Criss cross bag

Another simple zipper bag, just because they are so much fun to make!

For this one, i tried another technique from the book, Quilting Modern,

to make the design, you cut the background fabric and sew in narrow strips of a contrasting fabric,

I used some red scraps, since I liked the look of them against the gray.  

this is what it looks like from the back:

to quilt it, I just sewed wavy stipes in red thread,

I was happy that I had a carved cinnabar bead for the zipper pull, I like how it echos the asian theme of some of the red fabrics,

I think I am formally addicted to making these bags now. 
What is your latest mania?

Sneak Peek

For the past few days I've been sewing up some goodies to use for the window display at the store.   

I've really been enjoying the bright colors,

I hope to take them in later today, I hope to take more photos of them in situ, 

Finally Finished,

Well, I have finally finished a quilt.  Not the gigantic king sized one that I had been quilting, but one that has been patiently waiting for me to bind.  

Before that, it was patiently waiting for me to attach its outer borders, 

And before that, it patiently waited for me to sew its 48 blocks together,

It was just that kind of a quilt.  

Now that its done, I really do like it! And as a bonus, it's backed with a cozy, navy flannel, 

Plus, I like the way it sparkles in the sunlight.  I like anything that sparkles.  Plus, I like sunlight.  

Hope that you too have a sparkly, sunlight day, 

The Bucket Bag, a simple cylinder

This is the type of bag whose sides are sewn into a cylinder and then attached to a base. The base can vary in shape.

  Typical base shapes are circles, ovals, rectangles and squares, all of various sizes and proportions.

Although I had already sewn a fabric container with the square bottom,

 I sewed another one with a circular bottom.

I began by sewing front out of two fabrics and a piece of ribbon with soft in stable And a backing  of the black-and-white house fabric.  

At this point I decided to find out how much I could quilt on soft n stable because until now I haven't really done anything more than  straight lines on it. I found out that it is possible to free motion quilt on it with no problem whatsoever.

I sewed the long rectangle and covered the seam with a binding.  Covered the top edge with a ribbon binding.

In order to determine how large of a circle to use for the base, I looked up some formula by googling it.

This is what I found.

Basically, the diameter is the circumference divided by pi or 3.14

The length of my rectangle was 24 inches, so that circle should be 7.6 inches.  Plus another half inch for the seam allowance.

Again with the soft and stable, quilting straight lines, then cutting out the circle and I zigzagged the edges.

Okay you might notice that the base has changed fabric, on my first one I forgot to add the seam allowance.

Moving right along you can see that I zig zagged the three layers together for ease of handling as I attached the base.

I decided not to attach any handles.

Battings, interfacings, fusible webs....

Tomorrow afternoon is the meeting for the modern Quilt Guild here in Saskatoon at 2 p.m., at Periwinkle,

I am honored to be a presenter tomorrow and my topic will be on all the things that you put inside your sewing projects, things like battings, interfacings, fusible Webs, stabilizers, 

Yesterday I cut samples of all sorts of these products

Today I sorted them out and sampled a lot of them

I've written a handout

And compiled a binder

So while I am not an expert, I have been learning quite a lot

So please come tomorrow if you want to find out more about this surprisingly interesting topic

2.p.m. At Periwinkle in the classroom!

Plus!  You will get to see and participate in an always wonderful show and tell!