Gifts Bags Spread

It is a little too early in the year for me to be encouraging you to get out your fabric and make fabric bags to wrap your gifts in (though it really is never too early), but Deirdre pointed me to the site below and I thought I would share another option for wrapping gifts in fabric.

clipped from www.env.go.jp

Minister Koike created the “Mottainai Furoshiki” as a symbol of Japanese culture to reduce wastes.

Ms Yuriko Koike, Minister of the Environment, has created the “Mottainai Furoshiki” as a symbol of Japanese culture to reduce waste. Furoshiki is a Japanese traditional wrapping cloth which is used repeatedly in a stylish way. (The utilization of this “Mottainai Furoshiki” will contribute to reducing household waste from plastic bags.) The Minister presented the “Mottainai Furoshiki” at the Senior Officials Meeting on the 3R Initiative held in Tokyo, Japan on March 6-8, 2006

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Bags Return, Part 2


As I mentioned in my previous post, I bought fabric to make a bag for my SIL for a gift.

TFQ and I were emailing back and forth about the EMT bags and she mentioned an easier way to make the straps. The method she found on another pattern has you make them quadruple the size of the finished strap, fold in half, open, fold each raw edge towards the middle and press. I used this method for making straps for my latest bag (above) and after about an hour of work I am ready to apply the large outside pocket and sew the bags together. The straps are on the outside, the pockets are positioned. TFQ’s method, while using more fabric, made the process amazingly fast. I didn’t think that the process explained on the pattern was terrible, but making the straps was terrible and this is much better. I think I will have time to make a couple of other bags for people I will visit this summer. YAY!

This is a good example of why collaboration is so important. As you can see, I have made a lot of progress on the project.

Bags Return


Here are some recent fabrics that I bought from Fabric.com. The bottom fabrics are all home dec fabrics. I am going to use them to make another Eco Market Tote. I have a running list in my mind of bags I’d like to make for friends, so this is crossing the first gift off the mental list. I may have enough to make a dotty bag for myself. I had planned to use the stripe as the outside, but DH said that he thought the blue dot outside would be better, so that is what I will do.

The violet dot at the top was me attempting to replace the fabulous violet dot I got somewhere about a year ago. The color is absolutely right, but the weave (what is it with the weave thing I have going??) is really thin and the violet bleeds into the white dots.

Note to online retailers: don’t buy thin fabric and sell it as first quality quiltmaking fabric. Thanks!

Making Bullseyes, Part 2

In the previous post about making bullseyes, I left you ready to sew the circles on. Tips on appliqueing the circles to the background:

  • use a quarter inch foot.
  • start sewing less that a quarter inch from one of the folds. This ensures that your stops and starts will be covered when you sew the pieces of the bullseye together later.

Then you sew. Once you sew the circle on, you get the finished product pictured above.

To cut out the back, carefully separate the top and the back of the block. Pinch a little bit of the back, inside the sewn line about a quarter inch from the sewn line. Make a small cut, being careful not to cut through to the front. Cut around the inside of the sewn line. I use a pair of applique scissors, which help to protect the front from cutting through.

Here is a block once I have cut out the back.

Here is a close up of the sewn line and the cutting line.

Return of Visual Journaling

The view above was what I could see as I ate breakfast. It is the interior of a fabulous breakfast cafe called Boulette’s Larder. Boulette’s Larder is in the Ferry Building and sort of hidden in the back.

I went to Boulette’s last Friday in an effort to jumpstart my attitude. The lingering effects of the malaise that I described in Second Cup of Tea are still with me and it was getting to the point where I wasn’t drawing anymore. Boulette’s Larder looks out over the Bay Bridge and has a wonderful atmosphere. I walked in, a little unsure, and the proprietor came over to me and asked me if I wanted to sit in the restaurant with them or outside at a little cafe table. I thought being around some people would be good so I sat at the big farmhouse-ish table inside. I had a nice view outside, of interesting jars on the wall and of the activity in the kitchen. I was interested in the fact that the stove was right next to the table and there was no yelling among the staff. It was a very calm and pleasant atmosphere.

By doing something out of my routine, I realized that I was no longer able to see anything new in my regular route and my muse was getting dried up. I needed to get out of my routine and do something different.

Cross Blocks Chugging Along

Here is the latest installation of the Flowering Snowballs project. I think that the green (upper left) is a feedsack fabric. I have only a small piece of it and the weave doesn’t seem to be a modern weave. Not that I know anything about feedsacks or the weave of fabric and whether it can be tied to an era!

Quilter’s Podcast

I knew that Annie did podcasts, but I came across them just now and thought I would make a note of them for the future.

clipped from www.simplearts.com
clipped from simplearts.com

Program 119 – Interview with Master Machine Quilter, Diane Gaudynski

podcast
Running time: 01:04:19 Size: 29.5MB

I hope that you’ll enjoy this wonderful interview with Diane. She offers so much insight and inspiration to every quilter. Pay special attention to what Diane says, as there are tips and hints sprinkled throughout what she shares.

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