It's in the bag

Three things to be happy about:
(1) springwater
(2) homemade fudge
(3) toddlers just learning to talk

My neighbors across the street have an 17 month old that's cute as a button!  It used to be when saw Isaiah and said "hi Isaiah!" he'd go "Blib bub oomp".  Lately when I say "hey Isaiah!" he goes "Blib bub oomp dap blup blop fwoop mlyap muuwp bliff maap fwip" while pointing his finger.  Coming right along... that boy will be a high school grad before you know it!



This one's mine!

 At guild meeting Saturday Nadine showed us a pretty fat quarter bag that Debbra made, to hold quilts.  When Nadine said how many quilts she was able to get in there, I was intrigued - there's nothing like a guild meeting to get your juices going!  I found the pattern online at AllFreeSewing.com and thought I'd give it a whirl.


All I can say is - Easy!



From my batik stash yesterday I cut six pieces for the outside, and one large piece for the inside and straps.  I didn't think to take pictures while I was working on it, but it would have just been filler anyway  ;o)

The bag is humongous all put together, the lining is cut at a generous 38-1/2 x 51-1/2 so it's a pretty roomy bag.  I put a few quilts in it to see what I see....

I was able to get five (5) quilts in my bag, and there was room for more!  The largest one was a full size measuring something like 82 x 95 ... for some strange reason I never put a label on that big ole quilt???  I definitely remember writing "A Star is Borne" someplace, I thought it was on an entry form... but I digress.

These were all in the bag!

The instructions call for 40" straps which are okay, but when I do it again I'll make the straps a bit longer. I'd tell you the most difficult part about making this bag, but there really is no difficult part - unless you want to consider turning those straps difficult... a 2 x 40" tube is bit fiddly to turn!  (I've always wanted to use that word! I know a lady from England who says fiddly and pest:  "That beltway is a bit of a pest at rush hour!"  She also makes delicious scones with some kind of lemon curd sauce!)

Anyway, I like the bag and will probably make another one... but do I need two of em???  Of course I do!!

Well, today I'm having lunch with Josie, my neighbor 4 doors down; then its back home for some serious sewing.  She's never been to Wegman's and I could use a quick run by Costco, so it's all good ... they're in the same shopping center.  Have a great Tuesday!

Sew forth and sew on

What happens when you don't pay attention...

Three things to be happy about:
(1) being able to read the fine print
(2) keeping a secret
(3) flexible straws

Amy at Diary of a Quilter has a great tutorial on making an easy fat quarter bag, and I thought I'd give it a try.  BUT, the one she teaches finished at something like 9 x 11 and I wanted to make mine a bit larger.  Did I get out my pad and paper and figure out the perfect size?  Of course not, I figured I could wing it!

I picked two pretty batik FQ's and a darker one for the handle, so far so good.

Here is where I deviated ... rather than cutting the FQ in half, I decided in order to make my bag bigger, all I had to do was NOT cut it, yes!!!

Because my fabric was bigger, I placed the handle at 4" from each side - clever girl!

After sewing the short ends I was pleased at how well I lined up the seams to sew the long sides...

I really like that darker green with the hints of rust!  So... I sewed the long sides, leaving a roughly 3" opening for turning, so far so good.  When I did the gusset part, I decided since the bag was bigger, I should make the gusset twice as big -  so I sewed it at 2" rather than the 1" called for in the pattern. 

Makes sense, right?  After I turned it back right side out and took a good look at it .. yech!

It finishes at 17 x 9-1/2, how wierd is that??  It's way too wide for the height - for a soft bag, that's not good a'tall!

So your lesson for today is ... take shortcuts if you must, but Pay Attention!  I'll probably use this bag for small grocery items, so it's not a total waste.   :o)

Sew forth and sew on til later!

Ahhh, what an hour!

Hi everybody!  First, an announcement:  Bonnie Hunter's new book, String Fling: Scrappy, Happy and Loving It,  is available for pre-order, yess!!!!  This looks like another winner  - click the link to get the details!


1 Yard, 1 Hour tote bag

A couple days ago I wanted to make myself a quick and easy bag, so that I'd have a bag like all my other little quilting friends.  So, I asked my go-to friend Charlene if she could suggest a pattern, and she reminded me of the 1 Yard, 1 Hour tote that she made some time ago.  Well, as you can see on the left I made the bag, but somehow my straps were a little on the short side!

Yesterday was Charlene's day to teach a quilting group at the senior center, so I trotted over there to show off my bag and point out that I added pockets on the inside, how clever is that!  I also wanted to see if she could offer any suggestions to make my bag more spiffy.

Well, of course she could! 

She showed me how to square off my corners on the inside so the bottom would be flat - a tip that's not in the pattern and it hadn't occurred to me to do.  I made that adjustment when I could get a free machine, and it made a big difference in how the bag looks, thanks Charlene!

Meanwhile, I needed to unsew a part of the bag's top so I could change the straps... Pat gave me permission to look inside her little sewing kit for a seam ripper, what a treasure trove!

Pat's tool kit

The box is only about 5x8 and she has all kinds of goodies stuffed inside!  I didn't see a seam ripper but I had an "ah-hah!" moment when I saw the nut pick she uses as a stiletto... how clever is that!



nut pick reborn as a stiletto

I made another set of straps when I got home, I think I'll like these better than the original ones. 

For comparison, the strap at the top is the original one; the bottom one is at least twice the length, what a difference!  After I took them off, I had one of those head-thunking moments... I could have left the original straps on and just added a second set!  A handle and a shoulder strap.

This is a really easy bag to make and I suppose it takes an hour if you don't add the pockets or have to resew the straps!   Or, if your sister doesn't call you and describe how frustrated she is because her hubby did something to the computer so that when she tries to download an email attachment that she really needs ASAP, it pulls up every single picture on the computer!  Then she calls you back about 10 minutes later and shares how she was sitting on the porch and had the taste for a cookie and decided to go to the store and get one ... she asked her hubby if he wanted anything and he said "uh-uh, I don't want nuthin'", then she went to the store and got the cookie and put it on the kitchen table, but while she was talking to you about the email, he went and got the cookie and ate it!

Ahhh, un-wedded bliss!!!!

Sew forth and sew on

My bag

Someone asked about the "uninvited guest" at our community day on Saturday - yep it was a real bug!  I have no idea what kind it is; it had been sitting on someone's bag for a long time and I was afraid if I got too close it would fly up and "get" me.  Soon as I took the last photo, it flew away.

**************

Jackie taught a bag-making class at our Bee a couple months ago and I'll show you mine.  I chose these three fabrics for three different reasons:  the piece on the left was pretty, the piece in the middle was a piece that'd go with anything, the piece on the right was ugly, for the inside.

In a nutshell I sewed the upper and lower fabrics together and fused the lining material to it...

Cut-outs so the bottom will sit flat, sew forth and sew on...

A few random width pockets on the inside... 

Ties for the end...

Here you go!

It would have been perfect if I hadn't twisted one of the straps, but who's gonna know?  I want to make a fabric button as soon as I pick up the right size shell for it. 

Someone asked to see a close-up of a block in my wickedly easy quilt, this is basically what all the blocks look like.  See the green strip?  In one block it's turned horizontal next block it's turned vertical and so forth. The blocks are made from 4-1/2" and 2-1/2" strips - check out the free pattern at http://www.byannie.com/.  One thing I noticed about this pattern - the fabric makes the quilt!  In a couple months I'll show you the finished product.

Sew forth and sew on til later...