More Bags

 I made a few more bags. I'm visiting extended family for the Thanksgiving holiday, and I am bringing a gift, so I made a Thanksgiving color themed lined drawstring bag to put it in.

This bag is made from the leftover backing fabric from the Colorado Quilt.

This is a "snack bag." It's pretty small. How small?

This bag uses the leftover binding fabric from the Flight of Fancy quilt. (Those aren't rocks, by the way. they are eggs.)

I confess I went into the stash for the body fabric of this bag, but the crayons are the binding fabric from the Black Crayons quilt.

I went to the Orange Big Box hardware store because I needed a long extension cord and I ended up coming home with these:

What can I say, they were on special markdown.

ReNamed

 

I've just finished sewing the binding on the blue and yellow quilt formerly known as Stairway to Heaven. The name just didn't sit well with my son. So he asked my DGD to take a look at the quilt and tell us what SHE thought the name should be. 

She came running in from the next room, where she was coloring with my niece, took one look at the quilt and said, "River of Light."

Everybody looked up. "That's great!" And so, the quilt has a new name.

This is a wonky rail fence inspired by Sujatah Shah's book, Cultural Fusion.

Sujatah wanted readers of her book to play around with her ideas, and I have certainly done that. Traditionally these pieces are arranged in a square four blocks in each of four rows. But I decided to follow the color - or river.

The photo above shows Janet-Lee's Santeusanio's terrific quilting.

I put together another of the lined drawstring bags. I really like this one and it might not ever leave my house.

Woo Hoo!

 

I thought it would be fun to get a banner to welcome my son and his family to NH for the weekend.

Guess who loves to play Jenga? The tower did NOT crash after my son removed his piece. It did crash on the next person's turn.

Here are the four generations. 

DGD and I made a tiger cake and fish chowder and we picked at a cheese platter for lunch. Who would have thought DGD loved Brie cheese?

I made another bag, and this one didn't come from the scrap stash. This one may not ever leave my house!

More Bags

 I've been continuing to clean up and declutter my house for the impending visit of my son & his family. There's nothing like the idea of guests arriving to make you really want to put your best foot forward. It's a great excuse to FINALLY do the stuff you have been meaning to do.

So I worked out in the yard. We'll have a frost this week, so it was finally time to trim the garden and move the gardening stuff into the shed and bring (gasp!) the snow shovel out and put the snow brush in the car. 

After doing work work I felt virtuous and could spend a few hours in the studio. I finished a couple more bags.

Sometimes you throw things around and they land next to something good. Shells and glasses? In this case, most definitely YES!

I used this flowery alphabet as the lining.

Pink ties completed this one. I really like it.

The typewriters were the backing for a word quilt I made years ago. NATURALLY a bag with these needed other fabrics with letters. Not to worry, that's what a good stash is for!

Yeah! That works!

Lastly, I cleaned the office. I shredded a lot of stuff, and then sorted and filed what I needed to keep.

Gosh that feels good.

I have a bunch more bags cut out, but those will have to wait until after the kids go back home. I have about five more feet of hand sewing to do on the Black Abacus quilt before that is all finished. Next will be the Stairway to Heaven to be bound.

I have also started working on the story of my DGD's Dinosaur Diamonds Quilt. If I am very lucky, I will get it finished and printed so I can read it to her when she is here in a few days. I've decided to make and print these for all my quilts. I know what their stories are, but if I don't write them down, nobody else will ever know. Everyone to whom I have given a printed copy of their quilt's story has immediately started reading, so I know it is a good idea.

Happy Halloween!

Finished Bags

 

Here are the first batch of lined drawstring bags. The pattern is by Jeni Baker. This is the Artist Bag, and it's the biggest of the ones I made.

This is also an Artist bag. Here I have used sewing fabric and pincushions and rulers together. This one will go back and forth between Julie and I.

This is another Artist bag.

This is the next size down. It's a "Project" bag.

This is the two sides of the next bag. I think this one is my favorite. Can you say "fussy cut?"

These two are much smaller bags. I think these are "snack" bags.

This is the one I planned.

This one was a spur-of-the-moment decision based on another of the "Ghastlies" line.

I'm really happy with these and I can't wait to make more. 

It's Julie's Fault

 

I was pinning the bottom of some of the lined drawstring bags I am making when I went into the studio looking for something.

I got distracted and the next thing I knew I had planned six or seven new bags. I'm really going to like the blue one, above. I've had that fabric for over a dozen years. I think the gold Charley Harper moth fabric will look terrific with it.

In each case the body of the bag is the fabric at the center bottom. The contrast strip across the top is the fabric directly above. The linings are at the left (I hate dark fabric as lining of a bag. It makes it hard to see what's inside.) The fabric for the drawstring is either at the right or across the top.

I planned a couple of Christmas ones too.

Bagged!

I keep everything, which is why I have bins of stuff. When Julie suggested I make some drawstring bags with my leftover bits, it was fun to go through them and figure out how to use the fabrics. In the example above, the big print is the background of the Greensleeves quilt, but the orange print above it has been in my stash for over 40 years. In fact the red violet next to it is also over 30 plus years old.

In this arrangement, the big fabric was one I've had for a while. It was one of those that looks good when you buy it, but hard to place once it's in the studio. The birds above it was a backing for a baby quilt about ten or twelve years ago.

I've had this Ghastlies fabric in my stash for about ten years. I've used pieces of it in all kinds of places, but never in a big piece. So here it will be the body of a bag. My suggested lining is at left.

Eventually I replaced the pink fabric with this steampunk fabric. 

Three of the fabrics in this arrangement above are leftovers from backings. The big one is the back of the Magic Carpet quilt. The one above it is the backing for the Jealousy quilt (although I later changed my mind about that.)

I guarantee I did not buy the sewing related fabric in the center here. But I decided to surround it with other sewing related fabrics. (The batik on the right is about 25 years old.)

I have about 7 of these bags in the works. 

The rest of the scrap fabrics went back in the bins. The studio is neat. 

By the way, as I was writing this blog post, I was "watching" the documentary about Leonard Cohen and his life through his song "Hallelujah" on Netflix. It was really good.

This and That

 

This is the final gift bag for my granddaughter in the City of Angels. The gift that fit in this bag was shipped out earlier today. This bag is the Artist (or large) bag, but I made it two inches longer. 

I don't usually get a double Amaryllis, but this one is pretty spectacular. This bloom is every big as usual, about eight inches across.

I got a box of fizzy bath bombs, so now my spa tub is completely decked out, and DAMN! It looks good. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try it out real soon. But if anybody thinks I'm going to be reading my iPad while I'm soaking in the tub is crazy. I've already lost one iPhone to water (the washing machine,) so that isn't going to happen. I have a real live paperback book I can read if I want, but to me the point of soaking in a tub is just to relax, so that's what I plan to do.

While I worked on the binding of the Allegretto quilt, I binge watched The School of Chocolate on Netflix this weekend and was extremely impressed with the teacher, Amaury Guichon. His feedback was excellent, and kind, which is a rarity in "reality TV."

Finally, Millie's kidney levels are very high, and the specialized food for that would be very good for her... if she'll eat it, which she hasn't done yet. If she won't, the vet suggests I get any food she'll eat, as long as it is designed for "Senior Cats." Advice and suggestions welcome.

Mo' Bags

 My boss sent me home early today. 

When I got home, I made this lined bag. It's the biggest bag, called a laundry bag.

The body of the bag is the leftover backing from The Colorado Quilt. I can't remember why I bought the dragon fabric. The lining is a cream fabric I bought a few years ago because... I can't quite remember.

After dinner I made this bag, for somebody who should be really obvious. Check out the fabrics. Sewing machines...

Spools of thread...

Pincushions on the lining.  Did you notice the measuring tape on the ties?

Yes, this will go to my best friend Julie, and I am sure it will take many trips from New Hampshire to Tennessee over the years as it goes back and forth.

Later today when we go around the table and say what we are thankful for I will say two things. The Covid vaccine and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving.