Another Tote for a Friend

I made yet another tote for a girlfriend of mine. This one goes to USC, so of course I had to grab the JoAnn's USC fabric and made her a school bag.

Bargello Progress

I promised photos, so here's the first 14 rows of my Twisted Bargello rainbow batik quilt. Marsh and I added 4 more rows, bringing us to 14 of 35.

Iron Burn

So about a week ago, as I was making my purse, I burned the crap out of my arm. It's about 2 inches long, and two inches from my elbow on the inside of my arm. It blistered up and a day or two ago the blister burst, it dried out and now the top layer flaked off. I'm told this is a rite of passage for quilters - talk about an initiation ritual - my cousin and aunt have burns in the exact same spot. Where have you burned yourself?

Dress with No Pattern

So Monday afternoon I got a wild hair, and decided to make a dress. I had no pattern, I've never used one before and I don't know how to read them. I just grabbed some fabric and started cutting. It was from the cheap fabric bin my cousin put aside for me to practice new techniques with. I had no idea how to put in a zipper, so I put in snaps in the back, and I don't know how to do darts so the fact the sides fit as flat as they do is a miracle. I had no mannequin so I was constantly putting it on and taking it off as I made changes, but I have to say, I've never had a dress so tailor-made to fit me! I like how it turned out, and while I don't know how sturdy it is, I think I might wear it for my college graduation in about three weeks =)Here's the end result:

So in other news, I have been working on the Twisted Bargello with my cousin. We used rainbow batiks and so far it's coming out gorgeously. We have it about a third of the way done. We probably won't work on it again until friday, but I'll try and take some photos then.

Jess' Tote

I made yet another tote. This one is for my friend Jessica. She rides horses so I wanted something horsey, that wasn't country. I decided on flowers and horseshoes. I think it came out cute, I hope she agrees! I also learned to make buttonholes with my automatic buttonhole foot. It was ridiculously simple, I can now put buttons on anything!!! =) Of course I took advantage of my new knowledge and added a buttoned inner pocket on her bag. Good practice and too perfect.The block I used for the front pocket is Maple StarView of the horseshoe lining and the pocket with the button

My Own Purse!

I made myself one of the tote bags I've been cranking out, with a few minor changes. I made the body of the bag smaller and the handles shorter so it's a purse that tucks under my arm, instead of a tote bag. I also decided against a pocket on the outside even though I like them, I just thought it would detract from the cool pattern in the blocks. 

The blocks are from a project my cousin did in 2000 for a class, I think she called it Noodle Soup? Anyway, she never used the blocks and I asked her if I could make a quilt out of them, for practice and because they're so beautiful. She agreed, but there were many more blocks than I used for the quilt, so I decided I wanted a bag too!

The wallet is based loosely off a tutorial from That*Darn*Kat. It has cash and credit card slots, and the only thing I would have wanted was a place for coins, but I don't know how to add zippers yet. I still need to figure out what I'm going to do as a closure, maybe I can sneak a snap on there, there's a pocket behind the credit cards, so I could probably do that if I tried... hmmmm.

The wallet from the inside

I also want to add a closure to the bag to make it more secure, I'm thinking I'll add an elastic loop to the back and a button on the front for a loop closure. If I knew how to do zippers I'd do that, but I don't know how to do zippers or buttonholes!

The bag from the inside, using more of the blocks as pockets

Tote Ideas

Well I think I need to make a tote for myself! Katie looked so cute carrying her panda tote today. I think I want to applique a bird on the pocket of mine. Katie has pandas, my mom has tomatoes, I want a bird!

Mother's Day Weekend Quilting

This was quite a prolific weekend for me. I took a bag class Saturday, which resulted in an adorable tote bag which I will be sending to my Aunt on Monday as a belated mother's day gift since the fabrics make me think of her.Beachy Tote for my Aunt Libby

I finally, finally, made the panda tote, using the same pattern, for my friend Katie. She's really into pandas so I've been promising a quilted panda tote forever.

Katie's Panda Tote

I worked on the blocks for the surprise quilt I'm making my other aunt, using blocks her daughter (my cousin) made over 9 years ago for a class. Teamwork tackling a UFO.

UFO Quilt

Last, I began, but didn't finish a bag for my mom with tomato patterns on it for when she goes to the grocery store. She picked out her fabrics and sat with me while I worked on it. I also made her scones for breakfast. It was a fun Mother's Day.

Mom's In-Progress Tomato Tote

bargello class night 1

Tonight was the first night of the bargello class. I cut my 20 fabrics into strips, then sewed my strata together. Next I'll be making tubes and cutting those into the strips of various sizes to create the twisted pattern. Very cool! Ill add pictures soon I'm sure.
L

Twisted Bargello Prep

I pulled fabrics for the Twisted Bargello class I'm taking Tuesday. Going for the rainbow batik effect with a black background and some multicolored options for the border.