting and did a great job quilting the strap, body, and contrast band of their purses.  They also constructed their linings and designed their pockets.  Their zippers, with a bit of help from the Good Zipper Fairy, work beautifully, and their strap length was individualized for each. 

While Debby and Jenny were learning techniques of purse construction, I too was learning techniques of teaching purse construction.  I now know more about teaching machine quilting and  about zippers.  This workshop went smoothly, and the next one will be even better!

A Peaceful Saturday

One of the moms from last Wednesday chose a stony/brown batik with a brown contrast band for the purse workshop.  But then when she got here, she changed her mind and decided to go with a great red/green batik.  So yesterday and today I took these purse pieces and stitched them us, using a different lining and actually following the pattern's directions for the handle.  I'm not sure about using this thinner batting, and I definitely do not like the way these handles attach - I much prefer stitching in the handle strap with the zipper construction.  I might have to find one of my good friends, Mr. Seam Ripper, and remove these straps and reattach them.  Chicago Modern Quilt Guild comrade Erika described her latest quilt as "Oh, NOW I get it" - and that's what I think with every project I do, including this purse.

Having just reorganized my fabrics, I have become  aware of some big pieces.  One is shown here - a sheer striped cotton.   I "stuck" CMQG buddy Rachel with several yards of it, and today decided to challenge myself to use this fabric with a technique Rachel talked about at our guild meeting.  This fabric  is going to be the backing, and I'm using its colors for the front.  I've got 3" strips of several fabrics and will begin to make one long strip which will be assembled into horizontal rows.

A: A Purse and Two Boxes

Q:  Name three beautiful things made by two White cousins

This hobo bag is my second one from the Abbie's Hobo pattern, and I'm liking how it turned out.  John and I are heading to some of the national parks of the West, and I think this bag will comfortably serve as my purse and a daily carrier for my iPad.  I'm crazy about this batik, and this is the almost the last of it.














Earlier last week I posted a picture of the fabulous spoons my cousin Jerry made me.  And in that photo were two little round things.  These are boxes that Jerry turns, and I'm thrilled to have these along with the spoons.

The Good Quilting Fairy - Who Also Happens to Make Purses

Donna, the Good Quilting Fairy of the Western Suburbs, has been busy.  Of her current three junior high students, one of them chose Bear's Paw.  Donna underestimated the difficulty of this pattern for the first-time quilting.  She has had to play the Good Quilting Fairy so that David can experience some success with this project.  Lots of trimming and truing up, but it's now ready for him to assembly-line construct these six blocks.  Sister Natalie and Anna Best are doing Flying Geese - both girls will be over shortly to assemble their quilts - their homework was to make blocks of their geese.  And today we will connect their blocks with sashing strips.

Once my fairy work was under control, I tried a new purse pattern.  With the exception of a too long strap, this hobo bag turned out nicely.  I'm especially pleased with the free-motion quilting on both the purse body and the contrasting band.  In preparation for our trip at the end of the month to parks of the West, I made a pocket for my iPad on one side of the lining.

I again used Soft n Stable by byannie.com and am crazy about this product for purse/bag construction.

This bag is 18" across and 20" deep.

This last picture shows the bag in relation to the iPad.

 

Should vs. Want vs. Did

Today was one of those rare days where I could work uninterrupted in the studio - no workout,no parent visit, no appointments, no cooking. I know that I should have gotten busy on adding the borders to Christopher's quilt. But what I really wanted to do was quilt this table runner:

However, John made one of his rare quilting requests. He asked that I begin work on the wall hanging of the two Kenya t-shirts and Kenyan flag. So I got busy on that. And it turned out to be exactly what I wanted to do.

I might have even gotten this quilted and bound except Midge, my direction reader, had some time to work on the hobo bags we started, the same one I'm stuck on.  So we spent a couple of hours finishing them. I need to carry this for a couple of day before I figure out where and if I want a snap closure and whether the handle/strap needs any adjustment.  The one thing I know about this purse is that I again have loved using Soft and Stable by byannie.com as the purse lining.

This evening I'll continue work binding one of Ebony's quilts, something I happily volunteered to do in exchange for the work she did on Cristina's quilt. 

Some days don't have enough hours in them.  Today is one of those days.  And in the back of my mind all day has been what I want to work on this weekend at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild retreat in Racine.   I still don't know - what a lovely "problem" to have!

A Table Runner and a New Purse Pattern

It's been a luxury to have the past three days clear to sew. After getting Christopher's quilt to the next stage, my time was free. And these two projects are ones I've been eyeing and wanting to start. My love affair with all things Jinny Beyer continues, and this table runner - although a fairly simply pattern - packs a terrific visual punch because of her fabrics. I'm trying to decide whether to use the piece of backing fabric as an additional border and thus enlarge the whole runner. The finished size is 12" by 60", but I wouldn't mind making it a bit bigger for our table.

This purse has a design that I like, and I thought it would be simple to make. Wrong. Very wrong. What's making me finish this is that I love the batik of the outside of the purse and I also love the coordinating fabric for the lining. But I'm stuck on the directions and can't figure out what to do next. Solution? Sewing buddy Midge. She made a copy of this pattern and has fabrics to make this purse for her granddaughter. I think I'll have to wait for her to get to this stage and then show me what to do.

I'm great with flat stuff but fall apart when there is any shaping involved.