Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Lil Sissy asked me outright for king sized pillowcases. Apparently, she has giant pillows and the cases I made for her are too small. Initially, I said no, then I found a big piece of turquoise and decided to make some.
These don’t feel as exciting as the other pillowcases I have made for her, but needs must. I have more of the Paris fabric now, so I can make her some more if I find another large piece of fabric to go with it.
My sister is constantly messaging me on IG and FB with cool pouches and great quiltmaking techniques. I finally told her to learn to quilt. LOL!
I do like giving her gifts as she uses them all – well, I have seen her with various pouches and I know she uses the apron and the pillowcases.
Use your gifts! There is always more fabric!
When I made the Enigma Bag for Lil Sissy’s birthday, I went looking for another ‘Revisiting’ post and couldn’t find one for her. I decided to write one after all the Christmas gifts have been distributed. I went through my older posts a few times and kept adding gifts I had made for her. I kept finding various things I had forgotten about. I was really glad to be reminded.
With some of the leftover bathrobe fabric, I made some pillowcases.
Mom doesn’t want more bags, but pillowcases are always useful, so hopefully she liked them.
I realized later that I might have used the solid I intended for one of the FOTY quilts. Oh well, there is always more fabric.
My mom is in the hospital and the post surgery process is not going as well as hoped. I haven’t had time to post or even look at the blog. I hope to be back up and running soon.
Lindsay texted me with photos of a backpack she made.
This is the Archie Backpack by Knot & Thread. I made a pouch from one their patterns.
She made it as a test before she makes one with some of her precious fabric. One of her friends gave her the fabric and supplies for both backpacks.
I love it when people make bags so I was thrilled to see this effort.
It looks like a really useful bag. I have the Marlin Backpack pattern from Sew Sweetness and it looks similar. I haven’t made it yet, so I am having a hard time answering a couple of Lindsay’s questions.
She said the seams are rolling and I am not quite sure if that is a function of the pattern, or the fact that it is a backpack or if it is the way the seams are finished.
From these angles, the bag looks really great. I hope I get to see it in person.
A few fun things came up at Sew Day.
First, I had one entry into my post Y seams demo contest. SueG made an effort to try out Y Seams. She was the only one, so she won the fabulous prize, which was a small gift certificate to The Granary.
She chose a great pattern. I love the split hexies.
You should have seen the back! Those little seam intersections looked gorgeous. Check out my tutorial, if you want to try Y Seams for yourself.
I made some good progress on cutting up scraps. I didn’t cut all of my scraps, sadly, but more of them are organized into shapes I can use. People were kind of amazed at what I was doing, which was weird. I thought everyone processed their scraps.
I also saw a project Christine made from a Sue Spargo pattern. I love Sue Spargo‘s patterns, but have never made anything. Her patterns look so cheerful.
I love the little vase and the striped binding. Really I love the whole thing. Looking at Christine’s version makes me see this as eminently doable.
The inside is also great, but has the issue of not being able to see what is inside the pockets. Still, this is a gorgeous project.
The event was fun and I am glad I got to go.
I know it’s been a week or so since I posted about gifts, but we are back to it.
I posted last week about Sue’s I Spy pouch. One of the differences I made is that Carrie got a whole color wheel in the front while Sue’s was on the back. One of the reasons I like this fabric is because it means they always have a color wheel with them.
I found some nice zipper pulls in my hardware bag that I added. They are apples, which have nothing to do with color wheels, Carrie or Sue, but here we are. Zipper pulls, aside from being cute really help to pull zippers open.
This is the latest travel pillowcase for my youngest nephew. I sent it off a little late as we were out of town for the New Year holiday.
I am still on the travel theme. This pillowcase depicts steampunk travel. I am a fan of steampunk and really enjoy looking at the costumes and artistry. I thought this would be a fun installment in the series.
The colors are not as fun as I would have liked, but at least there isn’t a lot of brown.
I have one more pillowcase from those I made from the fabric I bought on my summer trip before I have to get more fabric.
Sometimes I feel like I need to review how many of a certain pattern I have made. I think I have made enough Lined Drawstring Bags to do that now. I also feel like I’d like to see all of them together.
This is a good pattern that can also be used for gift bags. They take more time and fabric than my tutorial, but are more useful as well. I’d like to start making a bag for each quilt I give away, but I haven’t done that yet.
I was certain I had made more, but I think I always think that!
Best wishes for a great year.
I don’t have high hopes for the US political situation, but hope for the best and plan for the worst, right? I have very high hopes for quiltmaking and bagmaking however, which I hope will spread joy throughout my little sphere of influence. What are your plans for 2025?
I am behind on Bonnie Hunter’s Old Town Mystery Quilt, but trying not to stress. I thought I would get more done at Sew Day than I did. As much as I love Sew Days, it isn’t a good environment when I am trying to concentrate. I am also trying to remind myself there is a LOT of piecing in Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilts and I’ll get there.
Friend Julie has made really good progress. Pam is, of course, up to date.
I did sit down on Saturday and Sunday and really work on various pieces. I decided to focus on Clue 1, so I could at least say that I was finished with one clue.
I am making progress on the Flying Geese, though I haven’t made many. One thing I had to do was figure out what pieces and parts I needed to make a set of four Flying Geese. That took a little time. I really got going once I reacquainted myself with the steps. It was helpful that I had already cut the pieces I needed. The picture above is my progress on Saturday. I had other stuff I needed to do, like make gift bags, so I couldn’t focus on this project all day.
I pressed some of the strips sets for Clue #2 that I made at Sew Day and was able to make a few of the Four Patches.
Hooray for progress.