Lunch Bag - Second Attempt

I finally got around to making myself another lunch bag, larger than the first one.

This one measures 14" high by 15" wide by 5" deep.

I used a laminate fabric for the lining.

I think this one will hold my lunch, snack, water bottle and thermos of coffee on the days I work at my LQS. I used the same tutorial as before, just upsized the pieces a bit. I cut my lining and outer bag pieces 12" by 15.5", my rim pieces are cut 3" by 15.5", handles are cut 4" by 12" and the cover is 10" by 15.5". Although I wish I had remembered about doing the french seams on the cover. I should have cut that piece 10" by 16" to be able to do french seams.

I had a helper during my photo shoot. He kept trying to photo bomb my bag! So I appeased him by relenting to take several "funny" photos once I had gotten all the shots I needed. Here is his favorite.

What a ham!

Dance by the Light of the Moon

I will be teaching an embroidery class this next quarter at my LQS. Students can choose any embroidery pattern in the store. Since most of the embroidery patterns we carry are by Crabapple Hill, it will most likely be one of those designs. I am doing Dance by the Light of the Moon. Here is the top panel - traced, colored and ready for embroidery.

The second fabric I tea-dyed back in June is perfect for the embroidery base.

I'm trying two new things with this pattern. The first is using spool Cosmo floss. The second is using metallic Cosmo floss.

I love the spool floss!! It is two strands of floss. So much nicer than cutting a length of 6 strands and then having to pull out two at a time to use. The metallic floss is a bit challenging to use. The first strand I cut was too long. It knotted on me and knots in metallic floss are more challenging to get out. After that first strand, I have been careful to use shorter lengths. This has been much easier. It is not prickly but more like sewing with very fine tinsel.

I'll try to get a better picture of this project next time so you can see the difference between the regular floss and the metallic on the tree. If you look at the branch the owl is sitting on in the photo above, the top part of the branch is done with the metallic, the bottom part with the regular floss.

Rainbow Tote Bag

A special someone has a birthday coming up. She requested a "rainbow colored" tote bag. I hope this will serve.

For the inside I used an orange and purple tie-dye look print.

It is fun to make things for someone else who loves bright colors like me!

Fifth Block Quilted in Curve It Up QAL Quilt

Each one I finish becomes my new favorite.

Scrap Jar Jewel Box

I have always like the Jewel Box pattern. Now I have finally made one. This was the Scrap Group project we worked on yesterday.

Mine is made from scraps and Kona white. If I make another I will reverse the fabrics in the pieced border. But I'm not changing this one. I have not decided whether or not to add a second border. I could add another pieced border using my stash of 2" squares. Or I could just cut some yardage for the second border. If I don't add another border, I have a nice blue and green stripe that I plan to use for binding. This measures 48" by 54" at the moment.

Fourth Block Quilted in Curve It Up QAL Quilt

I kicked Spooky out so I could quilt another block. She didn't go willing.

Metro Medallion

I finished the pieced border on my scrap project and am now undecided as to whether or not it is done or needs another border. So I decided to make a couple Metro Medallion blocks while I ponder what to do next on the scrap project.

I plan to add the triangles to the outside corners of my blocks to form diamonds at the block intersection points, but I'm waiting on that for now. I need to settle on a block arrangement first because I plan to alternate between two fabrics for the triangles.

Monday

I made no more progress on quilting my Curve it Up QAL quilt since last week. One reason for the lack of progress is that I worked at my LQS three days in a row at the end of last week. This is the other:

I needed to work on a different project yesterday so I just let her sleep. I can't show you the entire project just yet. Below are pieces of the border.

This is my next Scrap Group project. We meet on Wednesday. I need to have it together enough to be able to write instructions. Later this week I hope to be able to show you the completed top.

Tip of the Day

I've used a lot of irons in my day. As you will see in the photos below, I'm still using this no-frills iron. I am still happy with the iron, but I must confess that I have left it on unintentionally a time or two. My previous long-term iron had an automatic shut-off, which drove me crazy at times. It turned off after 10 minutes and took a seemingly long time to heat up. So I like that this iron does not have an automatic shut-off, but this also has its drawbacks.

This tip is really from my mom. Since she doesn't have a blog I thought I'd pass it along to you on her behalf.

Use a bracelet as a reminder.

Bracelet on iron

If the bracelet is on the iron, it means the iron is off.

Bracelet on me

If the bracelet is on me, the iron is on. This way if I get called out of my sewing room I am wearing a reminder that I need to go back and turn off my iron.

I've been using this system for several weeks (after leaving my iron on all night) and so far it has worked wonderfully for me.

A Finish - Spring 12" by 12"

To read my first post about this little project, go here.

My Spring 12" by 12" is finished.

I ended up covering "the bump" with a bit of wool. It doesn't disguise it completely, but it's much better than without in my eyes.

I need to move on to other things so I'm calling this one done.

Third Block Quilted

I don't have a real plan for these blocks. I'm just making it up as I go along. Trusting that by the time I finish one part I'll have figured out how to quilt the next part. And hoping that I don't get a fantastic idea that will require me to rip out previously stitched areas.

And I'm not fast. Each block is taking well over an hour to complete. Of course some of that time is spent thinking, not actually quilting.

I hope you don't get tired of seeing these one block at a time. Three down, nine to go.

Spring 12" by 12"

My current art group 12" by 12" project has a theme of "Spring" and requires using the technique "stamping." This is the second project for which we added a technique requirement as well as a theme. After doing a few of these we realized that most of us were just doing the same thing each time while interpreting the theme. We wanted to force ourselves to branch out and try new things so we added the technique requirement.

I'm not quite finished but can show you two in-progress photos.

For the stem I used half of a zipper. I'm not wild about the lump it caused underneath the flower part where the stem meets the flower. I should have probably cut the zipper teeth off of that before sewing the flower edges down by machine. I may go back and fix that or I may just cover it up some how.

The center portion of each flower petal is stamped and then I hand embroidered along the stamped line with variegated floss. I plan to add some more hand stitching to the leaf centers and the flower petal centers.

Below you can see the stamped fabric before cutting. The fabric is folded in half in the photograph.

I tried a new fusible product, Heat 'n Bond Feather Lite. I really like it! I had no trouble hand sewing through it or machine sewing through it. It fused well and is not as stiff feeling as Heat 'n Bond Lite. I would compare it Misty Fuse in weight but it is a bit easier to use because it is paper backed. I also had no trouble peeling the paper off of my shapes after cutting them out. It will probably become my go-to fusible product!

Another Block Quilted

I got a second block quilted on my Curve It Up QAL quilt.

I'm just making this up as I go along. I don't have an idea that excites me for the next one. I'm not in a hurry on this project so I can afford to wait for the muse to strike.

Driveway

Our driveway has needed replacing for several years.

It is one of those old style ones with the gravel down the center. The gravel travels everywhere. Weeds grow in the gravel. And you can't easily shovel snow off the gravel so it just builds up all winter.

Here is Miss Spooky Boo modeling a section that has spalled badly.

It is also really difficult to shovel snow off of spalled concrete.

This has nothing to do with the driveway, but just look at how this crazy cat was sleeping the other night.

She was like this for about an hour!!

Back to the driveway. I sent the boy out to take pictures of the driveway before they came on Monday morning to begin removing it.

He took the first two pictures in this post as well as many more similar ones. Then there were about a dozen of the above type photos along with some video of him spinning on the sidewalk in front of our house. Ten seconds of the first one of those and I felt like I was going to hurl!

It was a good thing I sent him out early on Monday because the driveway was completely gone in about 2.5 hours! The bobcat got to spend the night in front our house.

The boy asked to have his picture taken on it.

The new driveway is much wider, about 4 feet wider and one solid piece.

view from street

view from house

They said not to park on it until Sunday. The husband will probably make us wait a day or two longer.

Layers of Hope - Quilting 911

I'm not sure where I first read about this. It might have been through a friend on Facebook. There is a blog titled Layers of Hope - Quilting 911. The blog author is a 911 Dispatcher "who just wants to give back to our unseen heros that need help when in distress." At the moment, she is asking for quilts for the family members of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who died recently in a wildfire in Arizona. I am sending this quilt and pillowcase for the 7 year old son of one of them.

If you have a finished quilt or have time to make a quilt, go here for details. Leave a comment on one of the posts if you are able to contribute. Make sure you leave a way for her to contact you in your comment if you are a "no-reply" blogger.

If you can't make a quilt (or it is cost prohibitive for you to send one), she is also asking for 6.5" blocks so she can make a quilt for the one member of the team who survived. I don't want to imagine how difficult this situation is for him. The details about the blocks can be found here.

With a very large fire so close to home, I am more aware of how dangerous wildfires are and how dedicated the fire fighters are. The wind has shifted in our area and the town of South Fork is no longer in immediate danger. The residents have been back in their homes for over a week. We aren't even getting that much smoke and all roads through the area are open. The fire is still only about 25% contained and is now well over 100,000 acres in size. It is burning in remote, rough terrain so most likely will not be completely out until after the area gets a good bit of snow this winter.

I Did A Lot, But Got Nothing to Show For It

I did a lot of cutting this weekend. I cut up the scraps and unused fat quarters of my A Stitch In Color collection. I plan to use them for my new Scrap Group project. I really should start on that this week since the next meeting is fast approaching. I need to write some directions for it as well as have a sample ready!

I also cut out pieces for another quilt. I'm making another one of these quilts. Photo below is of the first one.

I have to make another one because the first one is on display at the store attempting to sell kits. I planned to give it to someone but am now making another one to giveaway instead of waiting for the first one to become available.

I have everything cut out except the black strips and the outer border. Yes, I purchased another kit. I cut up all the fabric from the first kit first, but I needed the kit for the outer border and the large flowers print for the center. When this second one is done I will use up as much of the leftover fabric as I can for the back and the cut up the rest into usable scrap sizes.

I also did a lot of chores such as laundry, grocery shopping, gardening, and fixing dinners. All the really glamorous stuff.

Quilting

I have one block of my Curve It Up QAL quilted.

At this rate, it will take me several days to finish this project. I'm not in a hurry though.

I also quilted this table runner for my mom.

Hope you like it Mom!