Perfecting the Pillsbury Dough Boy Look - part 2

 Longtime readers know that I’ve made quilted jackets only to later cut them up and make them into zippered pouches and totes.  When will I learn my lesson?  Apparently not anytime soon… 

I made this tote years ago from a Jinny Beyer kit.  But I made it before I learned about bag interfacings and underlayers.  The bag is gorgeous but would just collapse on itself.  For over 10 years I’ve had the fabrics and paper pattern (this is paper-pieced). So I decided to make a bag that would actually stand on its own.   But as I made the new front and back for this new bag, I decided it was too pretty for another bag.  Instead, I deconstructed  the bag above and retrofitted it with Soft and Stable, thus creating the bag I wanted.  

But now what do do with the bits I just created?  10 years later these Jinny Beyer fabrics are still among my favorites.  I think there’s a depth of color in her RJR fabrics. 

I ordered a jacket pattern - Tamarack Jacket by Grainline Studio - and a bolt of Thermore, a thin batting.  And then I got busy.  

It’s almost completed.

I lined it with one of my favorite Art Gallery fabrics, Hello Bear.  And I’m still figuring out the closure.  So far toggles seems to be the answer.  To be determined…

I still have some leftover colored bits.  And a lot of odds and ends of a plan white/cream.  Thinking… but it’s what’s up next! 

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.....

And the last purses…

 

Sew Powerful September Purse-a-thon - and the month isn’t over!

 

Plus Signs Wall Hanging

 

This small pretty quilt is straight off the hand-quilting express. My goal was to use up a pretty set of fat quarters of spotted grunge gifted to me by Sarah E - .  These warm tones are ones I normally don’t work with, but I kind of got into them as I went along, especially thanks to Melissa who really fawned over this quilt.  The design was inspired by a Zen Chic sew-a-long featured plus signs of different scale.  The background is two pretty Moda gold-based neutrals - I didn’t have enough of either one so I used them both.  Because I’m trying to reduce the piles of pretty scraps I have,  I used bits of the spotted grunge and the neutral background for the binding.  

John finally confessed to me that he didn’t care for the quilt that’s been hanging in the dining room.  Look at this post https://moquilt.blogspot.com/2021/10/  for the large quilt with tons of negative space taken in an outdoor shot.  So this Plus Signs is happily in a good spot.

Look! I made a backpack!

 

I just finished a couple of quilt tops, and now I’m getting ready for a September Sew Powerful Purse-a-Thon.  But first I am rewarding myself by doing a back pack.  I started it yesterday and finished it today.  I made several of these a few years ago, including two minis.  This is the Denver backpack by Swoon.  It’s a difficult pattern with lots of parts - pockets and straps and closures. But I have really enjoyed working on this - like a jigsaw puzzle in 3-d.  This is the exact twin of the one I gifted to granddaughter Natalie. 

Plus Signs + Fat Quarter Gifts = Fun Small Quilt!

 

Years ago, in 2011, Rossie Hutchinson made Double Plus Good.  And it was this quilt that sucked me into the modern movement. Check out this link to her post about this quilt.  I’ve tried to do various iterations of her quilt over the years.  And like so many quilters , I am going to outlive my stash.  So I’ve been on a mission to dig into some wonderful fabrics and actually use them.  This quilt features some dotted grunge and some leftover background fabrics from Zen Chic.  I didn’t have enough of either one, which explains the two different backgrounds.  This top is 53” x 62”.  The plus signs are two different sizes and placed randomly.

To avoid leftover from this project, I took the remainers of the grunge dots and incorporated them into a big plus sign for the back.  Now?  All I need is winter to hand quilt this!

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So Many Projects: A Good Thing

Sometimes I’m happiest when plotting what projects I want to work on next.  And I’m also aware my stash is dangerously close to being out of hand.  Wait.  Let me restate the truth: my stash is out of hand.  See all these 2” strips?  Leftovers from a community project.  These aren’t my favorite colors to work with, but they are lovely.  I’m looking at a Fence Rail  design that will create a woven effect.  

Throw stuff on the wall and see what sticks…

One of the quilts that drew me into the modern movement over a decade ago was Double Plus Good by Rossie Hutchinson.  So I’ve been looking at background fabrics and plus fabrics.  I started making plus signs, after really editing the fabrics to use, but knew I didn’t want to create something so precise and symmetrical.  Look closely at the design wall, and you’ll spot a design featuring two different size plus signs and arranged sort of randomly.  This is a new pattern by Zen Chic.  And I like it so much more.  So I know where is quilt is headed.  Unlike what’s below…

Speak of Zen Chic, the middle fabric above is from her Lower The Volume collection.  And I love it,  I’ve been examining two-color quilts and looking for a design I want to do,  I’ll continue to look because no design is calling my name just yet.

And always always always I think about Sew Powerful purses.  I have several in process and five finished, preparing for a local demo.  I have a shelf of fabrics to use for purses.  But these fabrics came across my radar, and I had to buy a yard of each.  With the work in our condo finally complete, it's time for a "normal" schedule focusing on walking and sewing and cooking, making time for each with no excuses.  I miss the destination walking of LaGrange, but I do love the small hills and paved paths that are so accessible here.  And when the weather is icky I have the luxury of the workout room here.  Sewing?  I sew almost daily so it's not that difficult to schedule that in.  Cooking?  John is great, but I must do my share.  So I'm focusing on healthy recipes I want to make and that John will eat happily.  

This first summer here is wonderful.  My studio is well-lit, thanks to my LaGrange electrician, and airy.  We love this condo.

Summer Quilt - Finished!

Summer Quilting is so much different than quilting in the other seasons.  Evenings I quilt.  Cool and cold days are perfect for sitting with a quilt and stitching.  But in summers?  No way?  Not to mention that my body temp is always 10 degrees warmer than John's.  So for several summers I have "summer quilted", meaning that I will hand-quilt a block at a time and then join these blocks using Sharon Pederson's Reversible Quilting method.  

A few months ago I saw e Bond's fabric collection Glyph at the Crimson Tate (an indy quilt shop in Indy!)

website and fell in love with five of her fabrics.  When they arrived, I fondled them a lot and realize that these were not fabrics to be cut up into little bits.  So I cut 10" squares and used the Attic Windows setting.      I found enough leftover wool batting and Frankenbatted with abandon.   Since I was going to be quilting these 30 blocks by hand, of course I had to find some Art Gallery fabrics for the backing, all neutral scraps.  Most of these blocks just have a simple spiral.  After all, it's the fabric, not the quilting, being featured.  And full disclosure:  there is one fabric included not in the Glyph collection although it is Art Gallery.  

I love how the back looks.  There is no rhyme or reason to the arrangement.  All I know is that the back of this quilt is wonderfully soft.  Each block is 12" so this quilt is 60" x 72". 

It's only late July.  I may have to find another summer quilting project!  

Guess I’m down to One Blog Post a Month

 

Good news:  our house projects in the kitchen and bathroom are over!  The painters just left today.  Bad news:  there's been a lot of turmoil locally, nationally, and internationally.  But the good news?  I sew a lot when I'm agitated.  And my soul has needed a lot of soothing.  This table runner has been a wonderful diversion.  Its a combination of hand and machine quilting and based on an Instagram post by @tygeroting.  I captured the spirit of their work and must let them know.  

This table runner is batted with Insulbright, the product used for hot pads.  My favorite piece of fabric  is the backing.  I had to go on line to find more of it.  What for?  I don't know.  I just need to have it in my stash! Next are placement made in a similar vein using these fabrics.  If I was to name this table runner,  it would have to be "With a Little Help from my Friends."  Most of these fabrics are from Sarah S and Melissa and one fabric of bones from Lynn B in honor of my broken bones of 2020.

 

While I'm happy during the cold months to sit under a quilt as I quilt it, this doesn't work at all for summer months.  My solution for summer quilting is to quilt small blocks and then later assemble them.  The fabric line Glyph from Crimson Tate caught my eye.  And these fabrics are too pretty and unique to be cut up.  So I cut 10" blocks and used the Attic Windows setting with 2.5" strips for the sashing. I used all my wool batting scraps for the 12.5" blocks, and went through my light neutrals for the backing.  The reversible quilting method by Sharon Pederson has been my go-to for projects like this.  

The three blank spots in the picture below have since been filled in.  

Months ago I bought two charm packs featuring Janet Clare's "Geometry" line by Moda.  And two weeks ago I started to play around with them.  Just as I began, my sister-in-law in Orlando asked if I had any quilts featuring greens.  Why, yes!  Yes, I do.  Setting these simple blocks on point gives this 70" x 70" quilt some nice drama.  It's batted with wool and machine quilted.  Chris wants this for her husband's doctor.  As soon as she figures out what she wants on the label, I'll put this in the mail

Speaking of Janet Clare and her fabric lines, I have been in love with her Wordsmith fabrics, most of which are out of print.  I am squirreling away leftover bit but found enough for another Trip Around the World.  It is pin basted and ready for quilting.  Machine?  Hand?  Hmmm....  and of course through all my sewing purses are at the forefront.  There are five African purses featuring a fabric I bought in Kenya.  They along with purses in process are ready for a demo for a local quilt guild.