Zippy Snap Bag

I've been eying these little snap bags for quite a while now and decided to take the plunge when I needed something for the car to organize the little bits of things you need like mints, pain reliever, pens, toothpicks (for the DH) gas and car-wash cards etc....


We have a covered tray in the car, but all those things had to be taken out to vacuum  or clean it - and I've often wanted those things in my purse.   If I could make something that kept necessities that I could pop the whole thing in my purse and return that I think that would be super...so I made up this little bag and it seems to work just great.  


I really like the results, but want to modify it a bit more, and possibly make a few more for gifts.  I'm thinking with straps it could be a good little shopper bag since I've completely stopped carrying a real purse anymore.

UPDATE: 12/4/2011  While I haven't done much sewing for several months now, I have made a couple more of these now and wanted to show the new ones.

This one is the result of my attempt at documenting step-by-step directions for these little bags.  My instructions are in the testing stage and should be available soon.

This is one I made a while back, and I use it to hold small items in my purse.
.....and below is the reverse side of the same bag, with pen holders and a place for receipts or anything I want to keep separate.

Spray Basting Wall - How I did it

I wanted to document how I spray baste my quilts.  Before I go too far, I'll let you know that I've not made a full bed size quilt - yet, so mine are limited to space I have but I hope to remedy that sometime in the future.  For now, this is what I work with.

I have a ladder that I prop one end of my baster and the right side is held up with a nail.  Idealy they should be more even than I have them - it would help in lining things up.  This is just a sheet pinned to a 1x2 board that is about 6 foot long.

I rolled out the sheet and let it hang.  Then I used a few pieces of painters tape to hold the sides the sheets to the wall. to smooth out the draping folds you see here.

Next I pinned the backing material to the white 'basting wall'  I secured the edges with pins.   Don't look now, but I could have done a better job lining it up on top, but it's pretty close to straight with the top of the wall.  I then start spraying the backing with the spray basting.  I angle the can towards the center when spraying the edges to reduce over-spray.

Starting at the top, I start laying on my batting - smoothing it as I go.  You can re-position it if necessary, and this step is easier with 2 people. One smoothing the batting down from the top and the other holding the batting out on the bottom.

I didn't get a picture of the next step that I did, but you see the top folded in half and centered it on the batting with pins.  I then spray basted the top half only.  In the picture, you can see that I've then taken the top and started laying it onto the batting.  I then sprayed the bottom half and smooth it down.

This picture shows the whole quilt spray basted into the quilt sandwich.  I will add a few pins here and there, but I'm confident in the spray basting - so won't add a lot.  This will go on my Q-snap frame as I start hand quilting it.  So far this top measures 82 X 54 and is the larges one I've put together this way.

btw - I haven't done an extensive amount of quilting but I've tried a few different types of basting sprays.  The one I am hands down in favor of is the Sullivans Quilt Basting Spray.

I really have been working

Though its been quite a while since my last post, I have been working on a nickel brick quilt, just haven't shown the progress.  Here are some of the strips, 2-patches and 4 patches laid out trying to see if it needed some tweaking before I started sewing it together.   Right now - this is as far as it's getting for a while anyway - it's back to work the long week and days off are committed to other things.

Another one bites the dust

I just finished this quilt! Yeah it's been in progress for a while now. I started out working on it only as a leader / ender project, but I got impatient and started making up blocks..... for a while anyway, then it got pushed to the side and nothing got done on it. I guess you could say it was done in 'spurts' because there isn't any one time that I did a lot of the work. It's at least 2 years in the making.

The green background fabric is as old as my kids probably - and they're either looking for (or found) 30!! The 4 patches are a mix of leftovers from old garmet sewing and 'new' projects. I had it quilted by a lady in a nearby town that is both fast and cheap. The backing was formerly a bed sheet that is wonderfully soft and cozy.

One of the best thing about this quilt is that it used up some fabrics I couldn't bear to throw out, but not enough to do anything else with. Though I'm inclined to gather and collect fabric to make scrappy quilts, this one is just that - Scrap! And the bestest thing about this quilt is....... It's Done!!


 I posted about this project almost a year ago here

It feels so good to have some of these done, but I know I'll never really catch up - I've got too many more I'm just itching to start up!!


This one went to Megan's house.

Men's Shirts

Just got this one out of the dryer and ready to go to it's new home. After seeing the You Tube 10 minute block and working out some of the details with the gals at the HGTV quilting board, I dove into the shirts that were waiting for destruction. 100 % cotton shirts that weren't going to be worn again. 

The local economy shop was visited too because I didn't like the way some of the shirts I had played together.

These started out with 8 1/2" squares - 5 of them for each block.  I saved the light shirt for the 'windows'. Each block was layered and quilted them up using my custom templates....That would be a cake-taker lid and a pie plate!!  Just the right sizes and easy to place on the blocks.
Out of 6 shirts I got this whole front with most of the backs still whole - for another project.  I used flannel for the backing on this one to make it extra cozy.

Can you see some of the shirt labels on the outside border?  I was delighted to see that the top part of most of the shirts were large enough to use for the border - and why not just leave the labels on!!  I also left the placket on the sleeves and just stitched them down....tiny button and all.   Then I grabbed some of the extra buttons found on some of the shirts, and sewed them to the center of the windows.

After cutting the squares that I needed from the shirts, I cut the rest (except the backs) into 2 inch strips that I used for the top and bottom border.

I started this quilt around January 22 and finished it tonight - so that's about 3 weeks total time to finish it.  It ended up right at 55" X 75" which is what I always shoot for in this type of quilt.

All those cuffs, collars and button plackets were staring at me while this quilt was in progress.  I knew I would have to do something with them.
This is at least a partial solution:

That's a pillow case to go with the quilt!!  I used one of the shirt backs that I was saving for the back so when you want to sleep on it - you wouldn't have to lay your head on all those buttons!!     

I'm thinking about those cuffs going around some drinking cups for insulation or just catching condensation..... someone shared this link with me:  shirt-cuff-wallet
now - what do I do with shirt collars!

 

Another Tumbling Block

OK, here's attempt #3 - this one is done via the Kaye Wood Stacking my Blocks method, which is a variation of the tumbling blocks, but it fascinates me right along with the traditional tumbling blocks.   You may have to find and click on the video after following the above link.

I will post more on this later as progress is made, but I had fun playing with this image in my photo editing software just to see if it would show up. 


I have one more method to make Tumbling blocks that I know of from Quilters Cache Tumbling Blocks but I've got to get this project done first!

Table cover w/ pockets

I've been wanting something on the night stand next to the bed so when I put my glasses down or set down my phone, neither will get scratched, or scratch the night stand.  Because it's a dark wood - black walnut, it also showed dust much more quickly than I like to dust.

I'd been making mug rugs, with new patterns and now was ready to try the Marci Baker method of doing the tumbling block.....well this was all starting to sound like "Opportunity knocking" don't you think?

Here's the finished product - I'm calling it my table rug.  It has 2 pockets on the bed side so I can tuck in the cord to my phone charger and the control to the bed in the rear pocket, and my glasses in the front pocket.  Even if I put my glasses on the night stand and they flip to the lens side, they're protected.

Here's a picture of the whole piece.  It's actually upside down, the pocket is at the top.  See the tumbling blocks pattern?  This Marci Baker method was much quicker than the traditional method that I made the black and white mug mat with.

Here's a close-up of the pocket.  You could make these any size you wanted.  I let the left-over stripset that I didn't use determine the size, and I stitched it down to make 2 separate pockets.   The pockets could be on both sides, and could be sized to hold a variety of things....reading material, heating pad control, remote, mp3 player, rosaries.....or just anything you want!!!

I also had recently purchased some great striped fabric that I wanted to make into biased binding.  The colors would work here.  I have also been having a bit of trouble with my mitered corners on my binding forming peaks... I experimented a little and pulled the 2nd fold of each miter a little short of the corner.....whalla .... no peaks!!  It may have been the fact that it was bias binding - it may have been the 'short' corner or maybe just a combination of both, but I was very happy with the results.  It looks pretty darn square to me!!  Success!

Hubby liked the idea - now he wants one - and you know what - I have one more method of the tumbling blocks I want to try - so stay tuned.

Another Mug Rug

I'm trying out different quilt block patterns to see what I like and get an idea of how they go together so I'll know if I want to make a full quilt out of them. Then I make a Mug Rug out of the results.
This is the Tumbling Blocks pattern done in the traditional way. I piddled around with it, but it took me ALL DAY and only ended up a little more than 7 x 12 inches.


I really like the look of the finished quilts I've seen and still want to make one, but I'll find another way. Quilters cache has a paper pieced one, and Marci Baker has the strip pieced method that I'll have to give a try. I do like the black and white, I like the way (most) of my points met, but I'll have to find another method.

Mug Mat aka Mug Rug

I found this really great coffee mug that I just loved and wanted to make a mug mat for it. A border print and some fat quarters in complimentary colors found their way into the card tricks block pattern. I'd never made that pattern before so it was a good way to try a new block.

It finished of about 8 1/2" by 12" so there will be plenty of room for a snack and what I end up using my mug mat for - - a place to park the cell phone.

This set is going out as a gift. I'm really happy with the way it all turned out.
Click on each of the pictures for a close-up view.

And another one using the same fabrics in the twister pattern that I got done just under the wire of 2010.  The foundation blocks were cut at 3 inches and the template was just a shade over 2 inches.  The Mug Rug turned out finishing at 8 1/4 inches by 11 3/4 inches for the entire piece.  The center 'twister' area ended up just under 7" X 7" so it shrunk up 5 full inches just in the pinwheel area!!

The Nativity is up

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... the tree is up and the Nativity is in place. Without the nativity, it just isn't Christmas. This year Brian placed all the pieces, and with only a tiny adjustment from me, it is in place and literally glowing above the TV where it holds the place of honor in the family room.