A Short Break from Bags!

Last week was my daughter's wedding.  I had started to simultaneously cut and piece three bags until the wedding was too close to continue and I had to take a break.  (It was a wonderful wedding.)  Now that I have returned I've extended that break a little to try out some fringe embroidery designs I purchased on www.emblibrary.com.  I read an article about fringe embroidery in an older issue of Designs in Machine Embroidery magazine and was anxious to give it a try.  I had picked up a couple of plain white microfiber kitchen towels at Wal-Mart some time ago and hadn't decided what exactly to do with them.  So I put them to use in this first try of fringe embroidery.  Added a little fabric embellishments and ta-da!  I think they turned out pretty cute.

"Spring Tote" from Quilter's World

Another of the "Spring Tote" from the April 2010 magazine Quilter's World (page 25-27).  This time I included the tab and button - but I did shorten the tab a little.  This is another one made from a bundle of Fat Quarters - I had only one bundle of fat quarters this time and the body uses enough of the quarters that I didn't have anything for the lining, so I did purchase a half yard of another fabric to complete the project.

What can you do with Fat Quarters?

I've been meaning to post this one for quite a while, but the quality of my pictures was so poor I was trying to get better ones first.  Failing to do so, I did enhance the pictures a little bit. 

I made this with a couple of fat quarter bundles I picked up.  I was intrigued by the use of the Prairie Points and when I found how simple they were to add and how great they looked, I just loved them.  I plan to try a bigger version of this one soon.

An Apple a Day!

I love this fabric! The straps are sewn on the outside of the bag instead of between the outer and lining this time.  I decided that at kind of the last minute - otherwise I probably would have made the straps longer. But it is sewn prior to adding the lining, not through the lining.  Next time I think I'll make them longer, put them on the outside and stretch the pocket between the straps on the front.

Get a closer look - check out the lining - it's so cute and works so well with the other two fabrics.

Notice the apple quilting design? I made it in my digitizing software.

A "Speedway" original just in time for the race!

This bag is unique! And finished just in time for this weekends Indy 500!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made the quilting patterns in digitizing software I purchased with some embroidery designs. On the large checks is an Indy Car design very much like one in a logo used by IRL. On the smaller checks at the bottom I digitized and created the quilitng outline of crossed flags.

Spring Tote becomes Summer

Just finished last night, from the April 2010 magazine Quilter's World, this is my take on "Spring Tote" (page 25-27).

I grabbed a couple of fat quarter bundles I had picked up - I just love the bright colors and floral pattern. With these bright colors, though, spring is not exactly what comes to my mind. So this Spring tote becomes a summer tote!

I made a couple of minor adjustments - I didn't add the tab and button, though I may live to regret that, and I enlarged the pocket on the inside, stitching down the center making it two pockets. And my quilting is a little different - in the red block I used a quilt pattern on my embroidery machine and repeated it all over - on the strips I stitched a straight line on top of the pressed back seam allowance - I always like quilting on top of that. I feel it gives it a bit more re-enforcement - then crossed it with lines at somewhat random distances vertically.

When you are working with fat quarters, the size of the cuts are not always exactly what you need so you have to get alittle creative. I chose the blue floral for the lining in contrast to the primary red fabric in the outer body. Since I didn't have enough, though, I added the blue fabric with the cirlces as a strip across the bottom and as the pocket. The picture to the right is the lining pulled out and laid as flat as I could to get a good look at this.

Placemates - the Prequel

This was my first "real" project - something more that just putting an embroidery design on the front of a shirt or bottom of a towel. I made these four coordinating placemats for my mother. My first time combining sewing and piecing with embroidery and quilting.