New Turning Tool

The other day I talked about Modern American Vintage, a wooden tool small business. They describe their business as making heirloom quality quilting tools.

The Bernard
The Bernard

I am constantly on the lookout for the perfect turning tool. I looked at their website and bought a ‘Bernard‘. This is the best turning tool I have ever used.

It doesn’t show in the photo since I took the photo before I used it, but the small end of the tool got all of my corners poked out without going through the fabric. It also feels good in my hand. I highly recommend this tool, especially if you make a lot of bags and need to poke out corners.

Large Retreat Bag Zipper

While this is the first Large Retreat Bag I have made, it is the third Retreat bag I have constructed (total). This is a free pattern from Emmaline Bags that requires a frame. The frame is not free, but also not very expensive. The frame allows it to open all the way (widemouth), providing easy access to all of the contents.

I like this bag, but the Large size is LARGE. I am not sure what I would use this size for so I don’t know that I will make a large one again, though I have another frame, so I might.

Sugar Skull Interior
Sugar Skull Interior

The pattern doesn’t call for it, but I put in an interior zipper pocket. Tim thought up the idea of an interior pocket to use to turn the bag. This means I (we) can turn the bag without leaving the bottom seam open. Yes, the bottom of the interior zipper pocket is left open, but it is much more hidden than the bottom.

It has been awhile since I made an interior zipper pocket (also called a flush pocket), so I screwed up a few times on the first one. I definitely didn’t remember how to do it at all and had to get Tim to remind me which resources he used. I did find a couple of tutorials, but they were lacking.

The most helpful tutorial was Sara Lawson’s video (of Sew Sweetness), which is the one Tim uses. I started out using the directions in the book, the Bag Making Bible** by Lisa Lam. The part after the zipper installation are a little skimpy, so the video filled in the gap.

I made two of these bags over the weekend and the second zipper went much more smoothly. Now I have a couple of gifts ready for the holidays. As a result, check back to see the whole bags.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item 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.

La Pass M4

La Pass, M4 BOM Fabrics
La Pass, M4 BOM Fabrics

I received the La Pass M4 fabrics and such.

We are off of the purples and on to pinks. I like these fabrics better, except for the hats. I might even use the zebras.

Lindsay thinks there is less work in M4, which means that I may have time to get it done and get back to M3.

My desk is a big mess of English Paper Piecing fabrics, papers, Sew Tites, basted pieces and tools.

Various & Sundry 2021 #12

Projects, Classes, Patterns & Tutorials

My friend Marty showed me Kohatu Patterns website. She was making a pumpkin tablerunner. I decided I want to make a pumpkin tablerunner for my buffet after seeing her blocks.  I was interested in the patterns, but not as much as the blog, which has some very interesting tips and tricks. She calls them Modern Quilting Guides.

Lindsay pointed me to an older Tula Pink project called Rainbow Waves. It is a basic Storm at Sea quilt, but the fabric selection is GREAT.

Watch Sara from Sew Sweetness as she talks about the magnetic snap die for a rivet press.

If you want to sew along with me, get the A Place for Everything v.2 pattern from ByAnnie. Watch Tula Pink’s video on her versions.

I thought about joining KnitStars this year. It looks awesome, but I slapped myself and didn’t. My knitting skills are not up to the challenge even though I want to pretend they are. Also, remember when I said I was super busy?

Bonnie Hunter has written the introductory post for this year’s Mystery Quilt, Rhododendron Trail (I can see this name quickly becoming RT!). I will definitely read and save the posts, but I am going to wait for the reveal to see if I want to make the project. I do like the colors, however. The pinks and turquoise/aquas are right up my alley. That Burgundy/ Garnet, however, ruins the look for me. Bleah.

Emmaline Bags has a tutorial for installing an internal zipper pocket into a bag. I still like Sara’s video.

Books, Fabrics, Notions & Supplies

Stash Fabrics has a Kona themed wall calendar. Even if you no longer use a wall calendar, this one would be a great year long color inspiration piece.

Modern American Vintage has some beautiful tools. They make wooden point turners, seam rippers and Hera markers. Often wooden tools are over the top, but these are simple and gorgeous. They also have an IG account.

I found a shop called Mashe Modern. They have a great selection of fabrics and great prices. It is a great addition to the list of shops from whom I should not buy more fabric. < LOL >

I am thinking about getting the block-of-the-month option for making Tula’s Butterfly quilt. Petting Fabric has two great selections of fabric. remember when I talked about being super busy? That is what is holding me back.

I am a huge fan of color cards. They are very useful for online shopping and for identifying, especially, solids when they show up on your doorstep.  I have been using mine to differentiate between the Free Spirit solids, Sweet Pea and Freesia, in my Pink Door La Pass BOM fabrics. It comes in very handy for such things. Hawthorne Supply has a good selection.

Media and Inspiration

I haven’t been surfing much lately, so I missed some of Julie’s posts over at High Fiber Content. Take a look at Friend Julie’s August Cornucopia for more, interesting links.

Do you like mid-century modern designs? Carrie P pointed me to a site with a ton of mid century modern designs. They really should open a Spoonflower shop and make the designs available in fabric and wallpaper, etc.

I follow Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness on Facebook, as you know since I can’t shutup about her, and get to see the creations of of her other followers. One is Stephanie and she has a great shop filled with bags. She uses lots of Tula Pink fabrics, if that is your jam. She showed some fabulous Daytrip Wallets, but they never made it to her shop.

The International Quilt Museum presented “Abstract Design in American Quilts at 50: Raising the Profile” with Dr. Jonathan Gregory on June 9. The video is now on YouTube

Exhibits & Shows

Did you attend PIQF? I didn’t for the first time in, maybe, 15 years. I have scaled back my attendance in recent years, but have always gone. I wasn’t up for dealing with the crowds this year. Apparently, there were no crowds. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the event, if you attended.

Other Artists

One of the things I enjoy about fiction set in England is how well versed the fictional British are with poetry. I think they are often assigned poetry in fictional schools and it carries over into their fictional lives where they quote it at appropriate times in their fictional days. I read Shel Silverstein poetry to my son and he demanded more and more. Beyond that and a few long poems in high school, I am woefully under-educated in poetry.  One of my exceptional nieces (I have a few), Michaela, is a talented performer. She has recently started a YouTube channel where she reads poetry.

The County Library System is creating a makerspace and they need supplies. Take a look at their wishlist and buy something or send them a gift card. I hope they get the Cricut so I can try it out.

Melody Johnson of the Chicago School of Fusing fame is creating some really great knitting lately.

 

26 Projects 2021 #10

Because of the workroom redo I am only making progress on small projects. It doesn’t feel like I am making much progress, but I have to count the progress in the workroom as progress even though it mostly doesn’t involve fabric directly.

Finished 2021 Quilt Projects

Finished 2021 Small and Non-Quilt Projects

This category covers bags, toys, aprons and knitting as well as other non-quilt projects.

Looking at all of these accessories and small projects makes me excited to make more. I just don’t have time to do as much sewing as I want. 🙁

Doing Good

In Process or To Make
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

  • The circle quilt is on the design wall, which is folded up in the YM’s room

Small Projects to Make or in Process

Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting.

  • One Hour Basket for my stuff that tends to accumulate on the dining room table. I may switch to one of the Minikins projects or a Catch All Caddy for this purpose.
  • One Hour Basket for DH’s stuff that tends to accumulate on the dining room table. I may switch the pattern to one of the Minikins projects for this purpose.
  • Percheron Pouch is cut out, some interfacing is applied and the pouch is ready to sew
  • 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
  • Superbloom tote using Hindsight fabric – not started
  • Tessuti Japanese Apron – cut out and ready to sew. I am figuring out how to make it reversible.
  • Ultimate Project Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started
  • Ultimate Carry All Bag for me – I have the inside pockets as well as the front panel made. I am working my way through the exterior and hope to finish soon. FINISHED! See above.
  • Westchester shirt – this is a Crafty Gemini pattern. I bought the fabric at PIQF in 2018. I have the pattern pieces cut out and ready to sew. I was held up by the supply list which wanted a Jersey needle. SIL #2 and Mary C said that a regular knit needle was fine.

Handwork

I decided that some of my projects 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.

Ready for Quilting

  • Nothing at the moment

In the Quilting Process

In the Finishing Process

  • Gelato – need to sew on the binding
  • Scrap Dash – need to sew on the binding

Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled. A nicer way of saying UFO is a WIP. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.

  1. Handbag Sampler – this is still the forgotten project. It should be on the UFO list. The blocks were teaching samples when I taught a sampler class some time before I started writing the quilt class sampler tutorials. I found one block recently, but otherwise I actually don’t 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. Sad.
  2. Lobster – I think I might make this into a tablerunner for the buffet. I think that will be a good and fun use of the piece even if the colors aren’t quite right for the dining room.
  3. Pies and Points from 2016 Victoria Findlay Wolfe class. The last time I worked on it was when Julie and I had a playdate in April 2018. I brought this piece with me so I could cut more elements (Julie has a Sizzix). I lost my excitement about this piece shortly thereafter, but I am ready to work on it as soon as I get my design walls back up.
  4. Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. No progress.
  5. Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. I am still stalled on this again. As one of my oldest (I am pretty sure) UFO, I put it on my blog and out into the Twitterverse and Diane suggested that I not consider this as a self portrait. I think that strategy is a great idea. I am now trying to think of a new persona for her.
  6. Serendipity Lady – I am still planning to take this piece to be framed.
  7. Who Am I? – This piece is still languishing. Perhaps having a larger design wall will help me regain momentum. The amount of satin stitching I was facing was a problem until I thought of BIAS TAPE. I am going to make the words with bias tape, perhaps different widths, then I won’t have to sew the satin stitching. Red Scribbles and Friend Julie helped me come up with this solution. Now I just have to do it!

Sewing Pleather

Ripping tissue paper off of pleather
Ripping tissue paper off of pleather

I have complained recently about the pleather I have used for the bottoms of the Ultimate Carry All Bags sticking to my machine bed. I thought of using tissue paper like I talk about in my Vinyl Tips & Tricks post, but didn’t do it until my Mom mentioned it as well.

Finally, when I was sewing the binding on to the exterior and lining, I used some tissue paper. It worked like a charm. I’ll put it in my bag of tricks.

Red Dot Bones Pillowcases

Red Dot Bones pillowcases
Red Dot Bones pillowcases

I actually finished 3 pillowcases over the weekend. These were the ones I had planned to make for a long time. They go with the Red Scribbles quilt. My SIL asked especially for pillowcases made from this bones fabric. I don’t usually make things to order, but felt like doing it. She may be surprised at the dots. I hope she likes them! I’ll give them to her as an early anniversary gift.

Cutting for La Pass M3

I feel like I am juggling everything, especially my projects. I know many of you have worked full-time for years. I didn’t. I worked part-time or consulted the whole time my YM was growing up. I was fortunate to be able to do so, but also gave up a lot of stuff, such as cable TV. Now I am working full-time and I like my job, but I don’t like working 40 hours per week. It cuts into my life. Still, needs must.

M2 took a long time, probably because I was trying to piece sections on to a large Rosette, but also, because of time. I took so long that M4 will arrive any minute and I have barely started M3.

La Passacaglia Month 3 cut pieces
La Passacaglia Month 3 cut pieces

As a result, I am working on cutting pieces for M3. You can see mostly pieces I didn’t have to fussy cut. i did the easy ones first, though a couple required some centering like the teacups.

I used the flower portions of the skunk fabric, because I don’t want skunks on my quilt. I know people think they are cute, but after smelling one, I don’t want to be reminded of that smell. I cut the stripes the way Tula suggested on her EPP video (see, starting at 7:33). Now I have to do the dots and the other pieces.

My plan is to finish all the cutting, then start on Month 4, catching up with Month 3 when I can. I hope to only be behind on one month not all the months. Who knows? I might be able to catch up.

 

APfE v.2 Started

I bought the supplies for the ByAnnie A Place for Everything Bag when I was waiting for the La Pass BOM to start. A lot of people in the group decided to make the bag to keep their project in. I thought it was a good idea and bought the supplies.

I thought I would make it over Labor Day weekend, but didn’t get around to it. I have been strategizing and finally decided that cutting all the pieces that needed to be quilted and quilting them first would really help with making the bag once I had time to sit down and do it.

I spent a good portion of time on Saturday picking out fabric. At first I was sure I would use Brocade Peony fabric, but I just wasn’t feeling the love. I searched through a lot of fabric and, finally, I chose a Philip Jacobs Chrysanthemum print because it was different. It is darker than I usually like, but had some pink and turquoise in it, so I can those colors as accents.

APfE v.2 quilted pieces
APfE v.2 quilted pieces

Sunday, I quilted almost all day. Well, I cut out pieces for the bag and quilted. I know it doesn’t look like a lot of work, but the quilting really took forever. I got more done than I thought I would, but I still have a lot to do.

I plan on making as many of the smaller pieces as I can, and, of course, cutting out the regular,non-quilted pieces so when I do have time to put the bag together,  I won’t have to stop to make handles or zipper tabs or whatever.

I am really pleased with what I got done on Sunday.

Bones Pillowcase

Green Bones Pillowcase
Green Bones Pillowcase

I am trying to make a few gifts for Christmas and upcoming birthdays. Here is a pillowcase I made over the weekend for a friend of the Y.M.’s.

The fabric is Robert Kaufman print that actually got reprinted. I asked a shop to email me if they ever got it again and they did! I bought three yards and have used almost all of it on Pillowcases.

New Donation Top

End n.11 in process
End n.11 in process

I was feeling like a slacker especially after seeing how many donation quilts were brought to our in person (!!!) guild meeting last week.When I went back and looked, it had really only been since July that I made a donation quilt, Ends. n.10 with the rest of the Pop Parade scraps.

On Saturday, I started working on another Ends donation top. This is Ends n.11 and I will hand it in to Peggy soon.

I found a whole bunch of edges of old quilts when I rearranged some stuff that was going back into my workroom*. Sigh. I thought I was doing so well keeping up with making stuff with the edges of the quilts I finish. This is an old stash, stashed before I thought of these ends quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*N.B. I have three weeks to get all of my stuff back into my room before the Y.M. comes home for Thanksgiving.

Rosette #1, Month 2 Finished

Rosette #1 with M2 ring
Rosette #1 with M2 ring

I finally finished Month 2, which was to add another ring to Rosette #1.

The ring I added is partial. You can see some of it on the bottom. The Anna Maria Coneflowers are also part of the Month 2 ring.

This is one of the large rings. Not all of the rings will be this much work, but all the months have about 100 pieces to stitch together.

I made a small start on Month 3, but Month 4 has already been shipped and I am behind.

My UCAB Finished

UCAB: Front, closed
UCAB: Front, closed

My UCAB is finally finished. This will replace part of my travel bag and it will fit nicely on the handle of my sewing machine travel bag.

I am happy with how it turned out and I am glad I feel comfortable putting the project together as I think it will make a great gift if and when I decide I have time to make more of them.

UCAB: inside pockets from top
UCAB: inside pockets from top

I am not 100% happy with the project, but I think that is true for all of my projects. I get to like them better after I have lived with them for awhile. 🙂

One thing I think I forgot to do was put Shapeflex** on the inside of the pockets. Some of them are a little floopy. They will be fine once I get some stuff inside them.

I still haven’t decided how to marry the use of this bag with the use of my Pink Tupperware box. I am not sure I am ready to give it up, though it is clearly not big enough for the stuff I need at Sew Day or when I travel.

UCAB: front, open
UCAB: front, open

As I may have mentioned, I didn’t install the front zipper. I wanted the front to be the front. In the pattern, the designers put the ironing pad in the back because she, rightly, doesn’t want you sewing over a zipper. I just omitted the zipper and made an open pocket. I think it will be much more useful and I think having the front (with the ironing pad) open to the front is much better. I didn’t want the front of the inside opening from the back. Also, I will be able to slip things, like my phone, into that front pocket easily without unzipping.

I haven’t made any pouches to use with this bag, like I talked about back in March of last year. I put some square ‘rings’ in the seam of the pockets, so if I have one to attach to the inside of the bag, I will be ready. I wasn’t careful about the way I placed the pockets and both ‘rings’ ended up on the same side of the bag. I don’t think it will make much difference, but we will see.

UCAB: Back
UCAB: Back

The back is a tight fit over the handle of my sewing machine rolly bag, but it does fit. There is another open pocket, for which I am sure I will find a use.

One thing I did was use Renaissance Ribbon as a trim on the handles, over the pink, and on the front pocket. I want to do more of that type of trim. I think it looks nice.

Stay tuned for some ‘in use’ pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item 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.

Finished Journal Cover

Journal Cover - closed
Journal Cover – closed

I am still tidying up after all the work in my workroom. One of the things I found was a piece of ‘made’ fabric (improv piecing) that was just the right size for a journal cover. I sat down and made one!

I am still not completely up and running, so it was good to make something that involved, at least, a little piecing.

I just used flannel for the inside. I didn’t add an inside cover. I did that once before and it seems to work fine.