Tag: Handbag Sampler

Lost and Found….Again

My appointment with Colleen is coming up quickly and with Triumphant well on its way to being finished I went looking for the Handbag Sampler. That project was found a year ago and nothing has happened, so I decided to sew it together and get it quilted as is.

OMG! I have no idea what the deal is with this project. It has hide and seek in it’s seams. As mentioned, I couldn’t find the blocks.  I KNOW I put them somewhere easy to find. I took boxes off the top shelves of the fabric closet and looked through them again. Stay tuned for some posts on the projects <insert eye roll here> I found. 

Handbag Sampler July 2025
Handbag Sampler July 2025

No dice so I started working on zipper pouches, but I couldn’t get my mind off of these blocks. I had a couple of more ideas for where they could be, which didn’t pan out, so I looked through my project boxes. I found them, eventually, in a box of random blocks. They were easily accessible, but not visible. Now they are on the design wall and will be sewn together soon.

I am not putting them away until the top is done and it is ready to go to Colleen’s.

FOUND! Handbag Sampler

Handbag Sampler blocks
Handbag Sampler blocks

I finally found the Handbag Sampler blocks!!! They were in a bin at the top of my fabric closet

I need at least a few more blocks, which means I have to find the fabrics I used. I have the focus fabric, the handbag fabric, but the others weren’t with it. I haven’t looked for them, but I am confident that they are together and I didn’t use them for something else.

This sampler start has a really different look than the Aqua-Red Sampler and the Original Sampler, though many of the blocks are the same or similar.

Handbag Sampler

Handbag Sampler
Handbag Sampler

In going through old photos, I found photos of the Handbag Sampler I have been talking about recently.

I haven’t actually found the blocks, but, at least, I have a photo and sort of know what I have.

Handbag Sampler Nosegay
Handbag Sampler Nosegay

I found a photo of a Nosegay block that I made (or am in the process of making as well. The 9th block is good, because that means, if I find the blocks, I can just put the quilt together. I don’t have to search out fabric, which is all very distinctive. Of course,in terms of learning, it isn’t quite as comprehensive a Sampler as the Aqua-Red Sampler. There is no applique completed.

I have to find the blocks before I decide what other blocks to make.

How to Sew a Curve in 3 Easy Lessons

I spent time this week catching up to my students on my blocks. I had the pieces to the Drunkard’s Path blocks cut for weeks, but couldn’t seem to get them together. I pinned and pinned and pinned and pinned and pinned and something didn’t seem right. I couldn’t figure out what it was and I couldn’t sew the things with so many pins. Per chance, I picked up Ruth McDowell’s Piecing book. If you don’t have this book, get it. It is the best.

Anyway, I read the bits about sewing curves and found the problem. Clipping! I had forgotten to clip the concave part of the curve. I think I was so caught up in having problems with the block when I was a beginner and trying to make the Drunkard’s Path that I couldn’t think straight.

I sewed all the little blocks together then played with the layout for a few days and came up with the following layouts:

Drunkard's Path
Drunkard’s Path

Good graphic look on this one.

Drunkard's Path #2
Drunkard’s Path #2

I really like the way the middle circle comes forward in this design.

Drunkard's Path #4
Drunkard’s Path #4

Not sure what the heck this is supposed to be, but it obviously doesn’t work.

Drunkard's Path #5
Drunkard’s Path #5

I like the way the pinwheel type design shows up. This is my second favorite.

Drunkard's Path #6
Drunkard’s Path #6

Again good graphic look, but the way the circles go off the side don’t appeal to me as much as the other layouts.

Drunkard's Path #7
Drunkard’s Path #7

This is supposed to be an X, but the X doesn’t show up, because I used three colors (2 for the background) instead of just two total.

Until I finally decided on the design below. I did have a hard time deciding between this and the pinwheels:

Drunkard's Path Final
Drunkard’s Path Final

This exercise, again, shows how great blocks are. I could make a whole quilt with this block and do each one with a different layout. I think that there is so much that can be done with block designs.