Giant Tote Bag Class

Over a week ago, sewing and quilting students Claudia and Denise came over for some instruction and help with making humongous tote bags. We had a good day, and accomplished our goal of a useful tote bag for each of them.

This Jumbo Bag is the pattern Claudia found and copied for us. It makes a nice big bag, and since both Claudia and Denise travel extensively to dog shows with lots of paraphernalia, this bag seemed perfectly suited to their needs.

Claudia used heavier fabric than quilting cotton for her bag. I would categorize it as duck or home dec weight.  Quite a pretty design for a bag, and her lining was well-chosen, too. I took liberties with the handles. The pattern called for making handles that seemed like they'd be too flimsy for the weight needed on the bags we were making. I bought webbing in gray, white and black, and both were happy to have sturdier handles on their bag. Claudia applied her webbing directly to the bag; Denise covered hers with fabric that matched her fabric. Both versions looked really good.

Denise used fabrics that were cotton weight. We adjusted the size of her outer pocket to catch under the straps, thus eliminating extra stitching on the pocket. I like the contrast the pocket and straps give to the bag. I can see this being quite useful for traveling purposes - and fashionable, too.

Now these two dog-lovers are becoming quite the prolific quilters. I have a whole lot of additional pictures of "extra credit" projects they have recently worked on. I will prepare them for a post tomorrow, so come on back for a look at their handywork!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Claudia Finishes Her Three Charms Quilt

On Monday and Thursday of last week, Claudia was here to finish the machine quilting on her Three Charms quilt. She worked on her own machine on Monday, but I had her move to my newer Bernina towards the end of our Thursday session. I believe I have sold her on the idea of getting a newer machine. Her vintage 60s model Singer sews just fine, but for the quilting that she wants, and the ease of use, I think she agreed that the newer machine is preferrable.

While she finished quilting, I prepped her binding. The we trimmed up and after some weighing of pros and cons, I did the binding by machine and it was done! Take a look at her finish.

Here's our proud quilter, showing off her first official quilt finish. It has its imperfections, but all in all, it really does look awesome. And to think that Claudia is so new at this. She is really a trooper when it comes to jumping in and trying. Nothing intimidates her.

We are working out plans for future sessions, and I believe she has a friend who might tag along. Excellent!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Claudia Quilts!!

Isn't it fun introducing people to quilting? I had the opportunity to meet Claudia last March when she signed up for the hand-quilting class I offered at Spark! Creative Spaces in Greenfield. She was most enthusiastic, and had questions galore! Click here and here to read about the Spark! class.

Of the 5 students in that Spark! class, Claudia has remained steadfast in her interest. She was over about a month ago to make the Three Charms Quilt that I taught. Lo and behold, just a week or so ago, she contacted me about machine quilting it - and so we are!

Here is Claudia's quilt the day she made it - back in September some time. Click here to read about that day.

This is a long introduction just to show you pictures from Tuesday.

 I had some gripper gloves for Claudia to use, and for a time she used them, but ultimately ended up going without them.  You can see that her machine is an older  model; I was surprised at how easily she was able to get a walking foot for it.

We did just the center in the "stitch-in-the-ditch" fashion. She will be back today for finishing off the borders and binding and then we will start the Mondo Bag. Class will begin shortly, so I'd better get busy!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sweet Little Seamstresses

Oh gosh, what fun! I got to spend some quality time with THE two sweetest girls in the whole wide world!

Anna Rose and Mary Jean, my twin nieces.

DH and I went to a family-friendly sports bar in Wilmington to watch NCAA March Madness yesterday afternoon. My sister, her husband, her two (adult) children, another nephew and his girlfriend, Mom, and a few good friends have made a tradition of this for years. When school was out, my brother and sister-in-law came in with their twin girls, Anna Rose and Mary Jean. I adore those two cutie pies like there's no tomorrow. They are just as sweet as can be, and smart! Oh my goodness, they are amazing. You just have to trust me on this! *wink*

In true quilter fashion, I had my trusty box of 2.5" squares, thread, needles and scissors. I planned to stitch while watching the games, and that is exactly what I did. Naturally, those sweet girls wanted to know all about it. They sorted my squares and matched up ones they liked. Eventually, Anna Rose came over and asked me to teach her how to sew.

So we marked a quarter-inch line on the back of a square, matched it up with a second square, threaded a needle, tied a knot, and proceeded to stitch across. She took to it right away. I was so proud of her! Not to be outdone, it wasn't any time at all until Mary Jean came over for her lesson. She selected her two squares, we repeated the process and off she went. She is pretty good at it, too, although her lesson was a bit short because the evening was closing in on bedtime.

And to top off a fun afternoon and evening, our Buckeyes won in overtime. I wasn't expecting much out off them as our season has been a bit disappointing. All in all, a very fun day.

Happy Quilting, Friends!