Beccie's Bag

Last week, DH and I had plans to meet his sister and her husband for lunch on Thursday.  Somehow I got it in my mind that it was 'Friday' and I changed it on the calendar without checking.  Ooops!  Anyway, they showed up and we didn't.  We did change it to Friday at that point and had a nice lunch together at Olive Garden.  I felt bad though and she admired my bag here so I made her a facsimile yesterday.  We will deliver it today, she likes the name brand cloth purses and so hopefully she'll like this one, too.  Mine had fabric from Ikea for the straps and lining, and they didn't have anymore at Ikea.  In fact, they had a very sad array of fabric the last couple of visits.  I hope that they aren't going to stop carrying fabric in our Ikea. PS   I pressed the straps and they look much better now.

Vince and Robert's Quilts

I think they liked them.   I got a call  on the way home from my brother saying that he might have to hurt his son, "He keeps saying that his quilt is prettier".

Kaylea's Quilt and Sewing Room Redo

My daughter's third quilt.  She doesn't consider herself a quilter, but she doesn't hate it.  (This isn't in my sewing room, it's at her house.)

When I quilted my brother and nephew's quilts I could see why it's recommended to have a wall on your left to support the big quilts.  After church yesterday I came home and did some heavy moving.  This is pretty much the same except the bed is moved closer to my office area, the bookcases are moved and my embroidery machine went to the other side of the bed.

This corner did have the TV in it and my Bernina under the window.  Now my quilting area gets this corner and a wall, and my Bernina has moved under the other window.

The brown cabinet moved down a bit to make room for my embroidery machine and it's cabinet.

My office area is back there.

New home for the TV.  Now it can be watched from the bed, which will be good for company.

My Bernina and cabinet have the side window now and still a good view of the TV from there.

Better view of my embroidery machine beside the kitchen door.

Looking in from the kitchen door.

Vince and Robert's Quilts Done

It's taken until the end of April, but yesterday I 'finally' had two finishes.  I have 6 quilts to the basting stage and have for awhile, but these quilts for my brother and his son, my nephew took precedence and so I started them the latter part of March.  I've kept my nose to the grindstone (pretty much) and now they are finished.

This one is my brothers it's from Bonnie Hunter's "Fourth of July" pattern enlarged to the size of about 92" by 102".  I can't wait to deliver it on Tuesday and hopefully see it on his bed.

This is my brothers quilt back.  The blocks are leftovers from a bunch of unfeminine quilts that I made for many of the men in my life a year or two ago.   He has one of them.

And of course his label.  I should have picked a different color thread, it doesn't show up too well on the navy blue.

And of course, my nephews.  It started out to use up some leftover bonus hst's from his dad's quilt and then took on a life of its own.  I think that even though there are a lot of the same fabrics and the colors are both red, white and blue, that they are still yet very different looking quilts.  I think this one is about 77" by 97".

I hope he likes bears, fish, cabins and eagles.

More of the leftover blocks and some of the inner border fabric from his dads quilt.  The green stripe was not planned, I sewed the brown pieces long wise instead of short wise and came up short.

His mom's birthday is today, wish that I could have gotten it to him a little earlier, but I'm delivering them Tuesday.  We'll ride up to my brother in Jacksonville's home and then he'll drive to my brother in Brunswick, Ga's to visit and make the delivery.  The color is off on this, the back is a brownish tan and it looks kind of gold here.

Misc. and Bernina 830 Record

After church my DH was up to making a grocery store run for a few things and he also picked up these pretty flowers.

I'm not a good flower arranger, but I did like how this bloom stands a bit above the rest.

Clearance was hard to resist.  I had wanted one of the bowls for keeping rolls warm for several years and this one is very pretty.  I'm wondering though, when this has been in the oven and is keeping the rolls warm, passing the bread could be a problem.  I guess we'll need some good potholders.

I gave this to my daughter about 25 years ago when I got my Bernina 1130 and I recently asked for it back.  It wasn't being used and needed some repairs.  It was only straight stitching and now it's back to making all its stitches.  When my daughter sews she comes to my house anyway, so now I have a pair of Berninas.  Unfortunately, the cord is still waiting to be repaired or replaced so I haven't been able to try it out.

Pretty stitches, I can't wait to do some bonding.

Yesterday my DD was over and she finished sewing this little quilt top for her stepdaughter and then she and I basted it.  This morning I cleaned up my Juki and started quilting it.  I'm still getting used to my new table, but I think I'm going to like it a lot.  My granddaughter's birthday party is next weekend so I am putting this to the first of the line in case my daughter wants to include it in her birthday gifts.  Then on to the red, white and blues.

Kerri and Her Girls Bags

No post office for me.  My niece and her families plans changed a bit, so I sewed yesterday after I found out, and sewed from 7:30 this morning til about 1:15 and all the tote bags are finished.  The galloping horse rule would have to be followed, but they are finished.  They probably already have several tote bags each, but now they have "Aunt Candace Originals", lol.

Logann's Bag

My niece and her family are visiting from Iowa, they have stops in Brunswick, Ga., Jacksonville, Fl., then here and back to Brunswick.   She has five daughters, and they are visiting at least one theme park while they are here in the Orlando area.  I thought, kind of at the last minute, that it might be nice to make tote bags for her and her daughters since I still had quite a bit of the heavy Ikea fabric.  I have worked on them every chance for the past two days in between Dr. appointments and I have decided that this time I'm going to have to be defeated.  I have them all cut out, the pockets all lined, the names embroidered on, and the straps made, but there is still a day of sewing and my house looks like there has been an explosion.  I will have to finish them when they leave and send them.

This is for one of her three small girls.  The bags all have different lining fabrics and are three different sizes.  I bought the velcro yesterday, got the industrial strength, gummed up two needles trying to sew it on for extra strength and then read the label.  It's not for fabric.  That was what finally defeated me as I still had five more to go and would need to make a trip to the store.   That was about two a.m. last night.

The little girls are small, I hope this tote bag won't be way big for them.  I put a pen here for scale.  I made the two bags for her teenagers larger, but It's kind of a wild fabric, very ecology minded, and I know that teenagers might hate the fabric and never want to use them.  Maybe at least, they can use them to store things in their closets if that is the case.  The one for my niece is larger yet, as I figured that hers would probably end up with things in it for her, her baby boy, and her husband, but I guess they'll make do on this trip with what they already have.  I had good intentions, just poor time planning.

Strippie Quilts and Granny Square Info

Three more ready to be basted and quilted.  I think that the pink and yellow and pink and red borders unpurpled them a bit.

My great granddaughter enjoying her rocking chair and small quilt, watching Beauty and the Beast.  Makes it all worth it.   PS  I need another project like I need another hole in my head, but I sure have been eying the Granny Square Quilt Along.  I even ordered 4 yards of white Moda muslin over the weekend while Hancock's of Paducah was having their free shipping sale.  If you haven't noticed them, here are some links here and here.   Of course, I ordered mustard fabric a while back for bowties to take part in Bonnie's Quilt Along, and I haven't started those yet, but I still intend to.    And yet, a couple more methods on the Granny Squares.  This is for my benefit so I can find them later.    This and This And This too.

Strippie Quilts

  I recently got an accuquilt go and a 2 1/2" strip cutter.  I have been looking at you tube and the jelly roll races, so I thought something along those lines would be a good place to start experimenting.  I went to my long quarters and used most of them cutting 32 sets of 3 strips each and then decided that the size they were making wasn't what I wanted so I cut the long long strip into 40" sections and started sewing them as they had been cut.  The first picture I messed up a bit, and the second I think I got all sewed in sequence.  Then I started thinking that they were using 40 strips not 32 and so if I sewed them as they did that maybe the size would be about what I wanted anyway.

 The third one, I sewed their way, with one long long strip sewn together and then together again, etc.  I was right, the size wasn't much different from the first two.  I decided that in a real jelly roll race I am not likely to be even close to a winner, and that long piece with all the unpressed seams made me fumble fingered.  It does make a difference in the look.  Also, theirs have the seams on a slant, but I messed that up twice and decided I'd give that a try next time.   As far as the accuquilt go, I think that I'm going to like it, I can see where there is a learning curve, but I also can see that my strips were more exact and It was quicker, too.

This third one has its first border, or as my daughter calls borders and bindings, trim, and I used the pink to try to unpurple it.  My other three flimsys waiting to be basted and quilted are predominently purple, and I thought that was enough for awhile.  Here I am with 3 more purples.   I need to get busy on my great-granddaughters hers doesn't have any purple.

First Finish of 2012 - My Bag

First Finish of 2012

by Candace

My first finish for the year and it is already March.  I did do 6 cherry pit bags (like rice bags) for DH and my brother, who have both been ill, but they (the bags, not my DH and my brother)  and their little pillowcases didn't seem worthy of counting, this bag is a stretch, lol.   I wouldn't want any close scrutiny, as this is far from perfect, but it should go in the washing machine and dryer and come out nicely, as long as the Ikea heavier weight fabric washes well.  I looked on the internet and it seems that it's washable, so I have high hopes.  The straps and the inside lining are all from the Ikea fabric.  The outside pockets on each side are also lined with it.  If I were to make another, I'd probably do a little narrower straps, these are 2 inches wide.  I'm hoping that my cell phone will adapt well to one of the outside pockets.

This, as you can see, is the inside.  All the pockets are lined with a cotton striped fabric, and I did several lines of stitching on the top to hopefully add stability as I didn't use interfacing.  I have 3 pockets on the top side for keys and hand sanitizer, and then one large deep pocket on the bottom side for important papers, like lab orders and Dr. appointments and such.  I put a long strip of velcro along the top to keep everything inside.  I see that I still have some threads to clip.  I guess that it won't be a joy forever, as it is not necessarily a beauty, but hopefully, it will last a few years.  If I decide not to carry it as a bag, it will still be a nice tote bag.   I chose the green, blue and white Ikea fabric because it was the only heavier weight fabric that I had on hand.   I thought since this is such a momentous finish and all, being as how it's taken me three months for my little finish, so that I would join in with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and you can see more finishes here on her blog