Fool Me Twice--Shame On Me

Have you ever done anything that you think "OMG I can't believe I did that"? I know that I certainly have. And being the optimistic 'cup half full' person that I am, I then wonder what I could've done so it wouldn't have happened. 

Simple example would be when I hand sew (think sewing on binding). I've had just a few more inches to sew but my thread is extremely short. I know I can make it so I take those few final stitches. Then my thread is so short I can't make a good strong knot. My fault and I know better. Rather than aggravate myself with the outcome, when my thread starts to get short, I knot off right then and there. Then I re-thread my needle and pick up where I left off. It only takes a couple extra minutes, but it helps my blood pressure.

Another way to address these kind of situations is a visual queue. I bought a single hole throat plate and I'm very happy with it. However, when I forget I'm using it and switch my machine to zig zig WHAM! that needle will break faster than the fastest thing you can think of.  So I went with the visual queue: I put the little sign under my machine but I can see it through the acrylic table. I hate to say it's 'idiot proof' but so far so good!

 

Bitten by the Hexie Bug

I like so many other innocent quilters have been bitten by the hexie bug. I know I'm not alone...I've seen others...there's an outbreak on Instagram and Pinterest. We can't help ourselves. The darned things are fun to work on and they're easily transportable.

 
For me it started with an innocent glance and then a continuous stare at Millefiori quilts. The color and movement was absolutely breathtaking. This led to  Hatja Marek's book, The New Hexagon. Her hexies are not your ordinary English paper pieced hexagon; oh, no, they're so much more than that. They're multi-faceted and extremely interesting.

This is the point where the fever set in. I pulled my favorite colors from my stash, bought the paper patterns and started working. And work I did - I was a person obsessed. Every evening when I got home from work, I couldn't wait to start putting the little puzzle pieces together. 

"Rosette 1" was my goal and I got it done fairly quickly. But what to do with it? It's approximately 36" high and 36" wide. I'd like a wall hanging, so what I need to do is applique the piece onto another fabric. I so don't want to do that. I'm afraid it'll wiggle and shift as I try to applique around the circumference. 

 

That's when I remembered another technique I learned years ago for applique.It's from Mastering Machine Applique - Mock Hand Applique and Other Techniques by Harriet Hargrave. Basically what you do is a blind stitch around the piece to be appliqued. On my Bernina, I used  a stitch width of .75, shortened the stitch length, loosened the tension, used monofiliment thread, and a fine thread in the bobbin. It worked like a charm. 

Here's the back and you can barely see the stitches by my well-manicured finger nail.

  
Next step will be to quilt it. I think I'm going to quilt a hexagon shape in the blank space around the piece, but still not so sure about how to quilt the rosette. I think I'll take the Scarlett O'Hara approach "I'll think about that tomorrow"!

My Gabby Bag

This year I joined the Bag of the Month Club ( or bagomc.com as it's known). It's a great club that provides a new bag pattern every month by some fabulous bag designers that include Betz White, Mrs. H, Sew Sweetness (Sara Lawson) and Emmaline Bags (Janelle MacKay).

The first of each month is met with anticipation for the pattern that'll be in my email box.In April it was the Gabby Bag by Emmaline Bags. I loved it as soon as I saw it. My first thought was 'what do I have in my stash that'll work?'. Being the Alison Glass frabricaholic that I am, I was immediately drawn to her Sphere fabric (which of course I own just about the entire collection).

But which ones to choose? They're all fabulous but the Vanilla and Pewter really grabbed my eye. Oh, and where those colors meet, some piping would be a-w-e-s-o-m-e! Ruby would be ideal; both for the piping and lining. Yesssss!

So along with the fabric, I needed interfacing, Soft & Stable, zippers,metal rings, and thread (but thread wasn't an issue - I have the Alison Glass Essential Thread Collection of course!). And score one for me...I had everything I need! It's realizations like this that make it all worthwhile to have a stash! I'm also proud to say that one of the zippers and the metal rings were salvaged from other bags.


Inside the bag there's a nice double slip pocket and zipper. I have to say that the directions for the internal zipper were about the best I've ever seen. Worked great!



 I was very happy with the outcome. Here's the final result. The pattern has an external zippered pocket which I didn't want - that's the nice thing about making your own bags...you can customize them so they are exactly as you want.

 
Now just need to decide if I want to make another before I see next month's pattern!

Prepping for QuiltCon

 

QuiltCon is less than a month away! Five of us from my Magpie group are going and one even has a quilt in the show which is amazing!

 

For two of us, this will be our third QuiltCon. Since I'm all about tote bags these days, I wanted to design something fun to take along.

 

 At the first Con in Austin, we got the tote bags that were huge and long (but of course we needed one!). I looked mine over and decided to dissect it. I cut a big piece to use on the front. I ironed on some Wonder Under and adhered it like raw edge applique. Then it was cropped a bit as I measured it carefully and sewed it onto a fun green linen cotton blend which has great body.

I also embellished it with a vertical strip that mimics the Alison Glass fabric I wanted to use as the lining. Then I did some straight line quilting.

I cut another piece to use on the back. I was able to keep the finished edge at the top and made a great pocket. Next I went to my printer and copied my ticket stubs and ID from the first and second QuiltCon onto fabric so I could use them to embellish the bag.

 

I wasn't quite sure what to do about the handles...I have some awesome leather straps I got at Sew to Speak, but wasn't sure if I wanted to use them for this project. Then I saw a photo of a bag that used two different fabrics for the straps. I knew right then that was what I wanted to do. The tote's straps have the green linen on one side and the lining fabric on the other. 

 

Voila! I love it and I'm ready for QuiltCon!