Hexagon Bag

This is a project I have had on my mind for a while.  I originally saw it in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine August 2011.

From the first moment I saw the eggplant purple, lime greens, navy and aqua blues, grays - don't forget my favorite color -tangerine! from V and CO. fabric lines, I knew I had to make something from them.  The hexagon body of the bag is Simply Style, the handles/top strip of the bag are Graphite Gray Floral and  the lining is leafy sprigs in gray from the Simply Color line.

I think my first attempt at set-in seam hexagons went pretty well, don't you?

Randomn Thursday

School is out for the summer.  The preschool that my kiddos go to have two summer programs and every year we enroll them in that.  This year's June summer program theme is "A Train Tour through Europe."  So that starts up on Monday.  It would be fantastic to actually get to do it don't you think?

 

 

 

 

A few more little random projects I sewed.  This tote bag from Zakka Style. 

And I am working on this quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts.  I still have the right side to piece together. When this top is done, it will be number 3 in my basting pile; I think in the next week or so I'll be doing quite a bit of basting and quilting.

 

Saturday plans consist of putting this little garden together in my courtyard.  I know, it's hard to read due to it be a scan from a piece of notebook paper.  But you get the idea.

 

 

 

 Linking up to: Live  a Colorful Life

 

 

 

 



Randomness

Hi!  Are you all getting ready for the long weekend?  We have cattle work to do on our end here, so there will be that and sewing!

Today is my kiddo's preschool graduation.  Logan is officially going to be in Kindergarten.  Little Pea is so small that even the smallest robe swam on her!  So, it got sent home with me to do a lot of hemming!

 

 

Other than that, I've just been sewing a few random things here and there.  Just whatever strikes me to sew at the time.

 

 

Another one of Ayumi's lunch boxes.  These are so easy and quick to make.  You might remember I made two of them for the preschool teachers.  I had one of those mini charm packs of Vintage Modern and some Essex Linen.  The handles and inside cover are a piece of a small hounds tooth, aqua print I had lying around.  I don't know the maker/manufacturer - sorry.

 

  

 

Another little project I threw together, just because.  I wanted to make a journal cover; so, I took some of my batiks I had leftover from this project, and put one together.

 

 

 



Oh, and recently I received a sewing machine from a woman cleaning out her sewing room.  Mine has been acting up a bit, so it will be nice to have a spare.  I haven't tried it out yet, perhaps that will be a good weekend project.

Have a safe and restful Memorial weekend!

WIP - Recuperating

Well, Logan's Birthday party was a hit!  We ended up with 20 kids and 18 adults.  Honestly, I wasn't expecting such a turn out with the three day weekend!

I finished Logan's lunch bag...

amongst all these crayon rolls.

I have a plan for these selvages.

There's still time to enter my giveaway!  I will close it tonight at 6 PM MST.

Quilt/Bind:

Log cabin quilt

No progress:
Beatrix Potter quilt (fabric hunting)
Barn quilt
Husband's shirt
Felt Christmas ornaments
Colorbrick quilt
Baby quilt for Susan (triangle quilt)
Logan's wall hanging
Summer skirt - just need to hem!
Zakka nesting boxes
Community quilt with preschool (waiting on hands to be completed.)
Neutral quilt

In progress:


Stats:
New projects:1
Completed projects: 2 (crayon rolls and Logan's lunch bag)
No progress: 11
In progress: 0

Linking up to Freshly Pieced.

Lunch Bag Finish!

I finished Logan's train lunch bag today!  Here it is all lovely with the train fabric he picked out!

 

 

 

I purchased the pattern from Gingercake Patterns and Design.  Instead of the Velcro that the pattern called for, I used a magnetic snap.  Mainly because I despise Velcro.

 

 

 

The inside is just a yellow striped cotton print that I laminated with iron on vinyl. 

 

 

 



 The pattern was easy to follow, I misread where to leave one of the two openings at for turning the lunch bag right side out; which I discovered after everything was turned out and ironed nicely.  So, I improvised. I don't think anyone would be able to tell unless they were looking for it. And I'm not going to say anything!

 

He's ready for a fun filled day at school!

 

 

 



WIP - The Start of an Awesome Lunch Bag

Do you remember this train fabric I showed in a WIP post back in October?

I said I planned on making a lunch bag out of it.  Well, it's not done but at least it's started...

And here is the progress on my neutral/blue quilt.

Quilt/Bind:

Log cabin quilt

No progress:
Beatrix Potter quilt (fabric hunting)
Barn quilt
Husband's shirt
Felt Christmas ornaments
Colorbrick quilt
Baby quilt for Susan (triangle quilt)
Logan's wall hanging
Summer skirt - just need to hem!
Zakka nesting boxes
Community quilt with preschool (waiting on hands to be completed.)

In progress:
Neutral quilt
Train Lunch bag


Stats:
New projects: 0
Completed projects: 0
No progress: 9
In progress: 2


What are you working on?

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday with their loved ones.

 

 



Do you believe this tree?  It's not ours, it is my son's preschool teacher's tree in their home (his teachers are a mother/daughter team.)  My picture does not do it justice; and no matter what I did or how I positioned myself, I couldn't fit the whole tree in.  Their ornament collection in itself is just amazing.  Many purchased while they were living in Germany, many made from preschool students or while they were growing up, many of homemade ones from past family.

Speaking of teachers - here is how their lunch bags turned out. 

 

 

I am rather pleased with them.  Any more sewing for you?  Or are you all resting up, getting ready for a new year?







Last Minute Holiday Making

On Saturday, I had the crazy notion that I needed to battle the mall in order to get my 2 year old daughter, Aslyn, something for Christmas. I had yet to get or make her anything and time was running low. 

Upon this "quest" I realized that the mall has absolutely nothing for a 2 year old girl.  With my 4 year old son in tow, we frantically searched three stores only to come out with a pair of pajamas my son picked out for her from him (it has trains on it,) and a few beaded necklaces.

I think I have mentioned before that every time I have my kids with me at my local quilt shops, they pick out a fabric for their own little stash.  So yesterday, I decided to whip a couple of things up for Aslyn with some of her stash fabric.

 

First was a little purse; she loves getting into mine.  I found this tutorial here.  The outer fabric is Urban Zoologie, handle and lining is A Stitch in Color Little Dot Clementine.

 

Second, a doll quilt.  Currently, she takes her little stuffed animals and tries to wrap them in twin to queen size blankets.  I received the hexagons from my swap partner in the Post-Summit Swap.  

   



 

 

This quilt will more than likely get lots of use, lots of dragging around the house and outside, lots of washing; therefore I quilted it rather densely with straight lines.  I had quilted around the outer edge of each hexagon and skipped over those with my straight lines, so the hexagons kind of pop out a bit.

 

 

 

I had some trouble with the fabric feeding through my machine.  For some reason my feed dogs weren't catching it.  So, it's not the best quality work.  But I don't think Aslyn or her "bebes" will mind.

 









A Swap, A Tote

After the sewing summit, I received an e-mail about a post sewing summit swap; which I decided to jump on.  This was my first "handmade" swap, so admittedly I was a little apprehensive.

Now most of you are swap veterans, so you can skim past the details to the good part.  ;)

The idea of the swap was to keep up with something we learned from sewing summit.  Everyone who wanted to be involved filled out a "profile" form with likes, dislikes, what they would like to receive, etc.  My one sewing class was a pocket one, so I thought this project would be good. 

My partner (who I will not reveal as she has not received this yet) said she would like to receive a zippered or metal frame pouch, a tote bag, or a pin cushion.  I fixated on making a tote.  What's silly is that tote bags are probably one of the easier bags to make (depending on how you make yours), yet they are not my strong suit.

However, I am also not one to back down from my faults challenges!

I found this pattern in an issue of Modern Patchwork.  Duck fabric makes up the body and the pocket is pieced with fabric from Pat Bravo's Indie collection.  The original pattern had interchangeable pockets, which I decided not to do.  It also did not call for lining the tote, but I did do that to make it seem a little more refined.

I hope she likes it!

9th WIP of 2012

Well, the only thing I tackled this week was some small projects that weren't even on my list.  Nothing wrong with that!  (Oh, and if you are looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, it is here)

The recent newsletter from my son's preschool mentioned a site to buy reusable snack bags instead of the kids bringing Ziplock bags.  Of course, I decided I could just make my own.

It was also one of the teacher's Birthdays so I pulled together some scraps of fabric and buttons and made this card for her (actually her Birthday was a few weeks ago, I just forgot to show the card.)

Quilt/Bind:Log cabin quilt

No progress:
Beatrix Potter quilt (fabric hunting)
Barn quilt
Skill Builder Sampler
Husband's shirt
Felt Christmas ornaments
Bottled Rainbow quilt
Winterwoods ABC Cross Stitch
Colorbrick quilt
Summer skirt
Baby quilt

In progress:
Granny square quilt

Stats:
New projects: 0
Completed projects: 0
No progress: 11
In progress: 1

Linking up to Freshly Pieced

WIP #15

First, I would like to thank all those who commented on my last WIP post.  Your comments are so nice and I appreciate them immensely.  I had every intention of replying to each of you individually, but frankly I just never got to it.

Now onto the post...

I decided {at the last minute} to make some trick-or-treat bags for my kiddos; I haven't even really dug into making their Halloween costumes yet!  (eek!) Every year thus far my son has just taken one of those cloth bags you can buy at the grocery store, and every year I watch him struggle with hauling it around.  So I thought some smaller sized ones made by mom would be a nice touch...

Obviously it is still a work in progress.  I am making two up - more details next week.

Another new project:

These little strips are going to become a coupon organizer.  I bought one years ago at the dollar store, but that didn't last long before it all fell to pieces.  Since then, all my coupons have just been shoved in a side pocket of my purse, I figure it is about time to have a new, better quality - and pretty - coupon organizer don't you think?

Projects in progress:
Kaleidoscope quilt (behind)
Skill Builder Sampler (same)
Daisy chain ABC's sampler (on the letter 'J')
Christmas gifts
Halloween bags/costumes

No progress:
Bottled Rainbow quilt (sorting scraps)
Princess Pea quilt
Husband's shirt

Quilt/Bind:
Log cabin quilt

Currently on hold:
Beatrix Potter quilt (working up design)
Barn quilt

This week's stats:
Completed: 0
New projects: 2
In progress: 9

Linking to other great works in progress at Freshly Pieced.

Market Bag

Farmer's Market season is here!  YAY!! In celebration, I made this market bag adorned with all sorts of yummy veggies.

The fabric collection is Homegrown and I got it, as well as the pattern at Connecting Threads.

I have to admit that this was my first attempt at making any kind of tote/bag so bits of it were a learning process.  Especially since I tend to start following a pattern and then slowly veer off to do things my own way.  Quilting and sewing is all about breaking the rules right?

Each of the eggplant plaid and celery lettuce plaid (don't you love that the colors are named by food?) are pockets (4 total) to keep all your smaller finds, phone, etc in. 

Anyway, how cute would one be walking the market booths adorning this bag full of all their Farmer Market goodies?