Triangle Bag

Somewhere out there there is a leather handbag, lined with an exterior pocket and magnetic closure.  It is a great looking but simple bag and is produced by Maison Martin Mergiela. 

Go take a look at it here, I'll wait for you.

Fast forward several months, maybe years, and a sewer got a hold of the design and simplified it.  They produced a stunned looking canvas bag with a leather handle made out of cotton canvas.  It is not as fancy as the original bag but it is doable by the home sewer looking for a unique accessory.  A tutorial was produced and I had to try it.  My results were not as elegant but satisfactory.  I have used it a lot as a knitting bag and I am happy with that use. 

Here is the tutorial I used.

Then the other day, I saw, on Mark Lapinski's Facebook page, that someone else had come up with another tutorial for this bag...this time called the Origami Tote Bag.  it is a great tutorial but it essentially repeats the original one that I had used. The fancier tutorial is here and it inspired me to try this bag again.

Here is my latest effort:

It is looking a little bulky because I stuffed it with a quilt I just finished.

The fabric is heavy weight cotton, (almost canvas but not) that I purchased on a bolt from Danny Nyguyen's fabirc sale last week.  I like the polka dots and the heftiness of the fabric.  Doesn't it just cry out for some Zentangling or other little drawings in the circles?  I already have another bag that I color, when I remember to take markers with me, on long appointments so this a natural for me.

My bag turned out to hang about 22", about 15" across at the bottom and I boxed the bottom so it is about 4" deep.  I don't think that matches exactly the original bag but it's pretty darn close..

BUT I so would like one of the original bags just to have and use...and to figure out how they do the exterior zippered pocket and the actual sizes.

That will be for another day.

Urbanista Hobo

At the American Sewing Guild Conference last weekend I took a class with Cheryl Kuczek on handbag techniques and was introduced to her patterns at Paradiso Designs.  She is a good teacher and I so enjoyed her breezy style.  No hard and fast rules for her but suggestions on what is an easier way to do things or where you could skimp on supplies.  Her use of fake leather and suede and iron-on vinyl, while not unique, was a revelation to me in the variety of uses these materials could be put.  I picked up three of her patterns and a couple of days ago i made her Urbanista Hobo bag.

As is typical with Hobo bags it is fairly unstructured with a flat bottom and a lot of interior pockets.  No top closure is included but you could easily add one.  Here's what that pattern shows and this is how mine turned out:

The fabric is a juvenile  canvas weight print from Jo-Ann's and so is the fake leather (pleather).  The canvas was very easy to work with and how could I resist the puppies cavorting all over it.   I only made a couple of changes from the original pattern.  I turned one of the divided pockets in the interior into one large zipper pocket and I made the slots on the side for the handles into a simple welt pocket where Cheryl used a more complex construction.  The more complex construction would have meant using more top stitch thread than I had so I went simple.
The interior is dog bone fabric and a red bit of Kona from my stash.  Heck, even the zipper on the pocket on the right came from my stash.  I think the whole thing cost less than $10.00 in supplies and that was because I had to buy some sew-in fleece.





I had intended that this would replace my worn out library book bag (a heavy duty Scnlepp bag)  but now I am thinking it would make a great knitting bag or a great errand bag or....  There are a lot of possibilities.  Check out Paradiso Designs for some interesting patterns for both bags and other things.  I think you will be pleased.

To Copyright or not to Copyright

....That is the question, at least for some designers out there.

Recently I have read a whole slew of postings about fabric designers saying that their copyrighted fabric designs cannot be used in anything that is sold for money.  I have also seen a bunch of quilt designers saying that their patterns are copyrighted and you can't make a quilt from their patterns and have it judged in a show without the designer getting full credit and giving their permission for it to be shown.   Can anyone out there make a quilt exactly as it was shown in a pattern?  If you can, then it is a copy so why bother making it in the first place?

As far as I know none of these issues has been litigated fully...that is a judge has not ruled on the legality of all these threatened lawsuits.

I decided to make my own test of all of the issues by making something based on a copyrighted design and see where it lead my not-so-legal mind.

I purchased the April 2011 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting because it had an article about Edyta Sitar... a recent guest of the Kingwood Area Quilt Guild.

Edyta designed a handbag that had some interesting lines in it so I decided to make a copy.

Here's how mine came out versus the original article:

Does my bag even look remotely like the one in the magazine?

Should Edyta get credit for designing my bag?

I believe the most credit she could get would be as an inspiration for my bag but even that would be a stretch as my bag is different than hers in the following ways:

I redrew and re-sized the pattern to meet my needs.
I used pre-quilted fabric rather than custom quilted fabric for the body of the bag.
I added interior and exterior pockets.
I eliminated the gathered embellishment.
I eliminated the gathered corners and turned them into tailored ones.
I did not hand apply the binding and used a double rather than single layer of binding.
I reinforced the handle with heavy nylon rope.

What about these other bags I have made that contain similar design points:

If I ever sold this bag would I need to get permission from all of these designers and pay them royalties for specific design elements?  And let's not forget that I bought the fabric at JoAnn's so maybe they should get credit as well.  And what about the threads I used or the old binding from the bottom of the stash?

I think you can see why I am so confused by all this craziness.

If you want to copy my bag, I have a pattern you can trace and I won't make you pay royalties but it would be nice if you gave me some credit somewhere sometime when you are become a big time handbag designer for Dolce and Gabbano.

Shaggy Chic Chenille Clutch

Every year I tend to get involved with some sort of monthly project series.  Usually they have been associated with specific retail establishments like last year's failed Fat Quarter Club at The Quilt Room.  The club didn't failed but I dropped out after unsuccessfully trying to balance it with the monthly Knitting in Kingwood meetings.


This year I am returning to an online, monthly sewing challenge.  Africankelli (aka Kelli Donely (probably spelled incorrectly)) chose Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders for the challenges.  I had previously participated in a similar challenge from the original One-Yard Wonders book by the same authors (Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins) and, although the projects were quite interesting, the use of basic cotton fabric limited the scope of the projects.   This new book seeks to explore different fabrics and pairing the fabrics with appropriate projects.  Like oil cloth for an umbrella, and fleece for truly cuddly stuffed animals.  Surprisingly linen is not included although cotton, voile, fleece , flannel and othersl are all included.


I got my copy of the book from Amazon and eagerly sat down to work on the first project, the Shabby Chic Chenille Clutch.  The chenille is created using flannel and I just happened to have some high quality flannel hanging around the house waiting for some quilt inspiration.  Here is what I came up with by following most of the instructions in the book:

 As you can see, the final project does not look like the original fabric at all but you still get the red, white and blue theme.  


I did not follow the well written instructions completely....what a surprise!  First of all the pattern called for nine layers of flannel for the chenille fabric.  The flannel I used was so thick that I could not imagine my heavy duty sewing machine making it through eighteen layers of it for the final seaming.  Nine layers would have exactly used up one yard of the fabric but I used only six as I was under no constraints to follow the instructions precisely.


Other changes include the final size.  The pattern assumed that the washed fabric would shrink slightly from a twelve inch square to one about half an inch smaller.  My chenille shrunk unevenly and I needed to square it up before the final construction.  My clutch ended up based on a ten and a half inch square.  The only other change was the handle (off to the upper right in the photo).  The pattern called for contrasting  ribbon while I used a bit of ragged self fabric.


I do have one beef with this project.  The final product did not mirror the written instructions.  Essentially chenille is created by sewing parallel lines through all the layers of fabric then cutting through all the layers of fabric but the bottom two.  The instructions called for cutting though the fabric between each of the sewn lines but the picture definitely showed cutting though every other section.  I know its a small thing but one that should have been mentioned in the instructions.


This book is well written and gives some great information on how to handle each type of fabric.  I wonder what the next project will be?


Oh!  Just in case you are wondering about my New Year's resolution to no longer create useless little projects, I intend to use this clutch for lunch out with friends so that I carry the essentials without taking up table space with cell phone, keys and wallet.  This clutch holds just these three items and sits safely in my lap.  All the non-essential junk can stay in the car untilI might possible need it.

Gift Copies

Have you ever received a gift that you liked so much you wanted more of it?  


That seems a no brainer if the gift was chocolate.  Who wouldn't want more chocolate?  You can always buy more chocolate as it tends to be within everyone's price range.


But what about a gift that is not consumable?  Diamonds are a great example.  I always like diamonds but probably can't afford many more.  


Some gifts you want more of but not an exact duplicate as what you have already received.  Like a red jacket you would love a duplicate of but in a more conservative brown.


That was my dilemma when a friend gave me an adorable little knitting bag.  Its made out of silk, has an outside and an inside pocket, a great yo-yo embellishment and it is just the right size for a sock knitting project.


See...

Isn't it cute?


I love it BUT there a couple of things that are could be better.  For one thing, the interior fabric is a flimsy, black fabric which means it's probably not very durable and it is very difficult to see any bits at the bottom of the bag.  Dark interiors are not good things.  In addition, I didn't like the button closure which was a little wooden ball.  Since it is right above the pocket embellishment I would have loved a more colorful button.


What's a girl to do?


Put up with the defects? (too irritating)


Remake the parts that are bothersome? (too much effort)


Hide it in a drawer never to see the light of day again? (but it is a great size)


Well this girl decided to make her own copy.


I have made two cousins of the original.


The first copy used simple geometry to produce a copy.


Here's how it turned out:

(LOVE THAT FABRIC!)


Boring details:  the fabric is a Michael Miller fabric called called Flora and Fauna Blossoms in raspberry.  The orange button is from the stash.  The interior fabric is the same as the exterior and the interior pocket has an orange zipper closure.  


When compared to the original though there is something our of whack.  

(sorry about the poor color correction)


After remeasuring everything I realized that I had got the length of the straps wrong.  The originals are 22" long while the copy has them at 12" long.  The big problem is that the pointy bottom part is not a ninety degree angle but more like one hundred and ten degrees.  In addition, the pocket turned out too short due to that miscalculation.  The original is more like a fat Buddha like bag while my copy is more like a skinny Fifties like bag. 


Here is my second try:

Boring details:  the fabric is a washed dupioni silk from the stash and backed with a lightweight fusible interfacing.The pocket embellishment is part of an old thread painting class.  The 'button' is an old Chinese coin, some wooden beads and a strip of the silk fabric.  The interior is a striped cotton from the stash and the interior pocket has a cream zipper.  Wanda McKnight (the hat stand) likes this copy the best as she is pretty conservative.  Almost forgot...I added some lavender buds between the exterior and interior so it smells as good as it looks. 


Now I have three new knitting bags - one the original gift, one a skinny replica and the third an orange silk Buddha bag.


If you would like copies of the patterns I created for these bags, please let me know and I'll scan them into a file for you or we can hook up and I can give you a hard copy.


Now I need to get back to my knitting so Paul can get this year's Christmas present this year:-)   

Pretty Little Purses and Pouches

The other day I stopped at Tea Time Quilting looking for some funky prints (their specialty) and found a copy of 'pretty little purses & pouches' on sale.  Lark Books has published about a dozen of books in this series and have come up with a winner on this one as it has a lot of interesting ideas for purses and pouches.   



I decided to try out one of the designs and I immediately fell in love with the organization of the book.  There is a comprehensive, but not expensive, list of tools.  Basic construction techniques are gathered together at the front of the book.  The patterns are tiny but are easily blown up at your local copy center to fit a standard sheet of paper... a really good thing!  And finally there were no errata to plow through which happens a lot in this type of publishing.  I think someone independently tested the patterns so that major problems were eliminated.


Here is the pattern I tried:

I haven't set snaps in a few years but thought that I would remember the major steps.  Needless to say, I spoiled many snaps and a lot of scrap fabric discovering that snaps weren't about to happen.  I ended up using Velcro and a couple of odd buttons for the closures.  


Here is my interpretation of the snap attack purse:

I used some old silk dupioni for both the exterior and lining and a couple of odd buttons to cover the thread used to attach the Velcro.


This is a clever design with two little compartments that seem perfectly sized for a cell phone and  small wallet.  Micha Mae Melancon (blog and Etsy shop), the designer, has created a wonderful project that could be size up or down depending on your needs.


Now I'll have to try some other projects in the book like this:

or this:

or maybe this:

Or maybe I will stop avoiding what needs to be done around here and find out what my little pee machine (aka Alex) has been doing all afternoon.

Failed Challenge

You know this girl loves a challenge.


Okay, so not all challenges.  Definitely not ones that include getting covered in dirt and eating disgusting food.  YUK!


But I do love challenges when I am given a topic or a material or a deadline or a puzzle.


I recently fell head over heels for a challenge proposed by one of the ASG neighborhood groups I sometimes attend.  The challenge was to document a very expensive item and then recreate it for pennies.


Yahoo!  I knew what I was going to do even before I left the meeting in January when this challenge was proposed.


In the August/September 2010 Threads magazine there was an article on how to construct a hard sided clutch.

I wanted to try this out and came up with a couple of examples of little hard sided bags, one of which was going to be my inspiration.

So far so good.


Four days before the challenge was due I sat down and began to construct a hard sided clutch and here are the results from two hours before it was due to be presented:

Yup... I tossed it while it was still in pieces.  The instructions seemed easy but I forgot Rule Number One when it comes to trying new techniques.

RULE NUMBER ONE

READ AND FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS.

Once again I read some of the instructions and followed some of the instructions and came out with a useless result.

Where did I go wrong specifically:

• Cut all the fabric to what I thought was the right size and, of the seven pieces of fabric needed for this project, three were cut too small.
• Used extra heavy duty fusible web when light duty was recommended thus the glue seeped through the silk fabric and made it stiffer than petrified wood.
• Cut the chip board interior boards raggedly so the edges curled a little for a too loose fit.
• Thought that hard Timtex could replace soft felt padding.

My dollar investment was less than $3.00 for the chip board and I have enough left over to try again.  Everything else was already in the stash and were primarily leftovers from other projects.


Next time I try this I will start off with one tool not mentioned in the instructions:  a strong person (read Paul) to cut the chip board.  My hands are not that strong any more and I really mangled the cutting process.


Until then, on to my next challenge of trying to figure out why Alex and Kelis are so stressed this afternoon.  


Could it be because I am eating pretzels while writing this?  


I may need to do an experiment to solve this mystery....NOT!

Fat Quarter Challenge

I've mentioned before that I am participating in a monthly challenge to create something with a pre-selected fat quarter of fabric and a designated theme.


The meeting was this past Saturday but as i had the Quilt Show commitment I got a dispensation to submit my entry today without fear of reprisal.


That is all well and good but when the creativity juices have run dry this challenge was...... challenging.


Here is a shot of the fabric...

Nice design, interesting color and very elegant looking.


The challenge was to make something juvenile. 


JUVENILE!


From a fabric that could been on my Mother's sofa in another color!


My thought process went something like this:

• Juvenile
• rustic
• not sophisticated
• simple
• easy
• sturdy

Did I mention that it needed to be done in one evening while I was clearing out the TiVo?


Here is what I came up with:

A little drawstring backpack suitable for a toddler to take in the car loaded with little treasures.


It is about ten inches tall and about nine inches wide.  The cord is some old drapery trim and the side tabs are the same fabric as the lining.  The whole thing is interfaced with a light weight fusible and is not quilted.  My grand plan included making a couple of little stuffed toys but by the time I got it done the well had run dry.


The best part of this challenge is that I do not have to have it languish in the bottom of a drawer waiting for a toddler to show up.  Instead i can use as a knitting project bag.


Another month done done.  I wonder what the next challenge will be?

Better Than a Ribbon

One thing that happens at almost every Quilt Show that I have attended is that some items submitted get judged.  Judging has two purposes.  One is too acknowledge exceptional skill and ability demonstrated in the items submitted.  The other is for the makers to get a critique of their work.


Most people entering items to be judged have made their quilts specifically to be judged.  They have not been used, run through the washing machine several times, dragged around the house by Alex or, in the case of wearables, worn to several events.


When I make something it is usually for my own enjoyment or as a gift to a willing recipient.  Some how I got talked into submitting two items for judging this year.  One was the Origami Jacket ( which I have worn many, many times)

 and the other was a purse I made a couple of years ago.  

I also submitted one purse just to be displayed.




I didn't need a critique of my work as I am more than well aware of my skills and abilities and the critiques only reinforced that knowledge.  The thought of winning a ribbon for my work fed my ego and I was disappointed that I did not get one...no-matter how unexceptional my work.


Notice, I knew I did not deserve a ribbon but I really wanted one.    


Today, however, I got something better than a ribbon.


I took the purse I had entered for the judging to a doctor's appointment.  I used it because it was still on the kitchen table where it landed when I brought it home from the Quilt Show and I needed a purse to carry my book and knitting.


While waiting to be called back to see the doctor, another woman in the waiting room noticed my purse.  She told me how much she admired the shape, the choice of fabrics and generally made me feel pretty good about it.


We were both called back within moments of each other and, as I sat in the examining room glowing with her praise, I realized that her admiration of my work meant more than any judge's comments or ribbons. 


I contacted one of the nurses and had her deliver the purse to the other patient.  I hear she was most grateful and I hope she gets many years wear out of it.


After all, she had made my day with her kind comments when all I was going to do with it was store with my other purses.


Yup, definitely better than a ribbon.


Now I need to get my inflated ego back in check and try to create something for the next quilt show that is worthy not only of being judged but of actually winning a ribbon..... or maybe not!  

2011 Challenges

Boy, that sounds ominous!


This is not that kind of post ... you know the kind where people talk about about deep personal issues and try to solve the world's problems.


I am way too shallow for that kind of blogging today.


What I really want to talk about is the little challenge I have taken on this year.


Every year I join a group that is set up to present a crafty challenge for just one year.


Last year it was socks (I'm still working on that!), the year before handbags, the year before... well you get the idea.


This year I've joined a group at The Quilt Room in Huffman that is based on fat quarters.


Every month each of us will be given a fat quarter of fabric and a challenge on how to use that fat quarter.  The first month you pay $5.00, and if you present a project the next month, you get the next fat quarter free.  The only restriction is that you can not use more than three yards of other fabrics to make your submission.


BTW, a fat quarter of fabric approximately 18" by half the width of the fabric.  In general, for quilting cottons, a fat quarter is cut 18" x 22".  A normal quarter yard is cut 9" x by the full width of the fabric... in this example it would be 9" x 44".


I was truly intrigued as I have an embarrassing number of fat quarters and I am always looking for more ways to use them.


About fifteen of us gathered last Saturday morning and this is the fabric we were given:

In case the colors don't come through, it is basically grey dots with a slight lavender cast to it.  When I saw it I thought elegant, simple and classic.


Then I heard that the challenge was to use hot colors to make something with this lovely fat quarter.


After I mulled it over I began by selecting a variegated pink thread and quilting the fat quarter with swirly circles.  


Great!  Now I had a fat quarter, fully quilted but no idea what to do with it.


Instead of tearing out all that quilting I went back to the Gilbert Nuniz class I took at Quilt Festival on drafting handbag patterns and this what I came up with:

Another zipper pouch!

I added the flower and buttons after I had sewn it up because I realized it needed a little something.


Note to self:  make embellishment decisions before sewing the project.


The hot pink fabric I found for the flower turned into the lining and zipper fob.

I will use this pouch to carry my stuff for this monthly challenge this year and next year I will re-purpose it for something else.


As long as it holds up I will have a great remembrance of the Year of the Fat Quarter.  


Wish me luck with the coming challenges. 

Betty Hobo - Dimensions etc.

I have had several requests for a pattern for the Betty Hobo.  Here are the basics.

Dimensions - without seam allowances!

Bottom - 8" x 8"
Ends - 8" x 9"
Pockets -  8" x 7"
Sides - 8" wide at the bottom, 16" wide at the top, 9" tall (looks like an upside down pyramid with the point cut off)
Zipper Plackets - 3 1/2" x 16"
Straps - 1 1/4" x 33"
Zipper - at least 16" long

The pattern for the body of the bag (sides, ends and bottom) were all cut as one piece but that is up to you.

My construction steps:

Straps - Cut 4 1/2 " wide, 35" long.  Made by folding the long raw edges to the center of the worng side, folding the whole legth to enclose the raw edges and top stitching both long edges plus one more stitching line down the middle of the straps.

Pockets - Bound the top of the pockets with ribbon.  Attached the bottom of the pocket to the side of the bag about one inch below the bottom edge, pinned the pocket to the sides so that the edges are matching then secured the pocket when the sides of the bag are sewn.

Zipper - attached zipper to the plackets and added topstitching.

Putting it all together - sew up the sides, add the plackets and the straps then sit back, finish off the seams by serging, binding or topstitching and admire your new handbag.

Optional but recommended - a stiff 8" x 8" removable bag bottom to give it some shape and heft.

That's it.

If you don't use double faced pre-quilted fabric the optimal bag should have an outside fabric, fusible fleece attached to the outside fabric (quilt or not the two together), interfacing attached to the lining and lining fabric for a toal for FOUR layers.  Construct the outside and the inside of the body seperately, put the lining inside the exterior then attach the zipper plackets and straps.  A final touch would be to tack the lining to the exterior in several spots to keep it neat and tidy before adding the stiff bag bottom.

Betty Hobo

One of the fabulous women who works on a lot of charity projects has been nicknamed Good Betty.  She is God Betty for many reasons but one is her generous nature.  She quietly works at making many quilt tops every year, mostly from her own stash, that become the backbone of many donations to charities supported by the Quilt Guild.

At a sew-in a week or so ago she came in with a really cute Hobo style bag that she had made in a class.  She was uphappy with the construction but happy with the results as the bag held a lot and was comfortable to wear.

I asked to see the pattern and the other day she gave it to me.  She does not want it back, I think, because she had such trouble wth the construction.

Here's what I came up with:

I used double faced, pre-quilted fabric that I purchased many years ago for a coat project that never happened.  One side is that wonderful floral and the other is polka dots.  I left the interior seams unfinished due to impatience but I can always go back to finish them off at a later date.  I found some ribbon to bind the edges of the pockets and another piece for the zipper fob.  The zipper was from a project that I abandoned  as impossible to complete.

I did not folow the printed instructions as I did not interface, inter-line or do any of the other bits that were avoided by my fabric choice

Thanks Good Betty for a great little purse.

Running Away From Home Tote... again

This past Saturday the Satruday Strippers, aka Strip Club, met to construct a huge tote bag.  See here for the original blog entry.

There were only three of us in the end, fewer than expected, but very congenial.

We laughed alot and solved all the problems of the world.

Here are the bags:

This is a shot of my original bag on the left, with my new bag on the right.  Since I had fewer than needed five inch square blocks for the second bag, I used some yardage for the sides and bottom.  I love the fabric from this series and I have some more yardage to make up a couple of kid quilts sometime.

This is a shot of our photographer's bag.  She loves block and white and this bag is very chic. 

 Our other participant went for bright, hand-dyed style fabrics.  I love it, especially the red she used for the straps and lining.

We all need to construct hard inserts for our bags because they look so much better swith a stiff butt.

Next time I think we are going to do a lap quilt designed by someone who works with Sunflower Quilts.  Its a lovely little quilt with ruffles down the front.  Check it out at the Moda Bakeshop. 

I wonder what fabric I will use?

Irritation Solved

At the Twisted Sisters Swap I received back a cute little tote bag with a snap closure.

I intended to use if for toting small knitting projects.

There was a problem though...I really, really, hated the closure.

There was something irritating about the clunky sounding snapping of the closure.

I decided to figure out what made the closure and, by carefullly opening a seam in the casing, discovered these:

Yup.

The annoying closure was made from a metal tape measure.

Truly a clever technique and instructions for one style of bag are here.  I can see this technique applied to many different types of simple totes and hand bags.

Discovering this meant I was now left with a wimpy topped bag.  I knew I didn't want to put back the measuring tape but I did need a new closure.

I ended up putting a drawstring in the same casing.

Now the bag can be used for my purposes (knitting storage) and I can still show off my friend's excellent sewing.

Now if I can only figure out how to make the lining, which is about two inches shorter that the exterior of the bag, longer, I would be in hog heaven......I wonder if I should open up the interior...shortern the exterior, make a new bottom.....never mind.  If I wanted a whole new bag I should just start from scratch.

Let me know if you try this type of closure and whether you were pleased with the results.

Sick Day Crocheting

As noted before, I have discovered that I cannot do complex tasks when I am ill.  It just doesn't work.  I have discovered that simple knitting is possible... especially when the product is to be felted in the washing machine.

I have also discovered that I can do simple crochet if it is also going to be machine felted.  During a swap of excess materials with the Kingwood Yarn it, Darn it group I came home with all the rejects.

Most of it went to a local group that makes items for the local charity hospital however  I kept back almost two whole balls of Bernet felting wool.  It just didn't seem smart to make some lovely thing that could not be washed without changing its size.

As my cold deepened I decided to use this yarn in a project as my felted knitting projet worked out pretty well.

On the band for the yarn there was a pattern for a felted clutch and it is available on their website as well.  It called for three balls of yarn but thought I could get a result with all that I had.

Here's how it turned out:

I added a magnetic snap and a button to cover it up.  I like the slightly geometric texture, caused by the crochet stitches.

I have even tried it out and, although it doesn't hold a lot, I think it will be a great bit to have around for a quick run to the library or lunch with friends.  In the end it may go to the Kingwood Area Quilt Guild fish pond/garage sale next year if I don't use it more than once or twice between now and then.

I hope your week is going well.  Hurricane Alex will be causing trouble here as Houston is on the 'dirty' side of the storm.  Torrential rans, flooding and high winds are all expected between now and the end of the week if the storm doesn't shift more to the south.  On the other hand, Alex, the dog, will love the opportunity to dig into a wet garden and the Girls are looking forward to extra loving as I dry them off with big fluffy towels.

That's what I love about dogs, they always see the positive side of any situation.

Me...I'm adding some easily prepared food to the larder and cleaning out the ice chest.

Runing Away From Home Tote

One of the compensations for having my dining room full of other peoples quilting discards for the Quilt Show next year, is that I get to see all the magazines and books that will be sold.  The April 2009 issue of McCall's Quilting really caught my eye with a pattern for a huge tote bag.

The added bonus was that this tote is made out of five inch squares of fabrics and I needed a project for just those ingredients for a group project in November.

Here's how mine turned out:

It is about 20" wide, 10" deep and 15" tall.  The fabric I used is called 9 by Sanae and I used two Moda Charm packs, and a few strips from a Jelly roll to make this bag.  I did change the pattern slightly. 

The pattern called for three layers of fusible fleece, I used two layers.  The closure was supposed to be velcro but I used a tab weighted with a drapery weight.  I also added little feet to the bottom of the bag to protect it from the floor.

This thing is huge and would probably hold everything needed for a couple of days on the road.  My vision is that Alex and I will pack up and hit the road for a few days with all I need in this bag, and everything he needs filling up my trunk.

Have a great week!

A Creative Tale

I was wondering around JoAnn's last year and noticed that the upholstery fabrics were on sale so I decided to take a look.

I saw some wonderful braided curtain tie backs in cream and black and some coordinating buttons.

Not anything I could use until I saw a wonderful black and cream plaid mid-weight fabric from JoAnn's Christopher Lowell line.

A light bulb went off that the tie-backs, buttons and fabric would make an elegant tote.

The whole purchase was less than $10.00 so I was feeling pretty smug until these purchases got bruied under some quilting projects.

Fast forward until a couple of weeks ago when these purchases finally saw the light of day from many months ago.

Instead of burying them again, I bit the bullet and made this:

Pretty elegant, even if I do say so myself.

Further validation is that the Girls really seemed to like it as well.

Just goes to show every female knows a good bag when they see one. 

I am especailly proud that the outside pocket is almost invisible on the ouside as I actually matched up the plaids.

What was Alex doing while the Girls and I were admiring my handiwork?  Eatiing the sticky weeds in my lawn!

Very Clever

Sandy the Wonder Girl gave me a very clever tote bag from Forever Twenty One.

Closed as a  little handbag

Open as a larger handbag

It even has a magnetic snap closure at the top and is made out of heavy duty duck cloth.

Now all I need to do is decide if or when I will decorate it!

Thanks Sandy!

Screaming for Spring - Updated

Like almost everyone I know, I've had it with winter this year.


So I am in the south and not bogged down with many feet of snow, its still cold and wet and miserable here. Usually this time of year is the nicest time... open windows, new growth, yard clean-up... this year I can barely bring myself to go out and cut-off all the deadwood from the many days and night of freezing weather.


Even the pencil plant beside my front door got significantly nipped by the frost. This plant was put there the day I moved into this house and, except for brief periods of TLC, has stayed there. Now I don't know if it will recover.

What's a girl to do?


In my case, I needed to make something that screams spring and the perfect project happened on Monday night.


The Twisted Sisters Bee met to experiment with the Bali Bags pattern from Aunties Two. The sample bag, and what most of the people decided to work with, were wonderful batik strips.


I don't have a lot spare of batiks available to me so I used a lovely print of brush stroked tulips (Thanks Sandy!). The pattern called for clothesline, for which I substituted some cord I had left over from the middle school kids' craft classes.



The pattern was for an upright bucket style bag while mine ended up with a distinctly bowl shape.



Here is how mine came out:

I think I will try this technique again. It's very mindless sewing, the results can be dramatic and maybe the next time I will end up with a more upright bucket style bag ... or maybe not!


Where ever you are I hope you are safe and warm... especially my buddy who spent three days this week trying to get to her home in upstate New York from Charleston, South Carolina.