Finished: purse

About two years ago, I made myself a messenger bag.  It was getting well used, so it was time to make myself a new one.  (I find it a bit funny that I seem to want a new one every two years.)  This one held up much better than the first one, but there were still some items I wanted to change.

First of all, I decided that I'd try using interfacing.  I've only used interfacing for T-shirt quilts before, but the last purse was a bit floppy.  I also wanted a smaller purse, so that I would put less stuff in it and hopefully lose less stuff.

The last changes included a zipper pouch under the flap and magnetic snaps.  The zipper in the photo above is for my phone.  I had one in the old purse too, but kept putting other things in it.  So the zipper in the photo below is for car keys, a pen, and chap stick...and hopefully nothing else.  I didn't do any inside pockets this time.  The magnetic snaps were a last minute addition since the shorter and stiffer flap wasn't staying closed well.  They work wonderfully!

The messenger bag is modified from this tutorial, and how to insert zippers is from this one.

Fish Quilt

My mother-in-law made this fish quilt for my new second cousin.

I quilted 'Sea Foam' on it.  The swirls and bubbles seemed to match so well with the fish.

I did not quilt over the fish though, causing them to pop slightly from the background.

Low volume finish

I finished this quilt for some dear friends and their new baby boy.  I did not finish it by the time the baby was born, but I wasn't too far behind.

 I started the photo shoot on a nice fall day with lots of sunshine.

I used mostly low volume fabrics, with an emphasis on some tree bark and rock fabrics that I had found at a quilt show.   Half of the accent pieces were dark grey/black and the other half were colored.  Just enough to give it a pop of color.

I quilted it with a wood grain texture.

Later I finished the photo shoot and it was cloudy with snow on the ground.  But I'll admit, that's the way I like it best.

The pattern, Mad Dash, can be found here.

Linking up with Finish it Up Friday.

Progress through November

It's odd how things can change so quickly.  Two months ago I felt like I was getting nothing done, but since then I've finished several quilt tops.  One month ago I felt like I didn't have much on the "to quilt" list, and now I have a bunch!

So here's what I've been up to...
1. Meshing solid HSTs: I finally got the last bit of medium grey that I needed to finish.  Unfortunately, it looks slightly different.  Fortunately, I was planning on a dense quilting in the grey part, so hopefully that will bind it together better.

2. Fish quilt: Quilting and pictures are all done and it just needs a blog post.

3.  Scrap bee blocks 2017: This got all put together and now needs to be quilted.  I was going to piece a back together, so I need to do that too.

4. Purse: Just needs a blog post...I feel as though I should be more of top of these blog posts.

 

5. Joshua robot pillowcase: Finished, and I'm not giving it it's own blog post. :) It's just a normal pillowcase, made out of left over minky from his quilt backs.  He loves it since it is soft and has robots.

6. Wedding Quilt left over HST: This turned out so much better than I had envisioned it.  It will be the next quilt I work on quilting.

 

7. Baby boy quilt (HCP): I started piecing a new quilt.

Things I haven't worked on recently (or haven't started yet):
8. Temperature quilt. 
9. Rainbow Log Cabin
10. Scrap quilt #2
11. Jeweled floors
12. Lost piece
11. Winter quilt
13. Fabric from Christmas
14. Pillow with green/purple fabric
15. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
16. Black scrap quilt.
17. Baby quilt (B?P)
18. Wedding quilt pillows
19. Wedding quilt left over HST II