Two Versions of the Sew Together Bag

I have been eyeing the 'Sew Together Bag' pattern by SewDemented on Craftsy for about 6 months. I finally broke down and purchased it in December.

The pattern description is "Do you love Sewing Together with your friends, but can't keep up with all the notions you brought? This was my dilemma!

The Sew Together Bag is a niffty little bag with three zippered pockets, four open pockets, a pincushion and a great little needle landing all held together by a zipper that forms two handles.

This bag will easily hold your 8" scissors, rotary cutter, marking pencils, seam ripper, extra needles, thread, snippers, and much more. It will amaze you how much you can hold in this fun and compact bag."

It is true this is a niffty little bag and it has loads of pockets!

I made one for my mother-in-law for Christmas, using stashed fabrics in her favorite colors of teal, blue and pinks. I used fusible fleece for the outer shell and quilted straight lines.

It is a great design! But (and there is a big but in there) I would not recommend this pattern to a beginner.

For the zipper pocket linings I used a bright pink to match the outer zipper.

The overall design is perfectly well thought out and all the zippers are great for storing small items that otherwise might get lost. With four open pockets and three zipper pockets you can carry a lot in this bag.

Then I made another one for the guild's zipper bag swap, my partner was Yvonne from 'That's Sew Creative'. I know she loves English paper piecing and the soft colors of Bonnie and Camille's Scrumptious.

So I just had to make the outside of the bag with 1" EPP hexagons. These fabrics are so very sweet and relaxing to work with. I used cotton batting and hand quilted with perle cotton the outside. I recommend getting longer than recommended zippers for the three inside pockets, that way you do not have to worry about sewing over the metal zipper stops. Stay with the size she has for the outside zipper, there is no worry of sewing over those zipper stops.

My overall review of the pattern is that the design is top-notch and the written directions are good. There are only 4 diagrams to reference and I even found them confusing. The lack of photos makes it very frustrating and the price is $12.00. Now the price is equal to the great design but not due to the lack of step by step photos but that's my opinion. Although once you have it figured out it is easier when making a second one. It is a challenging pattern but don't let it stop you from making one, the finished results are very rewarding!

Thanks for visiting!

Kira

Busy, busy...

Now there is always a project on my plate, but right now there are several.

Finally I have started working on the hexagons from the Hexagon Swap on flickr from over a year ago.  I am assembling the flowers on my lunch hour at work. The plan is to eventually have enough flowers to make an applique throw quilt. 

Assembly line work on a dozen fish bags for the ECMQG bazaar in November. I have 4 done and 8 more to go. 

Using Amy Butler's Weekender Bag pattern to make a bag for my singer featherweight. I have the outside panels pieced but they need quilted.

Two feathers are partially finished for the bag outside pockets. I love Denise Schmidt's Florence line!!

So there you have it - busy busy!! What are you up to today?

What does Carl Sagan have to do with quilting?

Years ago I loved the PBS mini series "Cosmos' and it's host Carl Sagan, watching Carl walk though space and environments just thrilled me. I was captivated by his voice and  inspired by his knowledge. It's that geeky-ness in me that is still to this day in awe over the universe and all it's beauty! (and I hate to admit it but I even had a tiny crush on Carl - knowledge is sexy ya' know!)

So still I haven't explained how Carl and a quilt could possibly be related - but it's this love of the universe and our world's beauty that inspired me to create this quilt. You may remember this post Something at least something at the beginning stages of the design. All the EPP hexagons are hand appliqued and the quilting is free-motion on my home machine that mimics the movement of the spirals.

I did finish it for the Kona Solids Challenge, and it has hung in our dining room as the 'Un-Named' quilt for almost a year now. I have decided to enter it in the 2013 Emerald Coast Quilt Show and Retreat, this will be a first for me. I am somewhat of an introvert, and this is a little bit outside my comfort zone. But with the help of our quilt guild ECMQG I have been slowly learning to handle people viewing and critique my quilts.

I ran in to a friend and fellow guild member at a local quilt shop and she encouraged me to enter it in the show, otherwise I would have never dreamed of doing this. We talked of how it's good to see different styles of quilting art and how the design process is so individual. Then we started discussing the labels or definitions that so many feel the need to place on quilting styles, as in 'Modern', 'Traditional' and so forth. We both agreed that labels can be limiting, and that the best way to describe our works are ART! - but I digress... more about labels and pigeon holes another day. 

I have named this quilt 'Cosmos' even though I want to call it Carl ;)  - I wouldn't say its my best work, but it is my most favorite quilt because it is 'me' and inspired by my love of science.

So I guess in a way you could say this is 'Cosmos' - My personal voyage, and it's only just begun!!


If you want to learn some amazing things or just watch a few episodes you've seen before
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage or IMDb info on Cosmos.


"The cosmos is also within us, we're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos, to know itself. " - Carl Sagan

Something, at least something...

I know, I know I am late posting. And I know excuses just are a waste of time and I could be posting something, at least something....

What has been going on? So far I have completed two more blocks for the Sew Happy Quilt QAL and taken photos, but they alas are still on the camera. I joined a local modern quilt guild the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild - and have to say I am very excited to meet new people with modern quilting interests and learning from them.  A new project that I am working on is a Robert Kaufman Kona Solids Challenge with the local quilt guild. The challenge is to make a quilt no smaller than a crib quilt using one kona brights charm pack and one solid for the background, no prints on the front of the quilt and you can use a another solid for the binding. And I have made 172 hexagons and still need to figure out if I want to applique them on by hand or machine. Would love any advice/opinions!!

(please excuse the blurry camera phone pic)

This picture shows the layout I plan to use. I wanted to create movement and hope this is translating that. The background fabric is kona eggplant and I cut my background squares at 26 inches because I figured this would make it easier to handle if I decided to hand applique. I also plan on making two whole designs and one half or a quarter of the design and then piece the background squares together. Each one of the 'swirls' has 37 hexies in it. Wish me luck getting it done by March 30th.


Work deadlines and family travels seem to have taken all my free time. We visited our son at school and had a wonderful time on a mini vacation. Really enjoyed seen Evan and spending time with our little family. It is just amazing how fast time passes. 


And today I felt so special this morning, see it rained heavy all night and this morning. But the minute I walked out the door to go to work the rain let up and even the birds were singing to me as I got in the car. With this I felt like it was going to be a wonderful day even if it did start raining after I arrived at work this morning!!!


Hope your day smiles upon you!!!