I am still not happy with the Road Trip pouch, but haven’t done anything to fix the position of the clip. At the time I took the photo above, I wasn’t using the pouch for anything. I am not sure where the hardware is for this project, but have another box with all of the 2018 Organizer Club bits and pieces in it, so will look there later.
I have been busy making these blocks. I should have been doing other things, but I wasn’t. I just sewed after work, then sat with my DH.
As you can see, I have enough to make a quilt. I am going to start sewing the sashing on soon.
I am thinking of using pink cornerstones and a thin pink border. I like the black and pink color combination. The problem is that this would be a great boy quilt and pink would ruin that. Red might be a good alternative. I’ll have to see.
I still have more strips and am still working on making the grey blocks. My black/grey/brown scrap draw isn’t empty, but it is much emptier. That is a huge bonus as I can actually close it now.
Julie had a few more Pantone blocks for me at Sew Day last week. I have made a couple, but I don’t know if I took photos and I still have a stack of fabrics I need to use to make blocks.
I finished the Ultimate Project Bag! After 5 years, I finished it. I am annoyed, because this was not a difficult project. It may have been more difficult 5 years ago, but my skills have improved tremendously since then. I was also swayed by the other members of the club saying that it was such a difficult project.
I am pretty happy, not only to have it finished, but also with how it came out. I have some ideas for changes, (of course!), if I make this again. I should make it again just to remind myself that it isn’t a very difficult project. It could be very useful for toting around bag projects in process!
This is the exterior and you can see the quilting pretty well. I talked about it a little in the in process post I wrote a few weeks ago.
The exterior is like an Essex Linen, but by Figo. It feels like a very lightweight canvas, though drapey. It looks like the photo above on both sides when closed.
Ultimate Project Bag – interior
When opened it is about 39 inches long. I don’t know why 39 inches and not 40. ~\/0\/~ On one half of the bag (top in the photo, right) is a zippered mesh pocket.
In the middle is a tab with a D-ring.
On the other half in a vinyl pocket where I used glitter vinyl (because I love it). The vinyl pocket also has a zipper.
The pockets are quite large – around 16×16 inches, which definitely holds blocks.
Ultimate Project Bag – interior – with Road Trip bag
As I mentioned, this was part of the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club and one of the first projects we made was the Road Trip bag. The Road Trip bag was designed, from the beginning, to be attached to this Ultimate Project Bag. It is a good idea, because I often need a place to store bag hardware I have collected as I am assembling supplies to make a bag. I put a Lobster Clip on the Road Trip bag and a D-ring in the Ultimate Project Bag, because I prefer to be able to clip the smaller bag to larger bags. Crafty Gemini designed the patterns to have the D-ring on the Road Trip bag and a Lobster Clip on the Ultimate Project Bag. It is really preference. Neither is right or wrong. I try to remember to put a leash/tab and a D-ring on my larger bags just in case I want to clip something to it.
Ultimate Project Bag: detail-mesh pocket
I am not happy with the position of the clip for the Road Trip bag. As I carry the Ultimate Project Bag, the Road Trip Bag falls out and drags on the floor. I am thinking of adding a separate tab and D-ring to the top side, under the zipper, of the mesh pocket. If I do that the Road Trip Bag will still jut out a little bit, but at least it won’t drag on the floor.
Taking the binding off the mesh pocket, will be less destructive than taking it off the vinyl side.
In this corner, I decided to add a bit to the red star and put my border fabric around it. I’ll probably end up cutting some of the star off, but I thought it would look weird to have border pieces where star pieces should be.
Yay for some progress!
**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.
I rearranged the blocks I have made and put them up on the design wall. I like this arrangement much better, but am wondering if I should add another row on top and another column on the side?
I have more scraps, so I think I will just keep making blocks for awhile and see. I can always make a second quilt where this size block has more chunks than strips. Or I can add more blocks to this quilt. We’ll see.
This is the Kit Supply Tote I made for Sue. As I said in the previous post about Carrie’s version, this one has a color wheel on the front.
Sue was the first one to open her gifts. Since the bags were the same and the small gifts were the same, it might have ruined the surprise for Carrie. They were both very good about it.
Sue’s Kit Supply Tote: bottom
One of the things I like about this bag is the way the bottom comes together. I can’t use vinyl or pleather for the bottom, because the side pieces become the bottom, but the bottom comes together so nicely.
This means the stitching looks good. I didn’t match the design of the fabric as I wanted to make sure the paint chips and color wheel were prominently displayed on the sides where people could actually see them.
Sue’s Kit Supply Tote: bottom corner
I am thrilled that the corner came out so well. I am going to try some Odicoat on the bottom of mine to protect it. I told them I would let them know how it went. I plan to paint it on theirs if it works out. If it ruin my Kit Supply Tote, I can always make another one.
Carrie and Sue both liked the turquoise handles. I was afraid they would be too glittery for them.
I made a couple of fabric gift bags to put them in so they looked a bit festive. I forgot to take a photo.
I finished enough blocks since I last posted on Saturday to look at this top as a rectangle.
One thing I noticed when I was looking at the last donation top I made was that the blue top was a weird shape and I had to adjust it with a border. In this case, the number and arrangement of blocks I have made are the same as that blue strip top. I don’t want to end up with a weirdly shaped quilt, so I need to figure out if I have enough strips to make 5 more blocks of if I should put the top row on the side and save one block for another rainbow version?
This the Kit Supply Tote I made for Carrie. It looks the same as the one for Sue, mostly because I used the same fabric for both of them. I highlighted the paint chips on this one and the color wheel on Sue’s.
We had a holiday lunch yesterday, which was super fun. I was hopping about the week before, because I could barely contain my excitement in giving these totes to them. I basically thrust the gift bags into their hands as soon as we sat down at the restaurant and made them open them. They seemed excited as well.
Kit Supply Tote: Carrie’s inside
I put a few small gifts in side just because I don’t like to give empty bags.
The insides are the same on both. I designed the pockets differently from the pattern as I wanted to put two layers of pockets for added storage. On Carrie’s tote, I separated the pockets more. Both have vinyl pockets on top of the fabric pocket. The vinyl pocket is edged with some turquoise doublefold elastic.
Carrie was super excited that this bag matched her Hackney bag. 😉
Periodically, I get so many scraps and various leftovers on my (already small) cutting table that I can’t actually cut. The other thing that happens is I run out of patches to make the 16 patch donation blocks for the guild.
Then, as weird as it sounds, I have to process them. I create three piles: 2.5 inch squares, strips longer than 4.5 inches and everything else.
That is what I have been doing on and off for the past week. I am also trying to find all the black pieces large enough to use in the donation blocks I am making now.
This can be a tedious job and I usually do it during Craft Night, because I can talk and cut at the same time. This week, I have been a little on the distracted and unmotivated side, so this is a good task. It is usually so boring that I start to want to scream and that drives me to a much more interesting project.
I am finding a lot more grey pieces I can cut strips from than black. I am also refilling, a bit, my 2.5 inch square bin for donation patches.
First, I already know that black is not a color. Black “results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.” (Wikipedia) I chose a Wikipedia link, because I am lazy.
27 donation blocks
Next, I have made 27 of these blocks and my scrap drawer is still pretty full. Granted, the scrap drawer in which I keep the black also has brown (very little) and brown related fabrics, like taupe, as well as grey. I’ll have to make an improv version in black to use up more of my scraps.
Third, I was on the fence about making a black donation top. I thought it would be depressing. I am not finding this collection of blocks depressing. It isn’t primary color cheerful, but I think there is plenty of white, which is good. Someone will like it, right?
I thought 27 blocks would be the right amount, but I need at least 30 to make a rectangular quilt. I may add another column, as well. I still have strips sets in progress, so I know I can make at least 3 more blocks, then we’ll see. If I only have chunks and odd shaped scraps left, I’ll have to leave it at 6×5 and start the black improv version.
I am in the thick of the gift giving season. The YM’s birthday was on the 30th. Friend Julie’s birthday was on the 1st and Christmas is right around the corner. Yes, I am holding on to my hat!
Purple Dot Project Bag
I finished the project bag for Julie back in November, but as with a lot of gifts, I couldn’t show it until now. I did put in a 26 Projects post, but didn’t make a big deal out of it.
I made Julie one of these before. This is a little different. It is the Jumbo size, which just looks large to me. It is, however, larger than the large.
The quilted construction of this is the same as the Ultimate project bag, so next time I’ll just quilt a certain size of fabric sandwich and move on. The directions for that part of the project were long and somewhat tedious. I know they have to plan for any type of bag maker and Annie thorough, for sure.
Julie received her package after some drama at the post office, which is a relief. I thought for awhile that she wouldn’t get it. She also wrote about it on her blog and said some very sweet things. I was very pleased hear how she is using the smaller version I made her last year (??).
I am already starting to accumulate a small group of gifts. They aren’t really Christmas gifts, but are sort of, too.
Over the weekend, we held the BAM Holiday Party. As is usual for the December Sew Day, we combined the meeting and the Sew Day together. Whoever thought up this concept was smart. We only have one meeting in December, because it is very probable that people will be busy on the third Saturday and won’t come to the meeting.
That means that we do all of our end of year stuff on Sew Day. That includes a swap. SIL#2 organized a pincushion swap, which was surprisingly popular. I have enough pincushions, but decided that I would support SIL#2 and make one. I made the one I usually make, the Clippy Pincushion, as shown yesterday.
Wagon Wheel pincushion by Julie
The one I selected was from Friend Julie. She didn’t wrap hers and I saw it and thought it was cool and useful. I also saw the pattern for this pincushion somewhere and thought about making one. Now I don’t have to!
I decided to participate in the BAM swap, which was a pincushion swap. I was a little overwhelmed with life, so I just sewed my old standby pincushion, the Clippy Pincushion. The pattern is from Love of Patchwork and Quilting, issue 39. The pattern is also available digitally in the Apple and Google Play stores. I used this pattern to make the Clippy Pockets in the UCAB, which I find to be very useful. It isn’t rocket science, so I am sure you can make something similar without the pattern.
BAM Swap pincushion 2023
I did supersize this one a little bit. I wanted to make it slightly larger to accommodate the cool selvedges from which I made the back.
At first I machine sewed the stuffing hole closed, but then I unstitched and hand sewed it closed. I think it looks better hand stitched.
I was pretty excited about this bag and my reward for hosting 27 people for Thanksgiving was working a project on which I really wanted to work. That is the Ultimate Project Bag.
I said in my previous post that there wasn’t much to cut out. That was true, but there is a lot of prep. I had to quilt it, but I took my lessons from when I visited Mary M and used the automatic cutting feature on my machine. OMG! even on my machine it makes a huge difference. I really don’t know why. Something about not having to pick up my snips, I guess.
The quilted piece is made up of lining, foam and exterior. Vanessa (Crafty Gemini) suggests quilting a big X over the whole piece. I didn’t want to do that, so I drew some random lines on the exterior.
Do I say that about all bags? The prep never gets easier. I know I said was Zen with it one time. I have to get that feeling back.
Exterior with handles ready to sew
I didn’t really like the way Vanessa told me to make the handles, so I made them the way I usually make them. I cut the fabric 15×5 and folded the pieces into quarters the long way. I did put a piece of foam, which she suggested, inside and that was a good idea. I usually forget to do it. Now, the handles are nice and comfy.
Zipper pockets in process
I also worked on the zipper plackets. I am not excited about how she says to make the zipper plackets. As I have said, I like my zipper tape covered. Only part of the zipper tape is covered. Granted, you can’t see the tape, because it will be too high up, but still.
Pockets on lining
The pockets go over the lining. They are sewn down at the bottom and then the excess is trimmed. Vanessa goes into a long explanation about why she adds extra to the end of the mesh and vinyl. She just trims them and leaves the edges raw. I was a little shocked by this, but I don’t really like raw edges. I think what I would do next time is sew down the pocket on the top, then mark the spot on the vinyl or mesh where the piece will be topstitched, then trim and put doublefold elastic over the edge. Finally, I would sew that edge down. I am not sure if it would work, but the edge would be bound. I guess I have to figure out if the stitching line for the bottom of the pockets has any wiggle room.
Vinyl pocket sewn down
I was able to get the mesh pocket sewn on. I worried the whole time I was working with mesh that everything I put in that pocket would get stuck in the mesh. If I make this project again, I can make two vinyl pockets.
As mentioned previously, this is one of the projects from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club. I find that some things don’t age well with these videos. For example, many people use Sew Tites** now, especially when working with vinyl. There is no mention of them in the video. I think they must have been released after, though I thought maybe it was at a QuiltCon in 2015 or 2016. I don’t know. If you make this project, definitely get some Sew Tites**.
I made good progress and will be able to finish soon. This isn’t a difficult project. I am a little angry at myself for not getting to it sooner.
You can still buy the club (no affiliation). Check out the video showing all the projects.
**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.
