Temple Bag Making with My Friend, Janice.

My third Temple bag, front.

Back of my Temple bag.

Janice's first Temple bag.  I did the prep, and she did the rest.

The back of Janice's bag.

The insides of our bags match. 

Second Try

Bird's eye view.

The first try is inside.  The large and the small, no mediums, yet.

My zipper tab is on the outside this time. 

I didn't like the crinkly look of the small one with the interfacing, and I thought maybe all the extra seams would be enough for some extra body on the large one, but I think it could do with more body.  Maybe, batting.

Oops!

I saw these on Instagram, people were making them from Noodlehead's blog here, and on impulse I decided I needed to make one.  It's her Open Wide Zipper Pouch, in three sizes, this is the smallest.  It started off badly, when i saw as I had started ironing on interfacing, that there was a huge stain, about the size of a silver dollar.

Bad went to bader, when I sewed it up, and turned it right side out.  The left side is supposed to have a cute little tab, and my end is on the inside, not the outside.  It did save me having to make a tab though, just trying to look on the bright side.

It does open wide though, and even mine, with it's major faults, came out kind of cute.  The interfacing makes it kind of crumply looking though, I'm going to make another, but maybe this time I'll leave it out. 

Temple Bags 3 and 4 (aka Huge Messenger Bag)

My Quilt Diet had a quilt along for these, and since my friends from Idaho are visiting next week, I've been doing the prep for the lady of the pair and I to make them while they're here.  There's still plenty left to do, bottom to top:   inside flaps, exterior, straps, zipper pockets, other 5 pockets, and interior lining.

Sets 1-5 Santa

Set 4

Set 5

Mix of sets 1-5 to .see if it works adding purple and black to the original green, blue, red, gold, and cream.  I'm not swapping, so I'm trying to make it scrappier

Santa - Group No. 3

Disappearing 9 Patch Blocks

I should be doing a lot of other things this morning, mainly housework and grocery shopping, but instead, I spent this morning making these Disappearing 9 Patch blocks.  Our friends are coming to visit the end of next month, and if there is time we may make Temple bags (also called Huge Messenger Bags) together.  I think these might do for blocks for the fronts and backs.  The instructions for the bags are here.  It's from Marion of My Quilt Diet, lots of good things on her blog.

Mail Surprise and more Springtime Sky

We received a very nice gift in the mail today, from our grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Germany.  We are in for some yummy treats.

I got my Springtime Sky (Grand Illusion) washed and on the bed.  I think it is just the size we like, some have been too big, or too small, and my husband says it doesn't make his eyes go crazy, so I think I'm good.  We have yellow drapes in the room, and I had to play with Photoshop, which I'm not too good at, so I have a variety of hues.  The two above are closest to original, but I think I like this one best.

Santa Blocks

I did my math, and to do a queen sized, I need 90 blocks.  Since I'm not swapping I decided to do a set 1 and set 2 each month with different colors.  Amy, the girl who's running the swap (which I'm not doing) said no she'd give me the list of blocks so I didn't have to do duplicates.  I'll still keep this months duplicates, and then switch to Amy's list.

Amy, has put lots of time into this swap-sew along, and she is the mother of twin baby girl toddlers.  I wanted to say thank you, so I made a set of blocks for her.  These are from her master plan, 3 from month 10 and 3 from month 11.   I've made 18 blocks in the past week, but now will take a break from quilting, as I have my brother coming this weekend, and friends coming the latter part of February.  I think it's time to do some housework. 

Santa's Quilt Sew Along

Oops, I guess I shouldn't text while sewing.

Supposed to do 6 blocks a month.  This is before I got the arch's sewn on.

My 6 blocks are finished. 

And Santa is working on his version of our sew-along quilt.  The sew-along is with Facebook group Friendship Quilting Group.