An Ending and a Beginning - with some purses and some meanwhiles

 

Sometimes the backs of my quilts are as pretty as the fronts.  As I put the last of the hand quilting stitches into my Seth Apter quilt,  I marveled at how much I enjoyed working on this quilt, both the construction of the top and the hand quilting. This pattern was a fun one to do.  I bought a roll of Seth Apter scraps, which was perfect for this project. 

But as I finished the above top, I still had more scraps.  And this improv quilt top made the most of the scraps,  it is pin basted and waiting for quilting,  I think I know what I want to do….   Meanwhile I do have purses on design wall (see last photo) I will soon have a mailing of 20 and need to get those off so I can focus on the September sew-a-thom for Sew Powerful.  Soon I’ll put the following on my FB page.

  

Meanwhile, I’ve been waiting to dive into this scrappy horizontal blue and white quilt top.  Because it’s so linear, I a, trying to quilt waves.  So far I like where this is headed. 

Last, I have an idea for my next quilt.  The pattern is a good one, but so much depends on fabric placement,  I have my pull, sort of.  And I will now puzzle order and placement.  

A New Fika Tote

Is this bag sweet or what?  It is a Fika Tote by Noodlehead.  It's 18' wide and 15' deep.  One side has two patch pockets.  The other side has a large zippered pocket, perfect for a notebook or papers. The inside has a series of pockets as well.  

The biggest success of this bag are the two double-headed zippers, aka purse zippers.  Despite having yards of zipper tape and various zipper pulls, I always buy these zippers.  But this time I figured out how to do the double headed thing!  It involves offsetting the two sides of the zipper tape.  

The design wall holds all the leftover bits from the quilt I've been working on as well as from the Fika Tote.  I've started playing with these scraps.  To what end?  I'm not sure.  I'm just sort of goofing around and improving.  Here's what I have so far:

To be continued...

Scraps, Purses, New/Old Projects

So much sewing.  But space has been limited.  The studio has been housing some overnight guests, one for two weeks, but all is back to normal again.  Because space was limited I worked with what I could get to:  scraps.  

These four purses for Sew Powerful are from great niece Cassidy's shower quilt.  And the one in the left corner is from Sam's quilt.

The two below?  again, favorite scraps.  That's the last of the Periodic Table fabric.  I used a lot of that for masks.

 These four dotty sisters have some of my favorite fabric for the flaps.  And this fabric allows me to use almost anything for the body, lining, and straps.

In the previous blog post I mentioned my new favorite fabric designer Seth Apter.  The picture above is leftover from a quilt I'm working on. That quilt is at the bottom of this post, and I am halfway through hand-quilting it.  These leftovers are going to be something.  I just don't know what.  And I keep adding additional scraps to the design wall.  For me?  This is great fun!

My SIL in Florida was wanting a baby quilt.  The above is what I came up with using blue scraps and low volume scraps (are you sensing a theme about scraps?). She decided on a different quilt, so this one - its 48' x 60" has been languishing.  Well, no more.  I frankenbatted a batting and found a bed sheet that is the perfect shade of blue for the back.  Now it is all pin-basted and will be my next hand project.  I think I'll use a dark thread and try for something wavy.  We'll see...

But the urge to make purses and bags is so strong.  Using my favorite fabrics I am making this Fika Tote.  Its a great pattern.  I've made maybe five of them so far.  And I may actually keep this one!

As I was working on my stepdaughter's bed quilt I commented to her that I loved her quilt.  And she said I say that about all of my quilts.  Well, not quite.  This one above?  I thought I was going to love it, but as it came together, my eye told me something was wrong. Is it that green-ish limey yellow?  are those grays throwing it off?  I thought of my grandson Sam as I was making this.  While I do love Sam, I don't love this quilt.  However, perhaps this is my saving grace:  Sam is colorblind.  

Fabric Crushes

 I have had four distinct fabric crushes, and I’m always surprised when I find something I love so much.  The first was from a Bonnie .Christine AGF line, “Hello, Bear.”  

The second was fabrics from Marcia Derse.

And then I discovered Janet Clare and her Wordsmith line.  Like the other two so far, these fabrics are now out of print.  

And now I’ve discovered Seth Apter and his line Storyteller.  His fabrics have a collage-ish look with muted colors.  (Note:  I almost included e bond  in this post.  Her first line was Glyphs with the most interesting mostly black and white prints.  But now she’s gone waaay too colorful). Let’s see how long this crush lasts! 

Houston, we have a problem…

 These are all recently-finished quilt tops.  And I want to hand quilt each of them.  But it’s getting warm - not the time of the year to be sitting under quilts as I stitch.  

This old yellow and black top is odd.  I like it, but I’m not sure who else will.  I’m thinking grandson Sam is ready for a new quilt.  Maybe he’ll like it.

This quilt features a lot of Seth Apter fabrics.  And i love this pattern.  There’s enough of the background fabric to back it with.  But I’m not sure.  Tbd…

I’m actually thinking of machine-quilting this one - it lends itself to straight-line quilting,  With the imminent arrival of the double brood of cicadas combined with where we live - in the middle of an established tree haven - I think it’s going to be an indoor summer.    Maybe I can quilt these after all! 

Hexagons, Grief, and Jazz

We went on a jazz cruise in January, obviously John’s.  I would like points for not taking my sewing machine.  However, I did take along a stack of big hexagons, some left from previous projects and some cut expressly for this project.  I’m not a great hand piecer, but these hexagons, since they require y-seams, are really ideal for hand piecing.  So every day I pieced away, watching the jazz shows on the closed circuit television.  Of course I came out for meals!  We were both happy for the week.  

 

This jazz cruise quilt is a duplicate, of sorts, of the quilt I was working in as my brother Doug was dying.  The last two weeks of his life were difficult.  I didn’t sit with him that much, but when I was there, this quilt below is what I was working on.  And after his death every quilted stitch was one of grief and loss.  We all grieve in different ways.  For me it is stitching - that started with my mom’s death in 2014.  

On the year anniversary of Doug’s death, I wondered if perhaps his daughter, my niece Laura, might want this quilt.  It represented my grief but would it mean anything to her?  So I offered it to her.  And she accepted it.  I’m happy this quilt has found its owner and that she cherishes it.  

Quilted Presents

 My granddaughter Nikki is getting married in June, and her bridal shower is coming up.  Working with Nikki's colors and some wonderful fabrics by Seth Apter, here is her quilt.  Of course I hand quilted it in an off-center spiral and backed it with an Art Gallery cotton.  With the wool batting, this quilt is wonderfully soft and will provide a lifetime of cuddling. 

And while not a necessity, of course I made a matching tote bag which really allows two of the feature fabrics to shine.  

And while working on Nikki's quilt, I also started one for great niece Cassidy who is also getting married this summer.  Cassidy's color choices are totally different from Nikki's.  The outer borders are quilted and it is now bound.  But I can't decide whether to quilt it by machine or by hand.  Since this shower isn't until July, I have plenty of time to ponder!

The three quilts above are currently at the Benton house in LaGrange.  We lived in that house from 1986 until 2021.  And I can't even begin to count how many quilts I made in that house.  The current owner doesn't have a quilt.  So I dropped these three off for her two choose one.  Still waiting to hear which one of these three appeals!  All I know is that there must be a quilt in that house.  

Purses and Trips Around the World

Preface:  As the rhythm of my life changes, so do my blogging habits.  I am sewing more than ever but apparently only doing a blog post a month.  Sometimes I get so caught up in quilting projects that purses take a back seat.  I'm happy to announce that I have gotten past my purse block.  Several of these purses were made before Christmas, and they have just been waiting to be mailed.  I finally got busy and made several more.  

So many of these purses were inspired by the scraps I had at hand.  And since I've been on quite a quilting jag, I have so many scraps from which to choose 

 

And Trips Around the World are my design of choice these days.  I have three going.  Just above is a quarter of one I am doing for a great niece's bridal shower.  And the quilt below is for my granddaughter's bridal shower.  The one above will be tied.  And Nikki's below is being hand quilted.  I have two more weeks to finish it. 

 Also there is a Trip for Sammy.  His fabrics are below.  Why him?  He's the grandson who tells me every time I see him that he uses a quilt I made for him nightly.  And that quilt is several years old.  It's time for a new one.  These fabrics just appeal to me, and they have a decidedly masculine look.  There's no deadline for his quilt, and I'll decide later whether it will hand or machine quilted!  Bottom two pics are just sweet - the baby quilt + baby from the cheater panel and Neighbor Sam sent me this picture of her wife and twin girls on their quilt.