Lucky Denver Mint & Chandelier Swing Bags

This month for the Big-City Bags SAL we are eligible for Double(prize) Entries if we made both the July bag and the August bag,due to a little mix-up!  So I got busy last week and...

First July's bag,The Lucky Denver Mint bag.  This bag is kind of a mini version of the Bye Bye Love Bag,in that is has a similar shaped top.  This bag is nice,but just simply not my style.  I used a scrap to make the bag and so was not able to get the design centered on the bag.

A peek inside shows off the Ice Frappe Kona solid,which goes perfectly with the accent color that outlines the design on the exterior of the bag.  My pockets are a little smaller than the pattern calls for,because again I used up a couple scraps!

For The Chandelier Swing Bag I used a scrap of Little Kukla for the main part of the bag exterior and a DS Flea Market Fancy print for the top and strap.

The backside has a zippered pocket,which I debated on omitting,but in the end I went ahead and included it.  Since the inside has no pocket,and a bag should have at least one!

This bag has a recessed zipper,this was my first time ever inserting this type of zipper closure in a bag.  I am happy to say that it went smoothly.

For the inside I used a super orange pop of a print!  It was the only orange I had enough of and even though it is a much more vivid color than the other oranges in the Little Kukla print,I like it.

You can probably tell by the amount of photos,that this is my favorite bag of the two.

Little Red in the Woods

It was a busy weekend,but I still managed to get a bit of sewing in!

Last year at Fabric Fest I purchased this,Little Red Riding Hood roly poly.  This Moda Bake Shop tutorial has been on my radar for a while now and was the inspiration for this quilt top.  Although I had to change it up and make it my own.

Partly because I did not have enough of this Kona Candy Pink,and partly because I just wanted to.

So here she is Little Red in the Woods...this was sewed up yesterday afternoon and evening!  Since it was finished after dark I had to wait until today after work to take photos.

I am toying with the idea of some straight line quilting or just tying this one.  Since my sis was here the tying my quilts bug is biting...

Manly tote/fish bag...

Happy Friday everybody!  Not sure about you but I was very happy to clock out at work this afternoon!  Tomorrow Mr. P and I are taking a day trip so he can do a little fishing.

Three years ago I made Mr. P a bag to put his fish in for transporting them from the fishing spot home. (since he likes to take my car when he goes fishing)  The original bag was pretty small at about 13 inches by 11 inches and the bottom was not boxed.

He wanted a bigger bag to hold the "big ones"so I went to work making him an updated,or new and improved version.  It needed to be big,"like the tote bags you make",with a real long strap so it can just be slung over the shoulder for ease of carrying.

I used a belt discarded from a recently purchased pair of shorts for the strap.  Just like the first bag this one has a fusible vinyl coating fused to the fabrics,so that the bag can just be washed out at the garden hose after each use.

For the inside fabric I used the same fabric that the first bag was made from.  To give the bag stability I used some deco fuse on the lining fabric,so the bag not only stands on its own,but the top also stays wide open.  So that it is easy to add fish no matter what size.

I had some issues with the thread breaking while trying to sew the topstitching around the top of the bag.  Other than that this bag was an easy project.  My favorite kind!

CherryLicous is also finished!  This was my second finish for the week,for the quilting I did a crisscross pattern that ended up making diamonds and rectangles.  The backing is the same black cherry print used in the second round of churn dash blocks.  The binding is scrappy with green and a red,black and white print.

Have a Sweet Weekend!
Linking up with : Fabric Frenzy Friday #23 over at Fort Worth Fabric Studio,  Let's Bee Social # 29 over at Sew Fresh quilts & Finish it up Friday over at crazy mom quilts

Half Vintage Modern

We have been having storms most afternoons into the evenings here lately.  Which cools things off considerably.  So I have been taking advantage of that and working on another quilt top!

The majority of the fabric used in this one is from some fabrics that came from my mom's stash.  If you remember,I had raided her stash a couple years ago,and then made her this Quilt from her own fabrics.  I have no idea how long these have been in her stash,but my feeling is at least the nineties for the strips and,the little squares are much older.(I am thinking 60's or maybe 70's)

They have been in my stash for the last two and a half years.  Recently I found a couple prints on a clearance rack at a quilt shop in the next town over.

I also found this book on sale!  After looking at the fabric requirements I decided that with the two sale prints there would be enough to make this quilt.  Although the larger squares in the book are charms and mine are only four inch squares.  So I decided to skip the charms and just frame my squares to make them appear to be charms.

I used Steam-A-Seam2 lite to fuse the squares to the quilt top.  Sunday I went to the LQS to see if they had anything to use for the vertical strips and the frames.  The arrow in the photo is pointing to the color I was trying to accent or bring out.  I came pretty close!

This quilt is called Dancing Squares,(mine is called Half Vintage Modern).  I plan on mixing up the quilting on this one.  Meaning that I will be doing some machine quilting and then also some hand quilting or tying with embroidery floss.

Cherry-Licious

Have you seen or heard about the Nested Churn Dash QAL?  You can find all the info over at quiltjane

    Photo/Button Source

Recently my friend Jamie posted her Awesome version,which reminded me to get busy and sew up my own!

So Last night I did just that.  The cherry fabric has been waiting to become a table mat for my kitchen table since last summer!

Now to get it quilted and bound...

This last week Vicki over at A Quilters Mission posted a tutorial for sewing up this little cell phone pouch!

It is just the right size for your phone and a pair of sunglasses or a really small wallet.  I did have a bit of trouble with the zipper,but that is probably because I was talking to my sis on the phone while sewing it up.  If I make another one I will either use a thin batting or omit the quilting.  The reason being that with just interfacing the quilting does not sink in like it normally would with the batting between the layers of fabric.

That being said,I love it anyway!  Thanks for the tute Vicki!

A scrappy start...

After the craft fair on the 4th I took a couple days off from sewing and just relaxed.  It was a nice and needed break.  So far this week it has been fun to pull out my scrap bins and,

look for fabric to go with these squareish (I say ish because they are never really square) panels/blocks. There are four different blocks and the piece with three sets of four has been in my stash for about 5 years!  High time they were sewed up into something.

Before the sun slid behind the mountains this evening I was able to snap off a couple photos.

They are a little out of focus,as there was a breeze and it kept flipping the strips around to the wrong side.  

Some of the scraps are pieced together to make them large enough.  Two of the pieced blocks were not to my liking,so they were ripped out and re-made.  My first thought was to put the piece on the left in the center of the other two strips but,in the end I decided against that idea and sewed it the way it is.

My plan is to add a strip of solid fabric to the right,I am thinking of using a gold or yellow gold.  Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated!

Linking up with Lets Bee Social #28 (today) & Fort Worth Fabric Studio (on Friday)

Banish the fear of Zippers

If you have a fear of Zippers or just have not yet had the chance to sew something that requires a zipper,then this is a project to cut your teeth on!

Last week while sewing up all these sweet little vinyl pouches I took photos along the way,just in case any of you would like to make some of your own.

So here we go...

Supplies needed:

Normally I use Heat-N-Bond vinyl for this type of project however,my local Joann's does not carry that brand anymore.  So I purchased this brand instead.

1 Piece of vinyl fuse (any brand) 7 1/2" x 5"
1 scrap of fabric 7 1/2" x 5"
1 7" or longer zipper (if you have experience with zippers you can use a six inch,but it will be a tight fit)

scissors
pinking shears
pins
bone folder (if you have one) I just finger pressed instead
zipper foot
iron
chopstick

This is my scrap of fabric,zipper and vinyl piece.

The first thing we will be doing is attaching the vinyl to our piece of scrap fabric.  I always start in one corner of the piece of paper backed vinyl and peel back the vinyl away from the paper.

After peeling the vinyl off of the paper carefully position it tacky/sticky side down,on the right side of your fabric.

Next place the glossy or slick side of the paper backing on the right side of your fabric.  On top of the vinyl.

 Note*in the photo above the paper with the grid is the Heat-N-Bond brand paper backing,while the plain one at the top is the Pellon brand) The nice thing about the grid on the back of the paper is that it makes it easy to know which side to place down.  Also it is very easy to measure and then cut on the lines as well.

 The next step is to fuse the vinyl to the fabric.  To do this place your iron onto the paper and press,holding the iron in each spot for 8 seconds,just like you are fusing an interfacing.

Turn your fabric over and press on the wrong side for 4 seconds.

Now we are ready start attaching the zipper to the fabric.  Lay your zipper right side up on your work surface,then lay your fabric wrong side up on top of the zipper. Making sure to center the fabric between the zipper ends.  (Mine is very close because I used a 6 inch zipper) Pin the fabric to the zipper to keep it in place.

Take your zipper foot and attach it to your machine.  Mine looks like this,different brands all look a bit different but yours should look similar to this.

Using a 1/4 inch seam sew the zipper to the fabric.  This is really very easy if you have a longer zipper,because there will be plenty of space between the ends and you will not have to try and maneuver around the zipper pull.

Lay your fabric with zipper attached back down on your work surface,with fabric right side down.

Flip the fabric down so it is now right side up.  Use your bone folder,or fingers to press along the top edge of the fabric.  Do Not press with your iron or you will Melt the vinyl!

Take the bottom of the fabric and fold it up even with the top edge of the zipper,pin and sew a 1/4 inch seam just like before.

Unzip the zipper 3/4 of the way and turn right side out.

Sit back and pat yourself on the back,you just inserted a zipper!

 Remove the zipper foot from your machine.  Before replacing with your regular foot you will need to place some tape (I use painters tape,but you can use masking or scotch tape too) on to the bottom of the foot.  This will make the foot glide over the vinyl instead of sticking to it.

Open up your zipper so that you can topstitch along both sides of it.

Topstitch an 1/8 inch from the edge of the zipper on both sides.

Turn wrong side out,and make sure that the zipper is only zipped about a quarter of the way from the end.  Meaning that the zipper is actually 3/4 of the way open.  Here you need to decide where the zipper placement will be on the pouch.  You can leave it centered like this and your zipper will be in the center of the pouch.

Or you can fold the pouch so that the zipper is closer to the top of the pouch.  Totally your choice.

Again using a 1/4 inch seam sew each end of the pouch closed.  Making sure to backstitch at the start and end.  Also make sure to sew back and forth over the zipper several times,so that this part of the seam is strong and will stand up to being zipped open and closed.

Take your pinking shears and cut both ends of the zipper off.

Now turn your pouch right side out.

Take your chopstick and gently push out the corners.

How easy was that?  Not nearly as bad as you thought right!  Enjoy your new little water resistant pouch.

I would love to see yours and hear about your first or one hundred and first zipper sewing experience!