Finish for Friday

This week I have been playing around making myself some bags. These are not for my big order. I am just trying to teach myself new ways to construct things. 

I hate to use patterns. My mind just does not work like other people's minds, I guess, so I have to work things out in my own head and make them that way.

 This purse/bag took me about 5 or 6 hours. I would have been faster, but I started with no concrete idea and kept changing my mind about how I wanted it to look. I definitely learned a lot and the next one I make like this will be much nicer. However, I am happy enough with this one that I will carry it.

I think I might add a vintage jeweled pin or a scrappy gold fabric flower to the yoke.

Used a magnetic clasp and lined it using the same fabrics from the outside of the bag, but reversed their positions

Shirred the sides and bottom

The gray fabric is a $2/yd one from Walmart and the flowered velvet is a skirt from Goodwill. Stupid skinny size 4 people. Their clothes just do NOT have enough fabric.

My other sewing finish this week is something for my friend's grandfather. The arms of his couch are worn through, although the rest of it is in pretty good shape. We found a couple coordinating fabrics and made reversible arm covers for him. Well, actually my friend found the fabric and I made the covers. I told her she could tell him that she made them and take the credit but she said she doesn't want anyone thinking she can do stuff like that. I can definitely see her point.

I am pretty happy with how they turned out and they really weren't hard at all. 

Now, don't go telling anyone that I know how to make these. I'll deny it!

I am linking up to Lit and Laundry's Finish For Friday. Check it out!

One tote down, six to go

 In case you missed my last post, I am making 7 bags for an order for a friend. Today I finished the first one. 

(I want to keep it.)

I wish the green would show up more true. It's a very limey green, but on here it looks almost minty. I need a better camera or something. Or better lighting in a better house. Or something.

I wanted a really stiff bag that would be easy to fill so I used a heavyweight interfacing (Peltex? I think it was called?) and quilted it about a half an inch apart before I cut out the front and back. I did the quilting after I did the applique. It helped, but I only used a lightweight fusible interfacing for the lining and next time I think I will use the heavier weight for both. I would like the bag to stand up on it's own, which is asking a lot of a bag this size. Speaking of, it is:

27" across on the top.

19" across on the bottom

8" deep

17" high

The straps are about 3 ft long

Those measurements have no rhyme or reason, beside the fact that I cut it out to use the entire piece of brown upholstery fabric that I had. This was as big as I could get it- trust me, there were barely some shreds of waste. 

I only put 3 pockets inside- one for pens (or scissors), one that would be good for holding a cell phone and one that is pretty large. It holds a magazine with room to spare.

This was my first attempt at a loop/button closure. Notice the marking pen on the bag. Sign of a true seamstress, that. Or, no wait, that's sewing through your finger, isn't it? Never mind. I'm just a hack.

Next post: Mario and Luigi costumes. No sewing. Did you know you can spray paint clothes?

I am linking up to two parties this week. I actually made myself finish this today so I could get in on the fun. These parties are good for me. 

Lit and Laundry hosts Finish For Friday, which does not have to be a sewing related finish, and Amylouwho hosts a Sew and Tell every Friday. Both are super fun to cruise around. Now, go! Enjoy!

Cherry Checkerboard Quilt and I learned a new trick!

Cherry Checkerboard

Cherry Checkerboard with Super Helper

 I started this quilt a LONG time ago with the leftovers from this quilt. It sat around as a quilt top for, oh, forever. I have a hard time quilting anything larger than a baby quilt on my Bernina. Some people can ram a king size bedspread through there, but I am not one of them, being as I am not double jointed and have only the standard two arms.

Last year my local quilt store got a long arm quilter and made it available for renting. For $15/hr you can happily quilt tents or king size bedspreads or even normal size quilts. I took a class for 2 hours and the next day I quilted TWO quilts in about 7 hours. It was actually really fun. I dislike the quilting step on my domestic machine and expected not to like it on the long-arm. WRONG! I loved it. I will definitely be doing this regularly from now on. They even change the bobbin for you- and supply the thread. It's a great deal.

 I did loopdy-loops on this quilt and am very happy with how it turned out. Next time I might get brave and do some flowers or feathers or something fancy. 

We are keeping this quilt and are already using it on the couch. 

(But we do fold it up and put it away when we're done. At least while it still has that new car smell.)

I am linking up with Lit and Laundry for Finish For Friday. Swing on over and see what other bloggy persons have been up to.

ETA- I just found a really cool new to me blog, amylouwho, with a Sew and Tell for Fridays. There are some really really cool quilts and sewing projects over HERE.

This post is brought to you by the number 2.

I missed Finished For Friday last week, which is hosted by Lit and Laundry every week. I was trying for a quilty finish every week this month, but missed it. I did have a finish last Friday- I finished being 33! My birthday was Saturday, and not one, but TWO of my aunt-in-laws offered to babysit for us, so we got to go out on both Friday and Saturday nights. (TWICE in a row!!) Happy Birthday to me!!

I did (finally) get the TWO baby quilts bound this week so they are ready to go to their new owners on Monday.

For my birthday Paul went with me to TWO new-to-me quilt stores in Green Bay, and I chose a yard of fabric at each. (See how good I was? Only TWO new yards of fabric!)

Jane Sassaman designed this one for me:

Amy Butler kindly thought this one up just for my birthday:

THEN we went to Joann's and I got a new cutting mat! Yay! Paul was quite a good boy during our outing, although he did try to borrow my scarf to hang himself at one point.

The boys spent Saturday night sleeping over at their great-aunt and uncle's house, so during my peaceful quiet morning with NO CHILDREN I made myself a present- a new bag like the one I made for my cousin.

I used a bright green (thrifted) linen tablecloth to make this bag:

The lining is polka dots of course, and I put pen pockets in again. Loving those.

I cannot believe how much more I can get done with no little, mmm, helpers we'll call them.

I addition to binding the baby quilts, in the past two weeeks, I finished TWO quilt tops. Well, finished the centers anyway. This is my Cherry Checkerboard quilt I am making to use up the cherry applique squares left over from Cherry Surprise. I finished making all the blocks and stitched them together, but I still need to put the borders on. It turned out very narrow, which I don't like, but in order to get the Irish chain to look right, this was the layout I had to use. (It's about 60" x 84" at this point with no borders added.) I think as I add each border I will make the side ones an inch wider than the top and bottom ones to kind of fix this issue.

This next one has been sitting in my WIP box for FAR too long. I finally stitched the petals down on all the flowers. (It took me a while to collect the right thread colors.) I am not quite sure what I will do for borders on this one. It will be a play mat/blankie for my newest niece, Baby Autumn, who is just the cutest thing in the world. She loves to stare at my Mom's ceiling fan, so I think she will like this.

A closeup of the satin stitch holding the petals down.

My SIL should be able to wash this a hundred million times with no problems. These babies are ON there.

So that's what I've been up to. If you have a finish to share, head over to Lit and Laundry and join in! Be sure to compliment her beautiful hexagon quilt. It's gorgeous!

Finish for Friday- vintage sheet quilt

I have a Finish for Friday again! I am shooting for one every Friday this month. You can join in, too. Just hop on over to Lit and Laundry to see what others have finished, and maybe even post something of your own!

My finish is the quilting on this vintage sheet quilt- I had the top done already but was procrastinating (of course) with the quilting. This quilt is for Paul's cousin's little girl, Sydney. I made one for her new baby brother and realized I had not made one for her when she was born. Her parents just bought a new-old house and coincidentally her bedroom is going to be orange and pink!

I did the closely spaced wavy line quilting again, which is my favorite quilting technique right now. I think it goes especially well with the vintage sheets because it reminds me of how old bedspreads were quilted.

The back is a cute, BRIGHT vintage sheet as well. Everything in this quilt is from an upcycled sheet, except for the flower head itself, which is from a kit that was supposed to be used to make placemats. Some of the sheets are not extremely old, but they are all used/recycled. They. Are. So. Soft. This is the first quilt that I have made entirely from vintage sheets and I have to make one for myself!!! As I was quilting it, I just kept running my hands over the finished part. It feels so GOOD!!!

This is Sydney's baby brother's quilt. I showed a picture of this before, but the quiting was not finished at that point.

I did a version of the same quilting, but switched directions in each square. I won't do that again!!!! I couldn't lock my stitch because the machine kept switching directions when I did that so I had to pull all the tails to the back and knot them.

There are over a thousand little knots on the back of this quilt. Which means I pulled half that many tails through to the back. Not fun.

It looks really nice, but was not worth the effort. I think the straight line all the way down the quilt looks almost as good for about a quarter of the effort.

So maybe by next Friday I will have them bound and ready to go to their new little owners!

Lucky Dog!

My Finish for Friday this week is a bit weak (it's not very big) but it's still a finish! We are babysitting for a cute little dog whose name is Truman. I wanted to practice some FMQ on my new machine and a few other tricks, so the boys and I made Truman a quilt.

I used Heat-n-Bond and a zigzag stitch to put his name on there. I wasn't overly impressed with the zig-zag stitch from Bernie, but I was only using Coats and Clark thread from Wally World, so that may have been the issue. She was missing stitches- actually quite a few of them, so I think it was operator error. These machines are famous for their even stitches. I am going to try a new needle and better thread next time and see what happens.

The fabric we used has little scottie dogs all over it. The gold for the back is a pillowcase, and the black is a sheet that I have used a LOT of. I am going to have to keep my eyes open for another black sheet.

I used black thread so that I could see what my FMQ looked like and where my problem areas are. I think I just have to work on being smoother (is that a word?) with my motion. I got a pair of those sticky quilting gloves to try with the next quilt. Moving that quilt around really made my hands sore and this is a small quilt.

The reason we are dogsitting is that Truman's owners are visiting with their brand new grandson! I couldn't very well make the dog a quilt and not the baby, now, could I? So this quilt will be for Elijah. It's fairly big- 40 x 50, so he will be able to use it when he is bigger.

(I sure hope I got the name right- I got that info thirdhand- and it came through TWO MEN before it got to me... not that most men are stupid or anything- they just tend to be wrong a lot.)

If you want to see more Friday Finishes, hop over to Lit and Laundry and see what everyone else has been up to! (Check out the cuddly fall quilt!)