I started the purple wallet before Christmas last year to give as a gift, but never finished it. I finally got another package of snaps and finished it. I am a little short on handwork right now, so it made sense. It will be a gift, but for whom, I don’t know.
The Skull wallet goes with the Jane Market Tote bag I gave to Lil Sissy. Poor girl. I gave her her gifts over a month rather than all at once, nicely wrapped on the day. All I can say is that I hope the dribs and drabs method made the day last longer.
Skull Wallet Open
That is not one of my new, cool Photoshop Elements backgrounds. That is trying to get rid of the background and running out of time to figure out what I was doing wrong. It looks pretty cool, I think. I tried to center some interesting motifs on the inside, so when she opened it, she would see some skeletons. Hope she likes it.
By the way, this pattern is good for bus passes! I saw one made with a loop and clip on it, which I thought was a good modification.
Last year on my trip down to Long Beach, one of the many fabric stops we made was at Hart’s Fabrics in Santa Cruz. In case, I didn’t mention it back then, it is a great store. Great service, lots and LOTS of great fabric, indie patterns, notions, laminated cottons, embellishments, everything a girl could want.
While there, I saw some skull fabric that was sort of a canvas or home dec fabric, but smooth and not really heavy. I thought I might have trouble sewing it, but the print was so great I knew my sister would love a bag made from it. I intended to make it for Christmas, as her birthday had passed by the time I got home from the trip. Didn’t do it. The fabric sat and stared at me.
Skull Jane Market Tote - detail
Sharona, owner of New Pieces and solver of all problems point out the skull toile to me when I was in the shop a few weeks ago. Suddenly this project came together. I made the bag in a few hours. Now I just have to grab Lil Sissy so I can give it to her.
I find this to be an odd quilt. It was a fun challenge to put together, but it looks so out of place with all of my other quilts. I like it, but don’t know what to do with it.
Nota Bene: my quilt hanger said that this is about the largest quilt he can hold for me. I suggested he train The Young Man and they work in tandem for larger quilts.
On Friday, I made the sleeve for this and the Zig Zaggy quilt. As a result I can say that this quilt is completely finished! Hooray!
Making the sleeves is another one of those tasks that I don’t like that much. I have to say, though, that using Robbi Joy Eklow’s directions from her book Free Expression. It may seem like a lot of fabric, but I love the way these sleeves look: professional and finished.
The BAMQG Board got charm packs from Robert Kaufman.
You might remember this bag from the end of 2010. I finished it, but wasn’t really happy with the way it came out. For some reason, I couldn’t move on from it, so a few months ago, I ripped out the straps and then left it to languish. Yesterday evening, I redid the button loop and redid some of the top stitching. Then today, I finished the top stitching and sewed on a different button. It isn’t perfect, but I am much happier with the result. Before I was a little embarrassed that I had made the bag and now I don’t mind saying that I made it.
After finishing Stars for San Bruno #2, I feel like I have a little bit of brainspace. I feel like I can do a few small finishing projects. I need to piece some batting. I need to make a binding. I need to make sure the back for SfSB#2 is large enough (mom made it before she went on vacation and before I had finished the top), etc. There are those things that I would assign to an assistant, if I were a fancy enough quiltmaker to have an assistant. Since I don’t, I’ll just do it since I am in the right frame of mind.
Yes, I really did it! I made the first quilt in this series and it is finished. I have brought it around to CQFA and BAMQG and shown the contributors in those groups. I want as many people as possible who contributed blocks to see it before I give it to DH’s cousin.
Now I have to call the cousins and arrange to bring the quilt. I am nervous, since I don’t know them that well. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Nota bene: the Block-a-long will return next week.
Yes, Fabric of the Year 2010 is finished. I took it to the photographer today so that it can be professionally photographed before it goes to the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles Show. This is not a great picture, because the quilt is too large for my quilt holder (DH) to hold it out straight. I will replace it when the professional photos come back.
These pillows have been languishing in my fabric closet for so long they weren’t even on my WIP list. They were yelling at me very loudly on Saturday after I finished the Teacher Pillows. I was inclined to work on them since they were taking up valuable floor space in my fabric closet.
The class I took at the Sewing Workshop was called Simply Pillows and Linda Lee taught the class. I took the class in 1999. Most people didn’t piece their pillows, but since I was enamored with quiltmaking I decided to piece my pillows. We learned to do piping and the striped piping on the pillow above was already done when I took the pieces out of the bag on the weekend. I had to sew one seam and I was done. It is pathetic that I let this project languish for so long.
Actually, I was kind of surprised that I took the class in 1999, because I thought for sure I had taken it when I lived closer, but the dates are in my handwriting on the folder. Very strange.
Simply Pillows Class Project #2
The hourglass pillow did not finish as intended. I put on some piping, which was in the bag of supplies. I found out that the back wouldn’t fit, because, apparently, I needed to trim the front of the pillow before adding the piping. I took off the piping and just sewed the back to the front and called it done.
Whenever I finish the Teacher Pillow Project, I always feel a little sad. This is even after ripping half my hair out and spending way more time than I wanted in the process. Crazy, I know.Somehow the end result of a little pile of pillows is wonderful. And this is the last year I am doing this. The Young Man goes to high school next year and, except for special occasions or for special recognition, I am resolved to not make this many pillows again. (I know you are thinking “Famous Last Words.” Stop thinking that!)
2011 Teacher Pillow Group
This year I had 5 pillows to make, but decided, as I talked about yesterday, to also make a pillow for the Art Teacher, leaving me with a total of 6 pillows to make.
2011 Religion Teacher PillowReligion Teacher Back
I made a Greek Cross (pg.72) block for the 8th grade Religion Teacher.
2011 Science Teacher Pillow2011 Science Teacher Pillow back
The Science Teacher got a Big T (pg.37) block. Do you like the label? It is an exploding test tube. The Young Man’s goal of blowing something up in science class has not yet been achieved.
2011 Art Teacher Pillow2011 Art Teacher Pillow back
Art will receive a Martha Washington Star (pg.85). I really like the back that the Young Man did for her. Very appropriate, I think.
2011 SS & Reading Teacher Pillow2011 SS & Reading Teacher Pillow back
The Social Studies and Reading Teacher will also receive a Martha Washington Star. Look familiar? I was feeling uninspired. Now I think I should have made the block red, white and black, but I am not remaking it. I don’t know what the back means. Perhaps an inside joke?
2011 English/Literature Teacher Pillow2011 English/Literature Teacher Pillow back
English and Literature received a basket block pillow last year and she will receive the above Grape Basket (pg.71) this year. The fabrics and colors goes with the block I made last year. This basket block was a bit of pain. I have made a number of basket blocks and this one went together very strangely. When I had finished putting it together, I looked at it and thought that I would have done it differently, had I known.
2011 Math Teacher Pillow2011 Math Teacher Pillow back
The Math teacher will receive a Free Trade block (pg.67). see a theme here with the Sawtooth Star variations? Again, I was uninspired. The fabrics go with some I used last year. Hope she likes pink. The back depicts Pi out to a lot of digits.
In years past, I have also given the Resource teacher a pillow, but this year she is getting a quilt.
Nota bene: All the blocks are from a book called Around the Block. It is out of print, but has been been reprinted with v.2 and v.3 in a book called 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks. Very worthwhile purchase. I would have a hard time living without this book.
The last time you saw this quilt was after Thanksgiving.
Last night I finished the binding while watching Oceans 12 and now it is ready to go off to its new home. I am not ready for it to go off yet, because I will wait for the end of the school and give it then. I decided I am going to go and get several large gift bags (no, I am not making them, though I probably should) and just start filling them up with quilts and Teacher Pillows. The thought of having a bunch of gifts to wrap at the end of the year makes me crazy.
I have to admit that I have never gotten over the feeling that the quilting will ruin the look of my piecing. It turns out that I am really pleased with the quilting. Colleen did more feathers, which I love. She also paid special attention to the various borders – no all over patterns for me. The other thing that is making the finishing of these various quilts much easier is giving her the binding and having her sew it on. I can just bring it home and start working on the binding right away. Wonderful.
I decided that I should take a photo of the back, so I asked my quilt holder to turn the quilt around. You get a lovely view of the back:
Smart Aleck BackFrosted Stars Leftovers - Back
I like using the leftover fabric as the back, as I have said before. I prefer to use larger pieces, as I discussed when I was talking about making the back for FOTY 2010. Two panels were included in this group of fabrics. I thought it was a little odd looking, but one of them works for the back.
Here is the full quilt. I only showed part of it before, because it was too large to photograph in the space I had. I am going to make a second version in different fabrics with a few changes.
I wanted to get this one done so I could send it off, but didn’t get it done in time, so it will have to wait for the new owner to get home.
I really finished this in December, but never got around to taking a photo. Here it is in all of its glory. It will be a gift. This is a pattern from Sandy Gervais called It’s a Wrap. Someone thought the packages looked like elephants.
The last post about this project talks about selecting the border.s
I still have a bit of handsewing to do, but I want to bring this to the meeting this weekend, so I am considering it done. 😉 As Margi says: My quilt, my rules.
This is a great pattern. Once I sat down, focused and stopped with my own creative drama, it really came together.
I know now why one should use the fusible fleece. It is much stiffer and makes the bag stand up very well. This one is a little floopier than my first Chubby Charmer. My closet is a bit emptier because I used batting I already had.
Perhaps I should have used more blues and greens and held on to this for summer? Nah! I was ready for some cheerfulness after the unbelievably grey skies of the past few weeks.
My plan worked. My plan was to alleviate the depressing grey that was shrouding my town. It worked! Today was beautiful out! Blue skies… no clouds. It was gorgeous, even from the window of my office. And, peeking out of my bag was this cheerful (bordering on loud and obnoxious??) journal cover. It made me smile every time I caught sight of it.
I used the Philip Jacobs fabric I bought at Always Quilting after PIQF 2010. I still want to make a bag or something larger, but I haven’t gotten to it yet.
I didn’t plan on centering the flower, but it was a pleasant surprise.
Journal Cover - open
I used a bit of hand dyed fabric for the inside and added a little to the edges of Philip Jacobs fabric to add interest.
I have finished all of the pages my current journal, which has the Innocent Crush cover. I am sorry to be finished with that journal, because I wanted to carry it around in the Innocent Crush Flea Market bag. Adrianne brings her Flea Market bag to the BAMQG meetings and I admired it again at the last meeting. I wasn’t happy with the way my bagn turned out so I took it apart – not the whole bag yet, but the straps. You can kind of see the unevenness in the photo (the one I linked to above). I like the fabric and the design and didn’t want to just abandon it. When I made the bag, I was not able to sew the straps smoothly which meant that I tried to ease the handles together, which, further, left tucks in them. I didn’t like the way the tucks looked. I have unsewed the handles and am working on lining them up better. I haven’t done any further sewing on them. We’ll see.
Yes, I can reuse the Innocent Crush journal cover and I might do that. For now, though, I am loving the cheerful and fun Philip Jacobs cover.
This is a quick project. I made the journal cover in about a half an hour on Saturday morning.
I really like the Martha Negley giant vegetable prints. I am not sure why except that they are really different. This one was a much darker color than I thought when I bought it (online), which I mentioned when I made this pattern back in October. I was a little unsure what I would do with it.
This tote bag pattern is great! It is a good size and it is a useful size. I sew the straps a little differently than the pattern suggests, because I prefer the straps to be inside the seam. Otherwise this is a very clever pattern that goes together relatively easily and quickly.
I also think large scale fabrics show up very well on this pattern design.I finally learned to put the contrast fabric behind the pocket! TFQ likes to use the same fabric for the middle panel, but I like the way I have done it in the picture. I hope I remember to do it that way next time!
I have an idea in my head to make one of these a month all year. We will see: two months down, 2 bags complete.
My next wishlist item for this pattern is to make a bottom out of the fusible Timtex like stuff that Anna Maria Horner uses for the Multi-tasker tote and insert that to give the bag some stability.
