A Beach Bag

At the mini retreat we attended a couple of weeks ago, dear Jan gifted each of us with all the basics for a bag - mesh, a pattern, bias tape, and a sturdy machine needle. All we had to do was add fabric of our preference and then make the bag.

Have a look at mine! I've been using it this week at Myrtle Beach, and a more perfect beach bag could not be found.

The dotty fabric was left over from the recent baby quilt I made, and it works great on this bag. My option was to use this fabric exclusively, while the pattern suggests changing top and bottom fabrics, or for even more variety, making the bottom fabric two bands of coordinating fabrics. This was easier, and that's always my preference.

Fast and fun! I will store the needle with the pattern together so that I can make another at some point down the road. I'd never worked with mesh before, so this was a fun new thing for me. 

This old dog learned a new trick, right?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A New Purse

I spent last Wednesday sewing a new purse that I think I will offer for sale at the craft fair on May 31st. I have made two of these bags already, but I had a real brain cramp about doing this one. However, once I got going, I managed just fine.

The pattern is called a Tulip Bag. I had an older Jinny Beyer floral pulled from my stash for the outer fabric, and found the yellow/brown dot to go with it. Interestingly, it is from the Fig Tree line called A Day in the Country. (If that sounds familiar, it is the fabric line I am using for the quilt along called Wishes. I mentioned in one post that I wish I had more of the yellow and Ha! I do!!)

Back to the purse, I put some extra long handles on it, so that it will be comfortable for carrying over the shoulder. I made pockets, but I didn't overdo them. I think it is attractive, and I hope it will find a home.

Little Productivity

I seem to be quite do-less lately. I did wander into the sewing room earlier this afternoon, and decided I could concentrate on stitching handles to a bag. Pretty, isn't it?

I don't normally take pics with the iPad, and perhaps this is why. If I click to enlarge this photo, the blurriness is just too much to allow.

DD Erin made the bag, and bought the leather handles. All that was needed was to stitch (by hand) the handles and bag together! I think I am going to claim it and use it this spring. It has a very cheery feel to it.

Happy Quilting!

There Has To Be An Easier Way

The strap is finally in the Grids and Grommets bag, but I am not happy at all with the results. Take a look for yourself...

First, the darn thing is too thick - I think I bought cording that was larger than what the pattern called for. It is so thick, in fact, that it's hard to slide it through the grommets. Second, I need to take the strap out and rethread it - the part that is on the outside should be on the inside...grrrr. Finally, getting that cording into that sleeve was darn near impossible! My fingers hurt for a long, long time after tugging, pulling, sliding, and yanking on it. I would have been wise just to make a strap like on the other bags I made. And this pattern does give that option. I just liked the look of the cording.

So now, what to do? Undo what I've got and rethread it properly? Even though it is thicker than what suits me? Or scrap the whole thing and make a strap to insert?

I do like the looks of this bag, and it works great when pulled out on one side and carried across the body - hands free bag! Nice for traveling, I think.

I'm glad I made this, and I love the fabric and grommets; I'm just not thrilled with the strap...

I have really enjoyed reading all the posts from the bloggers who attended Quilt Market in Minneapolis this past weekend. They share such great pictures and stories. It almost makes up for the fact that they are there, and I am not! I have enjoyed these, in particular: Charming Chatter, Spun Sugar Quilts, and Jolly Jabber.

Another Purse

After making 2 Tulip bags on Monday and Wednesday of last week, I spent part of Thursday and Friday working on a different pattern for a 3rd purse.

This pattern is called Grids and Grommets; it's by Indygo Junction. I bought the pattern last month when I was on the Shop Hop, after seeing the bag made up and displayed in one of the shops. I also bought a pack of grommets at the same store.

The fabric is entirely from my stash, and I cannot identify the maker. It's Provence by Timeless Treasures. Just found a selvage of it in the waste basket in my sewing room! No wonder it looks French -- it is!! It has a very French look to it, don't you think?  If anyone recognizes it, please let me know. It's fairly obvious that I still need to make the strap. The pattern gives two options. One is made of fabric lined with fusible fleece. The other option uses a very thick cording covered with the same fabric as the purse. This is the option I want, but little did I know how hard the cording would be to find! I saw it in the store with the pattern and grommets, but didn't think to get it there. How I wish I would have!

After checking several places in town, and a couple of on-line stores, I stopped in at our local Hobby Lobby this evening. I didn't see it anywhere in the fabric/notions area, but had a last-minute thought to check out the upholstery department. Voila!!! There it was! I got enough to make the handle for this purse, and one more; I bought another pack of grommets while I was there, too.

I should have gone ahead to make the strap this evening, but I vegged out instead. So it is #1 priority for me tomorrow.

Too Many Starts!

QDD. That's what one blogger calls it--Quilter's Distraction Disorder. The symptoms are an inability to finish a project before beginning another, and another, and another. I suffer from QDD, and to my knowlege, there is no known cure.

At one point last week, I had 5 projects strewn about at the same time. And that's not counting my Broken Dishes blocks which are always out! And I haven't made a new Broken Dishes block in over a month, I'll wager.With all the chaos of these various projects, it was getting to the point that I had no useable workspace to do anything!

First, I had my April Schnibbles going. Since it only needed its borders, I went ahead and finished it.

After getting all the Schnibbles remains out of the way, I started working on Americana Rose, and finished off the 5 blocks with the gazillion-pieced little stars.

Not a very prettty shot, but there are 5 of these buggers. I thought I'd never get those stars made!

Now, for some time I've been telling my daughters that I'd make us some pretty bags. I've collected a few patterns, both purchased and in magazines. Plus, I have loads of Kaffe Fassett fabrics just perfect for a bag. And it only makes sense that if I'm going to make one bag, then why not do 2? I mean really, cut it out in duplicate. Construct them in assembly line fashion. Well, that would work if one had a clean work space... here is as far as I've gotten on bags:

Then, I decided I wanted to make a few more blocks from the Farmer's Wife Sampler book. I have uber-QDD when it comes to deciding which block to make! I haven't printed off all the templates, so I needed to select a block from the templates I had available. That led to just listing the blocks I still want to make along with the templates I needed to print. I also created a list of blocks that could be made from the templates I already had. (You got all that, right?) In some odd free minutes on Saturday, I made these:

Contrary Wife

Puss in the Corner

Rail Fence

Spool

And last night I made this beast:

It's called Morning Star, and it was a doozie! I spent a good portion of my effort picking out stitches. Please don't inspect too closely; there are some very uneven edges and unmatched joints.

Farmer's Wife Sampler is perfect for a sufferer of QDD. I was able to whet my apetite for variety; nothing took overly long to make; I made my work space even messier; and I think I now can return to one of the other projects with the focus required to get it done!

Today, I have worked on Americana Rose again. Since the hard blocks were done, it seemed relatively easy to get the remaining blocks whipped up. I will share pics of these tomorrow!

TTFN!
Jayne