300th Post - Pouches, pouches, pincushions and a giveaway.

As I mentioned in my last post I was fascinated by the Zipper in the Becca Bag pattern by Lazy Girl.
In that post I showed my first 2 attempts (successful). I had been talking about them so much that I ended up promising a few friends from out of state that I would send them each one.

This is a picture of how the zipper looks.  You only use one side of the zipper and the tab and you sew it all in at once and skip the seam on that side of the bag. VERY easy to do.

So on Saturday morning I cut 2 contrasting 6 inch by wof strips for the outsides and 2 strips of lime green solid for the lining and started my pouches.  The first one was shown in the previous post.

I didn't follow the pattern except for the zipper portion where the instructions for deconstructing the zipper and then using only one half and the pull for the closure are explained. Very clear instructions.

I cut each of the strips into thirds and charged on.  I wanted to make 6 little bags.  My finished bags are about 5.5 by 5.5 give or take.  The size was determined by the zippers I had on hand.  I practiced improv curves for the outside of the first 4 bags.  Loved how they turned out. I got bored with that process before the last 2 bags so I just cut the last 2 sections into strips and went from there.

Love how they turned out and will get them in the mail sometime this week.

When I chopped the wof  I ended up with 13.5 in. sections. I quilted the sections before cutting to the size I needed for the bags. This left some nice size chunks of quilted fabric that I couldn't toss out so I whipped up some pincushions. There is always someone around who could use a pincushion, right?

And since This is my 300th blog post I think I will give away one of my little bags and a pincushion. I'll pick a name from the comments list on Sunday, May 15. I'll ship anywhere.

Thank you all for stopping by for these 300 posts. I appreciate you, one and all.

Baby quilt, vacation crafts and pouches

Last week was a very happy week in our family.  My niece and her husband had the good fortune to adopt a beautiful baby boy.  This joy has been a long time coming and we are so happy for the 3 of them.

I've been waiting along time to quilt this for the newcomer. The alphabet pattern is by Temecula Quilt Company.

This was a great place to use some of the fabric I got on my trip to NJ last week for the backing.  It's all little gears.  

Hope he feels the love coming from this aunt every time he snuggles in it.

This week we went to Disneyworld for 3 days. 1 day it rained and the next day MJ wasn't feeling very well.  This left me with a lot of time on my hands.   Good thing that I always travel with things to do.

In between the reading of 200 pages of a new book I crocheted this hat for Angel Snugs

and stitched up 6 circle blocks for my Quilty 365 project.

Going to Disney meant that the girls had to spend 3 nights at the kennel. They are way more active at the kennel than when they are home so when they get home catching up on sleep is a top priority.

Sleep on the couch is only second best to sleeping on the bed and since I was trying to share that bed while they were sleeping there are no pictures.

We all got home by dinner time yesterday and I really had to make one of those Becca Bags by Lazy Girl that I mentioned in my previous post.  The one where you use only one side of the zipper and the pull.

I only used the pattern for the how to on the zipper.  This pouch is just my dry run using one of my curve class blocks and previous pouch making experience.

Last month I received a whole bunch of crochet hooks and thought this odd shaped pouch would be perfect.

The only problem I had is that I lost my grip while taking pictures to capture the zipper and I had all of those wonderful hooks all over my sewing room floor.

This morning I got up and before breakfast I did stitched up another pouch.

From the pieces below to the pouch above took 17 minutes.   The pouch is about 5 x 5.  As you might notice the outside piece had already been quilted before I decided to time the project. If you used fusible fleece and minimal quilting you might add 3 minutes to the process.  Again I didn't follow any particular pattern for the pouch itself.

Since the zipper is sewn straight along the entire top of the pouch, you only have 1 side seam and the bottom to close.

This is the back. I'm showing it so you can see how my curve wrapped around the bag.

I don't like raw edges that are zig zagged on the inside of my bags if I can help it. The Becca pattern called for that type of seam for the bottom and side.  That would probably have cut down on the time needed to make this bag by a couple of minutes.

Wrapping up.  I love the zipper. I love the speed of the project.  (not sure why I am so obsessed with the time it took to make this)  I need to make up at least 3 maybe 4 more today. I think I will try changing up the pull tabs and the zippers, Maybe a black zipper with a gray pull and vice versa.  Should be a fun couple of hours.

Catch Up Post - Pouch Swap, Curves and Scraps

I really need to stop and post more often.  I sat down this morning and realized that this should have been at least 3 posts.  Sorry it may run a bit long.

First and foremost - last month I participated in the  Scrappy girls club zipper bag swap. I'm really late in posting what I received and what I sent.  Very sorry about that.

These are the wonderful goodies I received.

Ok, so there is the zipper pouch that contained those grate pieces of fabric and then the zipper key ring followed by the little zip bag that contained clips all with the great little card that came with a great dip recipe.

I am facinated by the zipper technique that she used. I hope you can see it in the photos.  It is only half a zipper circled around. It is so very cool.

All three of the items used this zipper technique.  The key ring had two pulls and opened in multiple places.

Even the little bag had this great zipper.  After a little research I found the pattern for the bag I received. And of course I had to buy it so I can try this out as soon I get a free minute.  

I did read through it and it looks so easy to do.  Maybe by the weekend.

In return, I made my partner a Lola Pouch.

With a matching eyeglass and  tissue holder.

I made a note card using a scrap form the lining.

Next up - I took a class on curve piecing.  I did make a quilt many years ago using curves and once it was finished I swore off them.  Our guild offered a class on piecing curves and I thought I'd give them a try.  I am so glad I did.

I had a very successful class. I enjoyed using a pattern as well as doing the free form curve. I enjoyed curves so much that I came home and in 3 days managed to make this lap size top.

The pattern is Urban Abacus, a QCR Pattern that I picked up with the Quick Curve Ruler when I was on vacation last month. ( I had high hopes for the class )

And last but not least for this post are my scraps.

These are 4 of the 7 blocks I have made so far using my 2.5 in square scraps as leaders and enders. I'm hoping to get 16 blocks done to make a third quilt for the H2H 2016 project.

There are at least 2 more projects to report on but they will have to wait for next week. Maybe they will be joined by that cute little pouch.

Home again Home again - Jiggity jig

Got back late last night from a 9 day vacation with my sister. We went back to NJ to visit with many friends and family.  One of the reasons we left NJ was the winter cold.  We thought that going back in April was a good idea. HA.  We spent a few minutes is a sale bin at the local Walmart and found these for $2 a pair.

I had a lot of fun visiting with old friends.  We had a lot of show and tell

P made the scrubby for me and gave me the left overs to make another. I saw the green in Micheals and picked it up, you know just in case I couldn't find any in FL.

I caught up with my friend P for breakfast and then a trip to one of our favorite yarn shops.  

I found these 4 skeins on sale and figured they would be happier with me than in the bin.

Ended up back at P's house where I gave her a quick class on making rope coasters. She made 2 on her own before I left.

Left her and went to my nieces to have a late Easter family dinner.  My sister wanted to bring something to do with her grand son so we picked up a parachute cord bracelet making kit. We made this one before we went so she had an idea what she was heading into.  This was the test. Not bad for a couple of beginners. He didn't miss the Pink set.

While we were in Michaels picking up the bracelet kit. I picked up some yarn to make a few hats for Angel Snug while we had down time at the hotel.

Also in my down time I tried to keep up on my Quilty 365 circle blocks.  Gone 9 days, home with 8 finished blocks.

On our way to meet an old friend for lunch I  took sissy to one of my favorite quilt shops, Pennington Quilt Works in Pennington, NJ.    I picked up this group of fat quarters that I have some tentative plans for.

Couldn't pass up on this little pack of 2.5 inch squares

Or this yardage of 4 fabrics from the remnant room

Met another friend for lunch and went to another quilt shop.  Found these fabrics in their remnant room. The gears are Riley Blake from 2013.  Got 5 yards at $4 a yard. CaChing. 

I also picked up two specialty rulers which I forgot to photograph.

In summation we ate well, we visited with 8 family members and 7 old friends.  I had 2 bagels, a pork roll sandwich and fried chicken. None of which can we find in Florida that we like as well. Purchased so much craft stuff that I had to mail a box of it home.

All in all a wonderful trip any way you slice it.

2016 - Finish Along - Q1

I had listed 7 items on my Q1 FAL list.  Several of the items were for multiple pieces. All in all this was a wonderful incentive to get things done,  including the piece I finished last night.  If it wasn't on my list I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have gotten done.

This posting contains 3 of my finishes.

#6 from my list is a finished Helmet Liner, I try to make a few a year for the group Forgotten Soldiers.

The second #3 on my list was to make 2 mini quilts 24 inches square for the group Giving Dolls. This is the second and the piece I completed yesterday.

My Quilty 365 project which I started on January 1 was the othere #3 on my list. By end of day today I needed to have completed 91 blocks.

(I'm sure she is helping me count not hindering my picture taking, HA).

I have 11 rows of 8 plus 4 for a grand total of 92.  This was a very tough goal mentally. Much easier to keep up on than I ever imagined.

I totally missed the 3 items that were #5.  Looking back at my posts for the past 3 months I can't complain that I only missed #5 as I did accomplish a lot of other stuff.  Maybe I'll put it on the list again or maybe not. I have a week to figure that out.

Thanks to all of the coordinators across the globe for taking this awesome project on. It's been wonderfully motivating.

HAPPY EASTER

Happy Easter from not so sunny Florida.

Enough said.

I spent some time over the past 2 weeks catching up on projects. These 2 houses are the March block for Quilt Doodles BOM.  My goal this year is to keep up.  This is part 2 of #4 of  Q1 - FAL  So far so good.

Next up was to start on my Hand2Hand2016 quilts.  I hope to finish 1 for each of this years 3 organizations by end of May. 

Routing through my many boxes of "quilt stuff" I stumbled across a zip lock bag containging these goodies.  After a lot of thought on the subject I remembered what and where this baggie came from. Several years ago I tripped over a pattern on Moda Bake shop called Lawn Chair Quilts. The pattern called for 2 Jelly Rolls, one in prints and one in white.  The end result was 2, 54 x 75 inch tops. One of my quilt buddies and I split a Jelly Roll and I cut my own white strips, I put my parts in a baggie and there they have sat for several years.

That is until this week. I now have my 2nd H2H 2016 top done.   It really was easy.  I did the bulk of it Friday Night and Saturday. Saturday while marathon watching NCIS.

Happy Easter, Happy Spring.