Yep, I finished the top and back. I feel much lighter now that it is done.
I am also pleased with how it turned out. I don’t know if I will make this pattern again, but it is possible.
I am sure I said somewhere when I worked on the Metroscape quilt or the Mod Lights tablerunner that the Quick Curve ruler projects come out really well. Not all of my points match up in this quilt, but they are close enough in most cases.
Metro Twist back
I put the back together relatively quickly. The label is a little lower than I normally sew it, but I wrote Colleen a note about in case I forget to tell her if I ever see her again. 😉
Another project off my list. My pile of quilts for Colleen is growing.
I LOVE this box of zippers from Sew Hungry Hippie. They are super fun colors. I’d love to find a project where I could use a bit of all of them.
I decided to use Modern Background Colorbox by Zen Chic – Bermuda Crosses on White for the background of my La Passacaglia quilt. I have 2-2.5 yards. I am almost sure that is enough, but did a web search to see if it was still available. I ended up finding some at Quilted Thimble Cottage and ordered it. Better safe than sorry, right? I have to say that I was thrilled with the service from Quilted Thimble Cottage. The owner called me to check something about my order and then gave me a free yard of the fabric! Their stock isn’t completely up to date on their website, but what they have is interesting. If you need some Half Moon Modern, they have a few pieces left.
Sue Spargo has a wide variety of labels in her shop. She has a wide variety of generic ‘made by me’ type labels as well as labels with images and icons. One group is called the Sweary Sewist. Lots of f**k on those labels!
Last month, Lynette gave a demonstration of various interfacings for bags. She used a pattern she bought at the Fat Quarter Shop. I was looking for one that might work for such a project (despite the fact that I have 5 million pouch patterns!). I kind of wanted to try a pattern with a template. I have been seeing some of these pop up as advertisements in various social media feeds. I found one from Quiltd that wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I thought looked interesting and useful.
As I was looking through the Center Street Quilts videos on IG, I saw a video of the Stella Pouch with a clear back. A second video shows a lot more of the steps, if you aren’t hung up on sizes. I hadn’t heard of the Stella Pouch, but, seriously, there are about 2 million pouch patterns and I think I am attracted to the charcoal grey with the rainbow Flying Geese. The samples shown in the pattern are not as interesting. I do think the fact that a short video of the finished pouch is included in the shop listing is interesting. This shop does love quilting their fabric and foam and then binding the inside raw edges. I do not love that technique, but the rainbow Flying Geese pouch with one side made from vinyl wouldn’t be possible without using that technique.
Need a gift or a scissor holder for yourself? Check out this YouTube tutorial. It holds three pair!
While I was chasing Chasing Tigers links, I came across a tantalizing picture of a “Little Busy Bag“. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the inside and it looks like a regular cross body bag. I think the Sew Sweetness Daytrip cell phone wallet from Minikins Season 2 might be a more useful option. Smaller, yes, but more organized.
Media, Books and Articles
I talked with Cyndi about her Parallel Universe quilt, which got us on to the topic of Gyleen, Ebony and Latifah’s second joint mystery quilt, The Elemental Mystery Quilt. We looked up a picture. They have a choppy design sense. I don’t mean this in a bad way. The elements are put together into chunks. Later, I looked up a podcast about the project.
Events, Shops, Exhibits and Shows
One of the good things about being in a guild is that you hear things. One thing I heard is that there is a new shop, Coastside Quilt Studio, near me. It is actually on the way to my favorite grocery store. I haven’t been there yet as the shop hours are not very convenient for working people, but I’ll go take a look when I am able.
**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.
The other day, I talked a little about my design process. I also inferred that I wasn’t going to waste time designing when I could be sewing, so I went and started this quilt for the BAM Community Quilts project.
QST 16 Patch #1 – start
I did start sewing and I made a good start with some of the blocks I showed a few days ago. I thought I might as well use them, after all.
I was pleased with the black and white stripped fabric. I think it looks unexpectedly good.
I don’t quilt much and I enjoy the collaborative effort of making a top and allowing someone else to quilt it. Thus, the quilts below are mostly tops, but I will include a finished quilt once someone else finishes it for the group.
The ‘In Process’ is used to denote projects on which I am actively working or are on the design wall waiting for me to stitch. I am continuing to try not to put away projects. I find putting a project away ensures I never work on them, because I just lose steam.
Quilts (machine work)
Metro Twist -sewing blocks together
Quilts (Handwork)
I decided that some of my quilts are in a different class because they are hand piecing or embroidery or beading. They take longer. Thus I created a new category and have moved some projects here.
La Passacaglia – The rosettes are all assembled. I am ripping out the papers and deciding what to do with the border.
Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting. I don’t have a bag in process at the moment.
Ultimate Project Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started. I did pull the fabric, supplies and reviewed some finished photos that others posted, so I am one step closer.
Retreat Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started. Recently, I saw one of these made up and I am not so nervous about it. I did pull the fabric, supplies and reviewed some finished photos that others posted, so I am one step closer.
Rose Petrillo bag – I found the pieces for this bag cut out, but not sewn.
Superbloom tote using Hindsight fabric – not started. I did pull the fabric, supplies and found a photo I plan to use as inspiration that others posted, so I am one step closer.
Still UFOs
I still have UFOs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled, it hasn’t been worked on in awhile or it is waiting its turn to be worked on. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
I am annoyed that some of these are still WIPs. I just need to work on them!
Handbag Sampler – this is still the forgotten project. I found one block in the not-too-distant past, but otherwise I don’t actually know exactly where the blocks are hiding. I crawled up in the far reaches of my fabric closet to see if I could find them and they weren’t where I thought. I am sort of mystified as to where they could be. I haven’t even found a picture of all the blocks. WTH?
I thought I wouldn’t make as many blocks this month as I was working on other projects. Also, I have had less time lately. I was pleasantly surprised at how many I was able to finish while working on the Metro Twist assembly.
I have the feeling that the border might take me as long as the top of the quilt. If it weren’t for that one fabulous rosette, I might just cut off the edges and move on with my life.
Finishing points and adding background
I did do some organization the other day, which gave me almost a week of evenings with hand sewing ready to go. I know there will be an end, but I haven’t seen it yet, so it seems to be an ever ending process.
I do get small bonuses, which include finishing some points, like the green ones shown in the photo, that I didn’t expect to finish. They will be sticking into the background, so will show up nicely.
At least I hope they will.
Finishing up a star
There is a certain amount of hunting and gathering that I have to do at least once a week. I have to figure out which rosettes to finish and which to cut off, then how I will deal with the background.
I just have to get some straight edges, then I can sew larger pieces of fabric to those edges and be done.
I saw some quarter square triangles (QST) somewhere and started to think about them in conjunction with the guild’s 16 patches. I looked up the dimensions for making QSTs in my trusty Around the Block** book. That simple block was not included. I was trying to avoid firing up EQ8, but had to as I couldn’t get the design out of my head.
QST 16 Patch – cut off
The first design I made is ok. You can see the design and the secondary design. However, some of the motifs are incomplete. You know how I like my designs to be finished, so I decided to try and finish off the edges.
I wanted you to be able, at least, to see the full Ohio Star motif (block) even if I couldn’t finish off all of the secondary designs.
QST 16 patch, design 2
Honestly, I didn’t think through the whole process and wasn’t really prepared for a full-on EQ8 design sessions.
I took a stab. I immediately ran into problems. You can see that doing what I wanted wasn’t straightforward. I think I could have resolved the problem by adding another row of 16 patch blocks, but I didn’t want to make the quilt larger than it was. It will be a baby (ish) quilt for the BAM Community Quilts Project.
For the moment, I decided to leave it and go back to sewing. The second design is fairly asymmetrical, which means true Modern Quilters would probably like it. I don’t dislike it; it just doesn’t achieve my goal. I’ll work on it again another day
**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.
It has been a month or so since I cut out this bag, but I remembered I hadn’t showed you the pieces. I talked about the idea of this bag when I talked about the Everglow fabric.
I still haven’t chosen an exterior fabric. All of the fabrics shown are for the interior and the trim. One reason is I thought I might make this as a gift, but am wobbling. I cut the fabrics to suit myself, but then thought I had the A Place for Everything bag for EPP and didn’t need another one. If I give this as a fit, I would choose different fabrics for the front. Part of the reason, I haven’t worked on this is that I am in an agony of indecision. Not really, but it sounds dramatic, right?
One thing I will note is that all of the Etsy links I posted before to allow you to buy your own pattern are no longer available. Chasing Tygers has a website with videos on making the bag, which is great, but very little other information. The Etsy link is also different. I eventually went to IG and called up the Chasing Tigers account‘s linktree, where I found they are now on Payhip. Thus, you can actually buy the EPPic Case pattern. Remember to buy the bundle as you get a better deal. I suppose I should have known that nobody updates their blog or website anymore and I should have gone to IG first.
I have been slowly working on the Fish Hackney. I don’t have that many steps left, but the Metro Twist has been consuming my attention. I want to get the Metro Twist finished.
You can see where I am on the Fish Hackney. I probably have an hour left to work on it.
I have been looking at various fabrics from the Martha Negley Go Fish line and trying to decide if I would make more items for my Dad out of the fabric. I haven’t decided so I haven’t bought anything.
I pressed and trimmed all the blocks I made at Cyndi’s. Then I spent a few hours putting them on the design wall and preparing the final layout. I am ready to get sewing.
At my sew day with Cyndi, she worked on binding quilts. One of them was my Blue Strip #3. I am so thrilled because I just finished this one in July! I am thrilled that it is already finished.
We discussed colors to use as binding and eventually settled on a turquoise. I thought a purply blue would look better with the batik border, but she didn’t have such a fabric and I didn’t think it mattered that much. The turquoise turned out to be a great choice.
Cyndi did a machine binding that looks really nice. I have to try and learn that skill.
Blue Strip #3 donation quilt back
Laura, a longarmer who has been doing quilting for the guild, did the quilting. It is flowers and you can see it really well from the back.
TO MY PARENTS: STOP READING NOW. Everyone else, scroll down.
Back to regular programming.
Two New Hackneys
I did all the prep for some new Hackneys after working on the Bristol pouch and the La Pass Border last weekend. These will be gifts for my parents. It just happened that I am working on them at the same time. It is kind of strange since they have been divorced for so many years. Don’t worry, I don’t have illusions of them getting back together.
