Friday, August 1, 2008

Works in Progress

I have multiple projects going this week. I'm trying to finish up this wall hanging:
It's going to be a Christmas present for Anna. It's a pattern from the book "Have your cake & eat it too!" by Dodi Lee Poulsen. The book has recipes in it as well as quilt patterns. The patterns are nice, smaller projects that I generally don't do a lot of. I have a weird belief that if it's not at least 55" square, it's just too small!

The fabric is the Posh line by Chez Moi for Moda fabrics. I LOVE THIS FABRIC! I had originally acquired it for my personal enjoyment, but I know that Anna will also appreciate it, so I decided to make her something out of it instead of keeping it all for myself. I also like that it's not too childish, so hopefully she will like it for at least a few years. The photo on the right shows some of the border fabric auditioning that I did. I wasn't thrilled with either option because I felt both overpowered the middle section. I ended up taking it to my friend Paige's for a second opinion. We played with the fabrics I had until we came up with a combo we liked. Quilting is fun, but it's more fun with friends!

The beak was a light bulb moment for me. I couldn't figure out how to do it by machine, so I looked through the list of the few special stitches I have on my machine for inspiration. Then I realized that a V would look like a beak! I was pretty darn proud that I figured it out. I should have it finished tonight, so I'll post some follow up pictures when it's done.

I'm also working on this:
Can you guess what these parts will become when they are assembled?

And finally, here is my grocery bag!
















Isn't it cute? It's loosely based on the old size of Trader Joe's paper grocery bags. Both The Trader and the Dominick's near me have gone to much shorter paper grocery bags. You can't fit anything in them, so you need more bags! This doesn't save any resources or money, if you ask me. The finished bag is 16" h x 14" w x 7" d and folds up into a small 6"x4" pouch! I've been using it for a few weeks now, and I must say, it holds a lot of stuff. Not only did it hold all those cereal boxes, but I could have fit a couple of loaves of bread and chip bags on top. It also holds up well to heavy items.

I used the "Fresh Picked" line of 1930's reproductions from Darlene Zimmerman on the outside and a new bamboo/cotton blend fabric on the inside, both from Robert Kaufman fabrics. The bamboo fabric is great! It's soooo soft. And sews just like high quality cotton. There's literature out there that says it has antibacterial properties. I'm not sure how that translates to a blend.

2 comments:

Jennie said...

I think the applique pieces are from the bubble lights tree skirt pattern from Tammy Tadd! Am I right? Am I right?? ;-)

Anonymous said...

how totally cute is that bag?! i can think of a thousand ways i could use it, not just grocery shopping. and of course i LOVE the plaid.