Rose Petrillo bag – I found the pieces for this bag cut out, but not sewn.
Still UFOs
I still have UFOs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled, it hasn’t been worked on in awhile or it is waiting its turn to be worked on. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
I am annoyed that some of these are still UFOs. I have to give myself credit for completing some of them last year.
Handbag Sampler – I found the blocks! I found them in a bin I thought I had thoroughly searched! I also found the fabrics carefully stored together. Hooray!!
Sara of Sew Sweetness has a tutorial on adding a waist strap to any bag on her March Live show. It is recorded and available to watch on YouTube. This is good, because the tutorial is straightforward and shows you how to take your favorite bag or pouch and add a waist strap. Also, the tutorial is complete, but pretty short, so you can get busy in a few minutes. As an added bonus, Sara comprehensively shows you how to add a parachute buckle and an adjustable slider to the strap. It’s totally worth your time.
I ended up joining the Bag of the Month club I discussed at the end of 2024. It hasn’t been stellar. The January offering was ok and I planned to make it, but was busy with my mom. February required a frame and I just wasn’t interested enough to make the effort to buy one. The latest Bag of the Month Club offering was actually almost worth me joining. I might not have ever seen the pattern otherwise. It is from the Sewfisticated Craft site and is called The Pandora Charisma. It is a cross body bag with outside zipper pockets that open at an angle, allowing access. You can watch a video of the bag in action. There are a number of interesting bags on the site, including the Pandora Allure and the Voyageur Cube. I am not sure how practical either would be, but I like the shapes.
Moni Malene has a lot of great videos on IG. One that I saw reminded me of my journal cover pattern. It is also a journal cover and I might buy it and adjust the sizes to fit my own journals.
I needed more SF101 and since Joann is out of business, I went to Wawak. I also went to Wawak, because their SF101 is 60 inches wide, which is my preference. To get free shipping, I also bought some zippers, but accidentally bought pink separating zippers. Oops. This is why I prefer shopping in person. I hope there will be a store that has a good selection of zippers. Wawak does, but I don’t know how I got onto separating zippers. I’ll have to find a project that requires separating zippers.
Remember last month when we talked about printing AO sized patterns? Needles Studio in Los Altos can also print your PDF patterns.
The Sewfisticated patterns above is from the same shop as offers the Sewfisive foam. I wonder how different it is from Soft and Stable? The Pandora Charisma calls for various thicknesses and I would like to try it. One interesting thing is that they have some self adhesive versions, which seem like they would be better than iron-on stabilizers or foam. Some of the options are out of stock and I’d like to get them all so they can all be shipped at once. I can’t seem to find it from any other suppliers.
Exhibits and Organizations
Women’s View 2025 is in progress at Twin Pines Art Center in Belmont for only a few more days. I hope you get to see it.
The San Mateo Office of Arts and Culture is pleased to support the annual Congressional Arts Competition for high school students in the 15th Congressional District. Each spring, a nation-wide high school arts competition is sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Congressional Art Competition is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the artistic talent throughout the country.
The winning artwork of our district’s competition will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. The exhibit will include the winning artwork from all participating districts from around the country. The winning artwork is also featured on the official House of Representatives website’s Congressional Art Competition page.
Submissions are due April 6, 2025. Learn more about rules, eligibility, and details on how to apply by visiting Rep. Kevin Mullin’s website.
Join our guild. We’d love to share sewing projects with you.
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
The donation blocks continue with more Color Strip blocks, though we all know white is not a color. I am getting down to the solid white strips and am not sure how to continue. I don’t want to make a whole block of just white strips. I am thinking that I will need to leave some of the strips for another time or incorporate them into another white improv quilt. At the moment I am trying to decide if I want to make another white strip quilt or if one is enough at the moment.
First, I am going to get my 6600 serviced, of course, but I have had it for ~8 years and I have put in a lot of hours on the machine. Kelly had it before me for ~7 years. It should last longer. It is struggling, however, with the thickness of the materials I use when I make bags. Since I don’t think I will stop making bags, I need to see what I can do to fix this situation.
Cyndi offered me the loan of her Juki to try out. While this searching process won’t be quick, I decided to take Cyndi up on her offer while I had the time and the opportunity.
I have long admired the ease with which Sara, of Sew Sweetness, navigates her bag making on her videos. I am sure she doesn’t put the swearing and problems in the videos, so I have to remember that no machine is a panacea.
This won’t be a full on review. You can find those in other places on the web. I am just going to share my impressions.
Cyndi’s Juki TL-12QVP
Since I had a bag on which to work rather than just a quilt, I spent Saturday trying out Cyndi’s Juki. A lot of people in the guild have Jukis and love them. I have heard a few people have gotten lemons. However, I think that most people love them, but a few people struggle with various problems.
The machine is a straight stitch only machine, so that is something to consider. I do need to satin stitch/zigzag for machine applique’ and some zigzag for making bags. I also like using the stitch letters on my Janome.
Juki-zipper tab
First of all, I really liked the stitch quality on thick lumps of fabric. I also noticed that the foot stayed relatively even while sewing a zipper tab. This doesn’t happen on my Janome. The foot is at a big angle and I know that makes the machine work harder and more poorly, which, in turn, reduces the quality of the stitch.
I had a problem with sewing on zipper tabs on the Superbloom. The problem was on the bottom and we couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t think it had anything to do with the number of layers of fabric since I sewed the zipper tab with no problem. I had to do some ripping and left those pieces to work on at home. That is something I’ll need to ask about if I decide on a Juki.
My 6600 has a large harp, but the Juki’s harp was higher and I noticed that I had more space to maneuver. It was really nice to have some extra vertical space.
Juki – Not 1/4 inch
One of the things I have been thinking about is the foot. I like the idea of sometimes being able to use the edge of the foot as a guide without having to use a foot with the lip I normally use. In this case, Cyndi’s foot was not exactly 1/4″, so I couldn’t try that out. She said Juki does have a quarter inch foot. They also have a 1/4 inch foot with a lip, which would be great.
I was a little surprised by the complicated threading the Juki requires. I was turned off by the need to oil the machine. Cyndi said it was easy, but I don’t know.
Other than the above, I haven’t looked at any other features or reviews. I’ll gather information and we’ll see what happens.
I am making excellent progress on White Strips #3. Since I couldn’t get it done for the meeting, I want to get it done for the Retreat. I only had snatches of time between work and taking care of my mom. Even small bits of time make progress.
After sewing the cornerstones and sashing together then sewing to the blocks, I was able to assemble the top. Chunking really makes the whole process go fast.
Now I plan to put some small borders on. It is already, without the borders 43 in. x 47 in. I like my donation quilts on the larger side. I also need to make the back.
The other day I had a sew day with Tim and Cyndi. Cyndi was cleaning out projects while we worked on our own projects. She came up with some pieces from classes she didn’t think she would use, but she wasn’t sure wanted to toss.
I told her she should add some borders and hand it in as a donation quilt. The next thing I knew, she and Tim were cutting up shards and sewing them back together. The quilt looks great! And there is a project weight off Cyndi’s shoulders.
Cyndi’s Donation top-in process
One thing that reminds me that more brains are better than one is this piece.
I probably would have just sewed that blue solid on to make the quilt top big enough. Cyndi wanted a bit of improv piecing in there, so Tim added it. See above.
It really makes the quilt look like the design was thought through. I am really pleased these pieces will end up with someone who needs a quilt.
Quilter’s Hollow had been on my mind after my friend, Cyndi, mentioned she had stopped there. Last Friday I had to take my mom to a doctor appointment near her house. We spent some time at her house, which was depressing. We also went to the doctor appointment, which took forever. I insisted that we visit Quilter’s Hollow, a quilt store in Stockton, as a reward.
I think I have been to this store before, but I couldn’t find a review. I always thought my mom didn’t like this shop so I never pushed to go. Friday, however, I needed a fabric fix, so I forced her to go with me. I said she could stay in the car.
Quilter’s Hollow – back to front
I liked the shop. They had A LOT of fabric, which is just what I needed. The shop also had a lot of different kinds of fabric. They also had a full selection of Kaffe fabrics including LOTS of Philip Jacobs prints. I saw lots of Tula, some from previous years, but not super old (no more of that fun octopus print I used in the City Sampler). I also saw Tilde, some novelty prints like Disney Princesses and plenty of solids. I bought some Art Gallery Nature Elements that I had never seen in a quilt shop – only online – before. I gobbled a few of them up, especially yardage in colors I had never seen.
Quilter’s Hollow – Notions
The first thing I checked out was the notions area. It is huge! Lots of things related to embroidery. I had had a discussion with my mom a few days before about Jelly Roll rugs. I noticed that they had the rolls of batting used to make the jelly roll rugs. They didn’t have replacements for Sewline pencils, which I needed.
Quilter’s Hollow- thread
Quilter’s Hollow- thread
The shop had a lot of thread! It was amazing. I know a lot of it was for embroidery, but it was still great to see. It’s so hard to find a variety of thread you can see in once place.
Quilter’s Hollow – Kaffe and batting
As mentioned, I was excited to see all of the Kaffe fabrics. It was a really good selection. I saw the iris design by Philip Jacobs in a shop once before and used it for my aunt’s bag, but I haven’t seen other colorways before. This shop had the colorway with the light background. I now have plenty of iris fabric to make bags for my aunt. I also saw a lot KFC fabric that I hadn’t seen before.
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
I really couldn’t take in all the different fabrics were there. I really just let yardage catch my eye and bought some of them.
It turns out my mom likes the shop. She said she might have been mad about something related to the shop when she talked to me about it before. I’ll probably be visiting again!
I took a little time to look at their online shop. Holy Smokes!! They have a LOT of fabric on their online store. I am not sure if this is in addition to what’s in the shop or all the fabrics in the shop. Their online store is well worth a look, if you are never in Stockton.
An iron is critical, so a few months ago when my Oliso stopped working, I had to do something.
I have a backup iron, but it isn’t stellar. Getting water into is a pain, it doesn’t get hot enough, etc., etc. Still, it is fine for when I need to sew and my ‘good’ iron isn’t working.
I did some informal research. I found that a lot of people don’t put water in their irons, but just use a mister. I knew that wasn’t going to work for me (old habits die hard), so I looked at information from people who used water in their irons,
Tefal iron – Winter 2025
I still have a Reliable** on my list. Mary really recommends it. However, I wasn’t ready to spend $199 on an iron at this time. Eventually, I decided to go with a Tefal**. One comment I got on it was that the commenter still had the same one she had for 15 years and she put water in it.
I like this iron. It glides very smoothly. It heats up quickly, has good steam and isn’t difficult to put water in.
One thing that really bugs me about irons is that you have to hold the iron at an odd angle to pour water into it. My backup iron is really bad with this ‘feature’. The Oliso was great. The Tefal is in the middle. If I am careful, I don’t have to hold the iron at all to add water.
So here we are. I have had this iron for about a month. Let’s see how fast I destroy it! 😉
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
The other day I mentioned Lee Ann’s Classmate Tote. I wanted to share SueG’s bag with you. It is the other one I made.
As you can see, I made it from the same fabric (Carrie Bloomston) with which I have been making her other gifts. I really hope she likes it as I still have enough to make some other gifts. This does mean that she and Carrie have a couple of bags that are different from each other. I have tried to make them the same bags, but Carrie is not on the board, so she didn’t get one of these. Christmas? We’ll see.
SueG’s Classmate Tote – exterior
One of the things *I* like about this fabric is the color wheels. I know I have mentioned it before. It is very handy to have a color wheel with you. I didn’t manage to get one of them on the front, but I was able to get one on the back – a whole color wheel. I am thrilled.
This is a very active print, so I wanted the accent fabric to work with the activity. I chose the black and white stripes. They do add a lot of movement, but I don’t think they compete with the Carrie Bloomston fabric.
It is great to use a whole piece of fabric for the exterior, but I wonder, given the design, if I could add another slip pocket on the outside? Considering how the bag closes, it might not work, or I would have to have a pocket that closes. Something to think about.
SueG’s Classmate Tote – interior
As with Lee Ann’s the inside is very useful. I, again, chose the white version of the Carrie Bloomston fabric and was able to fit most of 3 color wheels inside. It is a bit over the top and I probably should have chosen a less active print. Still, it would be useful for a travel kit.
I showed photos to someone who said it looked like a jewelry organizer.
SueG’s Classmate Tote – pen holder
One thing I did differently from the pattern is use some double fold elastic for the pens and pen-like tools holder. The pattern calls for making a pocket (see example) using fabric folded and sewn. I didn’t like the thickness and I thought something like a simple strip would be more useful. The blue strip replaces the pocket. As you can see, I varied the size between the stitch lines so even a small rotary cutter could fit. I triple stitched so it would be tight and wouldn’t pull off with heavy use. Fingers crossed it works.
SueG’s Classmate Tote – half open
The closure is a part of the pattern I am not 100% happy with. I thought about what I could use to replace it, but didn’t think of anything, so I went with the directions in the pattern. I don’t know if I’ll make this again, but I’ll have to think about a different closure if I do.
I did fussy cut a bit to get the color wheel, as mentioned above, but also make sure something interesting was on the bottom so it looked good like I have shown in the photo above.
2024 BAM Officers
Carrie did a great job wrapping, as usual. She is amazingly gifted at wrapping. I am always so impressed with what she comes up with.
I finally finished this Superbloom. The Hindsight Superbloom was a high. This one felt like a slog. I don’t know why except that everything that could go wrong did go wrong. This is completely my fault, because I have been somewhat distracted by life. It was still frustrating.
Superbloom #3: interior
The outside looks fine and I am pleased by that.
My aunt loves irises and I found some iris fabric that I knew I had to use for her. The the fabric looks fine , but the lining is too saggy for my tastes, despite my use of a 5/8 inch seam allowance. I know the Muggles won’t know, but you’d think by now I could manage a non-saggy lining. 🙁
Superbloom #3: lining
Normally, I would use a white or very light fabric for the interior, but that iris fabric is so perfect for my aunt. I could have used it for the outside, but I really wanted to use the canvas I bought at Bolt for her for the outside.
Superbloom #3: top closed
I had to buy that ochre fabric after the fact for the zipper panel as I thought the iris fabric would look too chaotic. The ochre fabric is a weird color, but goes with the background of the iris print. Also, it was wonderfully soft.
I think it goes very well with the purple zipper. I don’t think it should, but it does.
Superbloom #3: side interior pocket
Superbloom #3: lining interior pocket
I did use some dots on white for the inside pockets as I thought they would be too dark if I used the iris fabric. I also think I want to make a pouch or a smaller bag with what’s left of the iris fabric.
Superbloom #3: side pocket
Superbloom #3: side pocket lining
I still like the design of this bag. The side pockets are especially cool. I haven’t ever used this bag as I don’t have one of my own, but maybe I need to try it out.
Once I got close to finishing this tote, I stopped working on the SMAP version. I needed to send this one off to my aunt and I wanted to get it done. now that it is finished. I can get back to that bag.
Selecting fabric is a very personal choice. I have a group of fabrics for my sampler class with Frances and I needed to choose some background-esque fabric to go with the Four Patches for my Double Four patch block. These are large blocks and I don’t normally work in this size, so I found it challenging.
I fell back on Lorraine Torrence‘s old adage: Make Visual Decisions Visually. That is the best advice I have EVER gotten in quiltmaking. Go take a class from Lorraine and buy her books. She is awesome.
Plain Jane
I liked the bold graphic-ness of this print, but thought it might be too large.
Cherries
I thought for sure this would work, but the cherries felt too scattered. They need to be hemmed in a little.
Bliss
Something in the color was off with this print. The aqua in the Bliss print is more green while the small flowered print is more on the turquoise side.
Plain Jane (smaller flowers)
This is the same print as the first one, but the flowers are smaller. I like the way you can see more of the flowers. Success!
Final
I chose the last print and above is how the finished block looks.
The Chrysanthemum print by Philip Jacobs is one that Cyndi gave me after she visited an estate sale where she found fabulous fabric on offer. This is a colorway I don’t often buy. As I said the other day, I wasn’t sure whether Lee Ann would like it, but these colors spoke to me when I thought of her. I’ll have to see about finding some more of this fabric for her next bag so she has a matching set.
Lee Ann’s Classmate tote – exterior
The outside is one continuous piece and I think the fabric is shown very well.
As you know, these colors are a little difficult for me to work with. Not as difficult as brown, but still hard. I am glad this is a Phillip Jacobs fabric as it has rich layers of color. It also makes me think of Fall, autumn colors and Thanksgiving.
Since I don’t have a lot of these autumn colors, or don’t think about combining them, I was also pleased that the yellow I chose for the folds and the binding. The color fit with the Phillip Jacobs print very well.
Lee Ann’s Classmate tote – in/exterior
For the inside, I used a poppy print I bought in Sacramento in 2017, and also some Tula as I didn’t have enough of either.
Normally, I would have used the same yellow for the folds on the inside, but, again, I didn’t have enough fabric. There is a little bit of “making it all work” going on.
Lee Ann’s Classmate tote -interior
I have plenty of zippers, but I didn’t have all the same colored zippers, so I chose a couple of different hues in the orange/sunshine yellow range.
There are 5 pockets you can see in the picture. Under two of the pockets, slip pockets provide additional flat storage. I think a 6 inch ruler might fit in the middle area.
2024 BAM Officers
Carrie did a great job wrapping, as usual. She is amazingly gifted at wrapping. I am always so impressed with what she comes up with.
I made a little more progress on the White Strip #2 donation top. I have most of the top sashings sewn. I have started to sew the blocks to the sashing, as I show in my chunking tutorial.
I started working on it a little more diligently after I put my aunt’s Superbloom together. That project isn’t finished, but I only had a few minutes and needed a break. I think I’ll be able to take the quilt to Sew Day and hand it in.
