Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
The Metro Twist is going. I need to make more blocks, so it is going slowly. I have some more pieces cut so I can sew more blocks; I just need some time to do it.
I am in a place where I feel like I have too many things going on at once.
I don’t know if I will actually make another one of these bags, but Mrs. K has graciously gifted me the full finishing kit for this pattern.
Yes, that is some Tula Pinkerville fabric. Do I sell the fabric and make a bag that matches the Running with Scissors folio I made for Mrs. K or do I make the bag as is?
Right after finishing the Brown Stitch Hackney, I started this Typewriter Hackney. I am pretty pleased with this gusset. I fussy cut it to highlight the typewriters and it is coming out pretty well.
I also added a handle, which is lined up almost perfectly through no effort on my part. The handle motifs line up with gusset if it is flattened against the gusset. I am probably making too much out of it!
A few weeks ago I talked about the Sew Tite Magnums**. I finally broke down and bought some. I thought my opportunity to use them had past because I had sewn the two halves of the La Passacaglia together.
Lately, as mentioned, I have been working on the Half Hexie Star quilt. I have large section to add in and started on it on Saturday night. As I struggled to keep the four stars in place so I could anchor then sew them, I remembered the Sew Tite Magnums. I tried them out and they work really well!
I think the length really helps to keep the layers of paper and fabric in place. It was much easier to anchor the four half hexie stars on which I was working into place using the Sew Tite Magnums.
Lindsay warned me that they are hard to peel apart. She was not wrong! Still they worth the trouble and the cost. They are not cheap, which is why I don’t have dozens of them.
**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.
Amanda was kind enough to text me yesterday just to say that she was thinking of me. We had a text exchange and in it she mentioned the Hackney I made for her birthday. She was kind enough to send me a photo of it in use.
I am constantly amazed at how much these hold. I am glad to see that she though the pen/tool holder in the top / lid was useful.
Maybe I should make one of these for myself?
I have made good progress on the edge of the Half Hexie Stars as I take a break from La Passacaglia.
I am not angry at La Pass and have a pretty solid plan for finishing. I just need to pull fabrics and finish off some rosettes. I am working on this at the moment to give me some time to think about it.
I laid what I have of the top out on the living room floor and am pleased with the look and feel.
I have very little to finish. I have the upper left hand corner and the top edge and then I will be done.
I sewed on four foreground stars last night, which leaves nine more foreground and background stars to finish. Of course, the top edge (see photo above) also needs some stars sewn in, but one thing at a time.
Looking at the top laid out now, I can’t help but think I should have put the foreground stars on the diagonal. Too late now, however.
I have enough background stars sewn together to finish the upper left hand corner, but I needed to choose a few more fabrics for the foreground. They are all cut and ready; they just needed to be selected.
I am pretty pleased with how tidy the edge came out once I added the small triangles and diamonds. I am so grateful for the time I spent working on this piece at Sew Day a few months ago. That time was well spent as it gave me a good strategy for finishing.
I don’t know if I will finish the top before I get back to La Pass. We’ll see.
I was able to finish the Brown Stitch Hackney relatively quickly.
I think it looks the best of all of the Hackneys I have made so far in terms of construction. The brown is not attractive despite the lovely stitch pattern.
Using ByAnnie doublefold elastic**, I made the pencil holders again in the top lid. I measured where I wanted the elastic by measuring out from the center in both directions. The bands might be a hair too far apart, but they will will work. I tested them after the bag was made and found they could be a little closer together. Still, I think it works in general. I usually put a pen or some sort of tool in the gift so as to demonstrate how they work.
I am particularly proud of the handle. I finally figured out the perfect measurements to get it in the right location.
I don’t know if I will be able to replicate this success in other Hackneys, but I am reveling in the success this time.
I was able to place it so it is exactly in the center of the end.
I did forget to put in a label, but can easily whipstitch one on later if I want.
Now, on to the Knitting Needles bag!
**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 am working to make ongoing progress on the Scrappy Celebration. I now have two full rows and ideas for more blocks.
I made the 9 Patch with large center with a different fabric this time. I wanted to do it before and I may switch this particular block with the D2 block. I was inspired by the other 9 Patches within a 9 Patch block to use the orange for the larger patches.
Cyndi and I talked about the Ultimate Carryall Bag and travel bags in general at Sew Day. It made me start thinking about whether the Ultimate Carryall Bag was the best bag for the job.
I have been using my UCAB as a go bag / travel tool bag since I finished it. it is working ok, but I don’t love it. I forgot to put SF101 on the large pockets so they are particularly saggy. This is not a design problem; it is a construction problem. Ideally, I should make another one for myself, but the directions are so terrible that, even with my notes, I don’t have it in me to sew another one.
It is also kind of bulgy at the front when the whole thing is zipped. That could be because I overfill it.
My discussion with Cyndi got me thinking about the ideal travel tool bag.
I plan to make a Sheffield tote for myself. In fact, at Sew Day, I had some fabric out that I want to use, so I took the opportunity to cut those pieces as a start.
I haven’t decided if I will put the very outside pockets on it. I can see where they would be useful, but I can also see how items would fall out. If I do not include them, the Sheffield will look very similar to the Quilts Illustrated Tool Tote pattern I made in 2018. You can see a comparison of the two bags in a post I wrote in 2021. One thing I thought is that I could make the sides of Sheffield taller. I think I need to make a few more before I try that.
Another idea is to use the Kit Supply Tote and a Running with Scissors folio together. I have the Kit Supply Tote and could make a Running with Scissors folio for tools and it might fit inside the Kit Supply Tote.
I would have to carefully measure all of my tools so I could make the openings the right size and all of my tools would fit. I would somehow need to incorporate the Take a Stand Bag into this mythical system. As mentioned on the ByAnnie website, the Running with Scissors folio can be draped over the Take a Stand bag so you can see all of your tools. Also, I have the fabric quilted to the foam already ready to go. It makes good sense to make another Running with Scissors and try it out.
The Oslo Tote is a possibility as well. I am pleased with the way it came out, mostly, but it doesn’t have a top closure. I think it is also a little small for what I need and want.
I could redesign the inside of the Cavalcade Bag and make sure I can fit my Tupperware tool box inside it.
Both from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, I also have the Ultimate Project Bag and the Retreat in a Bag. I don’t think these are exactly the tool and supply totes I am seeking. I plan to make them soon, but am not sure how to incorporate them into my travel needs.
The All Rolled Up Tote could also be a good tool tote. I also like the fabric I used. I wouldn’t be able to put a pad of paper or large-ish rulers in there, but it would hold all the scissors, etc that I need.
I have also seen the Sew Awesome Travel Companion Tote. This bag has potential. I might have a similar bag pattern already, but the roominess of this bag means I could store other bags and my Tupperware tool box inside it.
There is also the Crafter’s Carry All Bag. It has similar attributes to the Sew Awesome Travel Companion Tote, but also has negative reviews. Reviewers say it is short on diagrams.
What I really can’t understand is why there is so little competition to the Ultimate Carry All Bag? None of the bag designers, besides Quiltessa Natalie has designed something like this.
I am making really good progress on this bag. The gusset is much easier to assemble after making so many.
In this case, I didn’t have a brown or beige double zip handbag zipper**. That is definitely a problem. I like matching my zippers to my fabrics, but I don’t want a bunch of beige and brown zippers hanging around that I can’t use, but have to look at. I think the grey looks ok. We’ll see when I get the top on.
I am fond of the leaf fabric I used for the interior even if it is beige. I don’t remember when I bought it, but it has a very nice metallic leaf on the fabric. The motif is delicate and not garish at all.
**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 received more Pantone blocks from Julie. Fortunately, I am not completely lame, because I have also been making some blocks for her.
I did not include the squares of fabric that came along with these blocks in the photo.
There are a nice variety and very cheerful, unlike the fabrics I have been selecting, which are dark and depressing.
I can’t seem to help myself. I really like this bag and seem to need to keep making more. I definitely need to start making some more of the Minikins Season 4 patterns.
But, for the moment, I am stuck on Hackneys. I decided to make this bag and one of the Zaudal Creates Knitting Needles bags for my friends in Austria. I stayed with them and they drove to and from the airport and were generally super nice hosts. Honestly I enjoy making bags and can’t use them all so making gifts works well for me. Continuing to sew keeps me out of trouble as well. 😉
As you can see this is a lot of brown fabric. 🙁 Fortunately, it isn’t an awful brown fabric. I didn’t know that I had bought so much of it until I unearthed my brown bin and saw 2 yards of a completely uncut piece. 🙁 I have that fabric in several other colors and love it, but really had no memory of buying the brown. I’ll have to think of some other projects to make for my friend.
It is a good thing that I chose good fabrics for this quilt, because the piecing is super easy and not interesting. I don’t know if it was the best choice for my ‘next project’ after finishing most of my UFOs. Still, it is a project and I will continue.
The Philip Jacobs Chrysanthemum print in those Autumn colors is really growing on me.
I have decided to use the Chrysanthemum print in the same block design, combined in different ways throughout the quilt. I may use it in other blocks, but primarily, I will use it in that block design.
I am not 100% on board with my first use (C3) of it when I used the same fabric in the center as I did in the Four Patches. I like the one above much better. The combination of the colors in the Chrysanthemum print and the turquoise is stunning.
So far, I have made 18 blocks of the 56 I need. I think this will be quite the large quilt.
The next Sew Day will be a Super Sew Day/Meeting combination. As mentioned, I will be assisting Amy to teach the Metro Twist pattern.
One thing I did was look through the fabric pulls that I had saved. I chose one with a large number of prints to use.
A lot of these are Art Gallery fabrics. I may not use all of the grid fabrics and I may change out the focus fabric (4th from left, top row), which I added quickly before I took these to Sew Day. There is already a lot of green in this quilt and that might send it over the edge. Still, maybe not, we’ll have to see as I cut and start putting blocks together.
The other day I showed some red and dot donation blocks. I brought them to hand in at sew day and Peggy immediately grabbed them. Very quickly, she came up with a block with my donation blocks at the center.
This is such a cheerful block. I love the way she used HSTs instead of Flying Geese to vary the color of the rays of the star. I would say the block is probably 16″ in this form, but I didn’t measure.
As the day wore on, Peggy continued to work. Midafternoon, she came up and showed me the quilt top made with my block at the center.
I know I say this all the time. I love this about the guild community quilt program. I can hand in something half finished and Peggy or someone will take it and make something fabulous.
I wonder if the Spiky 16 Patch #5 inspired her?
This is such a cheerful quilt top and was very quickly finished. It will also be good for a boy or a girl.