The other day I talked about the Jane Market Tote I made for the guild’s monthly door prize. it occurred to me that I had made a lot of Jane Market Totes, but I had never seen them together.
Voila! Here they are!
2011 Jane Market Totes
Barb’s Jane Market Tote
St. Paddy’s Jane Market Tote
Silvia’s Jane Market Tote
Maureen’s Jane Market Tote
Mom’s Jane Market Tote in Paintbox fabric
Donation Jane Market Tote
Jane Market Tote
Jane Market Tote
Orange Jane Market Tote
Jane Market Totes
Skull Jane Market Tote – detail
Grama Jane Market Tote
Black Jane Market Tote
Jane Market Tote in Monaluna fabric
Jane Market Tote
I am surprised to say I can’t remember making most of these. I guess they are kind of ephemeral since they go together so quickly. I am sure I will make more. I am definitely getting my money’s worth out of this pattern.
I might be having a fit of reorganization. At least you might be thinking that after seeing yesterday’s post and reading today’s. I am sort of.
I have a number of acrylic templates for various projects. Many are for pouches and bags that I will make over and over. They come in thin plastic bags. Ideally I would like a set of map drawers in which to store them. Until I can take over the entire house, that isn’t happening. I have been looking at various bag patterns for ideas on how to store them.
I-Spy Pouch Finished with templates
This is my first attempt. The I-Spy pouch from Sew Sweetness’ Minikins Season 1 fits my templates for a Minikins Season 2 project called the Day Trip Wallet. Not all of my templates will fit in the various sizes of the I-Spy pouch, but some will and that is a start.
The pattern comes with 3 sizes (this is the medium size). It is a very quick sew, so I can look through my other templates to see which will fit in the various sizes. I am thinking I can easily adjust the sizes to fit other templates. Finding the right-sized zipper will be the challenge if I change the size. I have a bunch of different sizes, so I should be able to manage.
Yoko Saito’s Natural Patchwork bag
I am still looking for a bag pattern with slots in different sizes that I can just slide the templates into and not worry about resizing. I have been looking at Yoko Saito’s bags, especially this rectangular bag from Natural Patchwork. It might be too small, but I like the shape. I’d have to make different blocks for the front.
My workroom is also my office and workout studio. Since I have been spending so much time in it, I am getting sick of the life-sucking beige walls. I do have a lot of stuff on the walls, but that beige and the various places that have uneven paintwork are icky. I am sick of them. I have decided to paint. And remove the beige carpet.
I don’t like beige.
That means I have to clear out the room. I started with my quilt books. I plan to replace the ugly wood-like pressboard bookcase with two white bookcases. I hope two bookcases will be enough to get all the books off the floor.
Quilt Books in Boxes
While I am putting the books in boxes, I am taking the opportunity to reorganize them. All the art quilt books together, all the quilt history books together, etc. It is fun to see books that have been hidden for a long time. I am also taking the to weed books that I won’t use anymore.
I am slowly filling up the YM’s room with boxes. He doesn’t know.
Tim showed me the start of his baby quilt. He is making it loosely based on the Give & Take Quilt by Tara Faughnan. (You’ll have to do a search as there is no good way to link out to her site for a photo). I love his colors much more than in the original.
The blocks that look yellow are actually more of a chartreuse (icky green), which is one of Tim’s go to colors.
He is figuring out how to put this together as he goes along, which I applaud. I told him to tell me if he needed help, which may have been too smug as he is a very competent piecer.
I finished all of the 16 patches I need for the 30 Something* quilt.
16 Patches n.1
16 Patches n.2
This isn’t all 42 of the 16 Patches – just a sample, but I am pleased with the way they came out. The next step is to make a bunch (30??) Churn Dash blocks. I am working my way through the various units that make up that block.
I have tons of the various patches leftover. I cut way too many, but will be using them for something, possibly donation blocks.
I haven’t decided if I am working on this as my main project or if it is still a leaders and enders project.
*I’d really like to link to this quilt so you could make it as well, but it doesn’t show up on the AllPeopleQuilt site. 🙁
First I am excited with how well the bag came out.
Next I am excited at how well the fussy cutting looks.
Third, I am thrilled with how the Linework print and my strips fit together.
Superbloom top closed
Fourth, I am ridiculously happy about the top zipper placket. I don’t know why this bit of a bag makes me so giddy. I don’t think I have ever done one before, so that may be part of it. I’ll probably come down off my cloud tomorrow.
Superbloom open
Finally, I just love those turquoise zippers. Could they be any better? They add such a spark of color.
The lining is a little baggy even though I followed the directions and used different seam allowances. Not sure what that is about, but I will do better next time.
I was surprised at the size of the bag. I thought it was much larger. It isn’t a stupid size or anything. It is a reasonable size, just smaller than I thought. I really like the angled shape, though I don’t know if you can tell that from the top photo. I forgot to put a D-ring in it, though I know where I will put one next time. I plan to make another of these, especially since I bought the templates. So many bag patterns…so little time.
I moved the HST top in progress to my large design wall so I could try out different layouts. One thing I definitely wanted to see was how it would look with space between the columns.
Years ago, I saw a pattern in a magazine called 30 Something. It is called 30 Something, stupidly IMO, because the maker used 30s prints. I saw beyond the 30s fabrics and began cutting out various pieces I would need for the blocks.
30 Something 16 Patches
Recently, I began sewing some of the pieces together as leaders and enders.This means I get quite a bit done, but not on donation quilts.
The first step is to make 16 Patches out of the 1.5 inch (yes, THAT small) squares I had been cutting. I need 42 of these and have 24 so far.
I am happy with the progress I have made. As you can see, there are no 30s prints in my 16 patches. I need to think of another name for this quilt, but nothing comes to mind so far.
Last weekend I made a bag for the door prize at today’s meeting. I used the Jane Market Tote for the pattern again. This is a practical pattern that isn’t too big and goes together relatively quickly. I spent about 3 hours from finding the pattern to clipping the last thread.
It is scrappy green. I chose green for St. Patrick’s Day. I thought it would be fun to have green/St. Patrick’s Day as a theme.
I chose to make it scrappy so I could use up some smaller pieces of green.
I need another EPP Project (or any project???) like I need another hole in my head, but I am still very tempted. My friend, Lindsay, is working on Smitten and I love to see the progress she is making. Of course, she takes it with her places and works out in by bits while she is out. I never really go anywhere where that would work. I have the half-hexie project I haven’t worked on in months. Also, I have La Passacaglia papers and templates waiting for me to make into something.
It would be stupid to spend money on this new temptation, but I am still tempted.
My first attempt at putting the exterior of the Superbloom Tote together was unsuccessful. I was disappointed and distraught. I left the bag for much too long and considered not finishing it.
Briefly, I thought about quitting.
This was a terrible idea, because I have other fabric that I want to use to make another one. AND the fussy cutting I did with the Linework fabric is fantastic. The fussy cutting on those side pockets was fantastic. Finally, after mulling a lot, I realized that I had been working on the bag without the benefit of the video. Many of Sara Lawson’s pattern packs come with the pattern and a video. The video is very helpful. She has improved the videos by tagging them to steps in the pattern. I was able to navigate right to putting the exterior together easily.
Superbloom Exterior
Watching the video really helped and I was able to get over the hump of adding the side pockets and the straps to the exterior. There was one step I did a little wrong, so I had some ripping to do, but it came out really well.
As soon as I move the X Quilt off the design wall, I moved all the HSTs leftover from the X Quilt on to my large design wall. I wanted to play around with layout a little bit.
I had to squeeze it on to my small design wall to show it to you before. I wanted to see how it would look with a little space between the columns, which is what you see above. I am not sure I like it. I kind of like the way the pieces look right next to each other.
It is also a little bit of an odd shape in this configuration. I need to think about whether it matters or not.
As I mentioned, Tim was working on the plaid donation quilt when I left him the other day. He sent me a picture of the finished top and a detail (left).
I like what he did with the designs in the piecing. He has a good eye for quilting designs.
Plaid Donation Quilt- quilted
I also like this design quite a bit and plan to make another donation quilt using the Block Party pattern.
