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

Misc. The Good the Bad, but Cute not Ugly

Oh, Happy Day!  My table finally arrived the first of the week and now it is together.  My DH has been having a bad time the last 3 weeks and then last week-end he had a bad reaction to a new muscle relaxer.  I mean, really bad.  He could hardly walk, had to have help, above and beyond the walker that he has had for the past 3 weeks, and his thinking was all jumbled up.  He thought that he needed to go to work and he has been retired for about ten years.  He was very very depressed to the point of crying, which is not like him at all, in spite of his health problems he usually keeps fairly upbeat.  Luckily, the worst hit Sunday and my daughter was able to help me and then Sunday evening when I finally didn't give him a choice and insisted on the emergency room, she came and then when they sent him home after some tests (said he was better off home since he is prone to getting an infection and home was safer) she and 3 of her grown children were there to help me get him home and settled.  It was a bad night, but Monday morning my son came (in spite of pain from dental work) and he helped me all day.  He and his father played a 6 hour game of chess, which goes to show that DH brain still wasn't over the effects, it usually takes them about 20 or 30 minutes, but DH was taking 40 minutes sometimes to decide and then he'd try something illegal.  He has always been a very good chess player, so totally not himself. 

Monday evening, I could see that he was getting better but thought that I could still use some help, so I called my brother from Jacksonville and he came Tuesday evening and stayed until Thursday morning.  By then the effects seemed to be passed thank goodness.  Meanwhile, my brother put together my new quilting table, put a light bulb in my shower where we are too short to reach, put in an electric plug for me so that I don't have to do contortions to plug in my vacuum and clean my sewing room, gassed both cars and put air in their tires, and also put new wipers on my car.  He also put in a digital antenna so that we can get local channels.  We have been using a Roku, which is great, but didn't have the news due to no local channels.

I also added this to my sewing room, it's on my quilting table set up, but will have to be moved when I quilt.  I have seen them around the web, and this one was on Craigslist, I picked it up this morning.  Aunt Polly from the link above has an awesome sewing room, see here.  Maybe, one of these days mine will be as full of goodies as hers (my carousel, not my room).   Also, while I was picking it up I noticed that we were next door to a Harbor Freight store, which I read about on different quilting forums from time to time.  It seems that they have carpet cutting wheels, which according to many fit just fine in a rotary cutter and work just as well as the much more expensive blades.  I hope that they are right, as I bought 10 packs of 2 each.  It is about a 30 minute ride and so if they work well I wanted to have enough to last.  I will be so happy to be able to change my blade more often since it will be only $1.00 for each new blade. 

Here is another of my favorite things that my brother did for me while he was here.  When I moved from the bedroom where my sewing room was, to the family room, where it is now, I really missed my ruler rack which DH has been too ill to move for me.  Ta Da, here it is and I'm loving having it in the room with me and down a little lower than it was, so that it is very very handy.  Brother's can be a wonderful thing.  My brother from Brunswick didn't come this time, he is battling health problems and with a very good attitude.  I have the best brothers ever.  By the way, the one who didn't come made my ruler rack.

I've also been working on organization.  I was trying to cut up boxes to make little mini bolts, but that is a hard job.  I read how people were buying comic book boards and so I thought I'd give it a go.  They work just as well (although I used 2 each as I am using rubber bands to hold things together and it gives more body).  Mine doesn't look so perfect as some that I have seen but after all the work I did on the cardboard, they're staying, lol.  The bottom shelf right is holiday fabrics, mostly Christmas.  I have a much smaller stash than many, but I like it that way.  I just go to the store or order on the internet when I have gaps.  The fleece on the top shelf, and the first 5 fabrics on the left on the middle shelf are for a quilt for one of my great-granddaughters.

The containers on the top hold pieces about fat and long quarter size.  The shelves have pieces about 1/3 to 5/8 of a yard.  The larger pieces go on the little bolts.

I also picked up these bins from Target to try to organize my scraps into colors, and I got an accuquilt go which I am hoping that I'll love and get lots of use from.  I got the die that came with it, the 2 1/2" strip die, and saw a really good sale and ordered the small tumbler die.  Everything was on sale, but I think that I have still shot my wad for the year.  

These are my 3 great grandbabies.  I think they are adorable.

Valentine's Day and Misc. Quilting

Happy belated Valentine's day.  We had a nice one.  It didn't start out too well, as the first thing we had to take DH for a blood test, but then my daughter came over with Chinese take out, a nice card that she made herself and these beautiful flowers.   They have opened up nicely, yesterday they were about half the size.  DH's brother and his wife are visiting from up north, and so we went to his sister's house, about 45 minutes away, and had dinner with the visitor's and most of his sisters family, there were about ten of us, and the food was delicious.  We were there for most of the evening and got home late for us, about eleven.  I spent the rest of yesterday making cherry pit bags (like rice bags, but filled with cherry pits instead) to give.  I made 4 of them along with little french seam pillowcases, and they seemed to be well received.  Hopefully, they will find them useful, although that sounds like I'm wishing them an ache or pain or a tummy ache, and that's not the case at all, lol.  I gave one each to his brother and his wife, his sister and his wife, my niece and her husband, and my nephew and his girlfriend. 
As far as my quilting projects, I have 3 flimsy's ready to go with backings and bindings prepared.  I need to cut the battings and then get them basted.  I hope to give one away on Sunday, so hopefully, I can get at least one basted and quilted before then.  I have decided that I'm in purple overload, all three quilts have purple as a main color, I need my next project to be a different color with very little purple.
My new sewing table is still not here.  I  have received the insert and the rubber feet that I ordered for it, but as per the email I received yesterday they are hoping to have the manufacturer ship my table on Friday (What, it hasn't even been shipped yet, I ordered it January 14th.).  I am getting anxious, but I do still have to baste my quilts, and I can quilt the one I want this week on my old table.   Patience is not my greatest virtue though.
I'm trying to organize my fabric and I saw a method that looked interesting on youtube.  Unfortunately, I just looked for it and couldn't find it, but the lady cut cardboard boxes into pieces about 7 1/2 by 13 and then folded her fabric in half lengthwise and wrapped it around the little mini bolts securing everything with a rubber band.  I have done about 40 so far, and am waiting for more boxes.  I keep trying to get organized, but it's two steps forward and one step back.  Things were really in a mess after working on my three quilts, the biggest culprit being Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay).  I'm getting back to normal though, and hopefully when I finish, better than normal.  When I get a little farther along I'll post pictures.  I must say though cutting up the cardboard is not an easy task.

Flimsy's Complete and Another Project

The third of the 3 I've been working on is a complete flimsy now.  I ordered the border fabric from Hancock's of Paducah and I'm very pleased with it.  It's blackberries.  Now on to working on the backings, etc. 

Yesterday we went to the local quilt shop and visited their $5.00 table.  I love the bargain areas.  On the top left is a fabric that I just liked for me, but the other four I thought would make a nice big girl quilt for my great granddaughter, Mackenzie.  She turned two in December, and really doesn't have her big girl bed yet, but she and her mom and dad are going overseas for 3 years, so I figured I could make it and send it with them.  Where they are going it can be fairly cold and I thought I'd use fleece on the back.  Has anyone quilted a quilt with a batting and fleece?  How did you like how it turned out?   Unless I find a different pattern that I want to try, I may make this another leader ender quilt and fussy cut the blocks on the top right to use for the alternate block centers.

Mackenzie got her bangs cut and I think she looks even more adorable.  She's a cutie if I do say so myself.  She has one of those little faces that just make you feel happy to gaze at.

Another Flimsy Complete

Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay) is a flimsy now and has all its borders.  I added 3 more to Bonnie's 2, a 1 1/2", 5", and 2" finished for a total of 8 1/2 inches on each side.  It's kind of funny that Bonnie's last mystery was big and I made 2 out of it (still working on 1) and this one was small for her, and I made it into the biggest quilt that I've made I do believe.  It will be about 91.5" by 101.5" finished. 

A corner, as you've probably already guessed.  This close up shows that it really is blue and not green.   There is a background of blue and then gold figures with a bit of blue, and in most pictures it makes the fabric look green. 

Just another view.  This is on the queen sized bed in my sewing room, but when it's finished it will go on the queen sized bed in DH and my bedroom.  I've got 5 of the 6 borders that I've been working on completed, and just have 1 more to go on my leaders and enders quilt.  Then of course it's on to making backs and bindings and then on to the quilting.  My new sewing machine table for my quilting seems to have been delayed.  Their website says 2-3 weeks, but now they seem to be a bit behind and they're saying 5-6 weeks.  I guess that unless I want to use my machine as is (I don't, I want to see if it is actually easier to FMQ when your machine is even with the table top) I have at least a couple more weeks to get things ready.

Sorry, it's been a few weeks and I guess I'm out of practice I should have recommended that if you want to check out lots of Orca Bay progress go here at Bonnie's blog.

No More Eyesore

We've been in our house about 25 years and the back porch had gotten pretty bad.  We had renters who put a few small holes in the screens and then last year we had the house pressure washed and the pressure was too much for the old screen fabric and the holes were bigger and more plentiful.  The rug was also about 25 years old, so you can imagine that it was needing replaced, although it held up really well and the color was still good after all those years.

The old carpet was blue and I was ready for a change so this was quite different and I like it.  I hope to spend many hours back here just chilling.  On a different subject, last night I worked on my piano key border for my Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay)  I thought probably this should be about enough, WRONG, I have about 140 inches done and I need about 334.  Oh well, it's not a race.  I'm making each key 1" by 5" finished size, so at least, it is fairly easy to figure.

One Down

One down.  It's girly.  I have tried Kona solids and now Moda solids and they both seem to fray to the max.  Does anyone have a good quality solid fabric that comes in nice colors and frays only a little?  I have one more border to put on my leader and ender quilt, and two more still on my Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay).  I am half done and then need to work on the backs and bindings.  I'm not exactly racing to the finish, but I'm moving slowly.