What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Back in April last year, I started to make a Persephone purse to gift to my friend for her birthday, similar to the one I made myself the previous fall. I picked the model with the frame this time instead of the 2 zipped pockets. I choose a lovely tweed fabric for the exterior. 

Sadly I didn't finish the purse on time to gift it ...

It was time to make some more project bags to corral my UFOs.  As much as I admire the bags often seen in blogland made with a zipped clear plastic front, these bags look a little too difficult for me to make.  My bags are simple draw string bags, made with netting, and finished with patchwork fabric and cord.  Much easier to achieve, and work just as well to house my projects.  After all, who wants to store their precious sewing in plastic bags?  Not me.

I used up some more of the seemingly never ending supply of four patches ...

 Finally... my first finish this year, my first project fully made in this new house, my first bag in nearly 6 months... and 2 months later than the sew-along... but who cares, it is now FINISHED and in-use already! Let me present my strawberry and chocolate Remus bag! Pattern by Bags of Bags of Style.

I really like my Martelli rotary cutters; I have a 45mm version as well as a 60mm version. The thing that makes them so comfortable for me to use is that they have offset handles — which is what makes them awkward to take anywhere, given that they aren’t flat. (Note: I see that they’ve […]

 I found an adorable duffle bag pattern! It's a free tutorial from Bernina. Click the link to go to the tutorial:

  Ruffle Duffle Tutorial

The finished size of this duffle is 14.5" by 8" by 8" tall. I have kitted this project in case you want to make one too. The kit includes the laminate, the cotton webbing and a black zipper.

Ruffle Duffle Kit

You can click the link above to go directly to the item in my online shop. Or you can go to AlamosaQuiltCompany.com and click Shop>Kits and this one is probably the ...

I’ve just completed stitching six little drawstring bags for the charity Foster Hope.  These are given for children in foster care, amongst with other items, and they use them to keep their toiletries or pens and pencils in.  Just so you don't thinks I'm Wonder Woman, I have to confess that the bags were stitched, bit by bit, over a period of several weeks – I’m still pacing myself sitting at the sewing machine after my spinal surgery.  Then I had to go and purchase some suitably coloured cord, and the final job was threading it through ...

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I receive fabric from Island Batik and other supplies from industry partners (Hobbs Batting, Aurifil, Bags by Annie, and Studio 180), twice a year. The first set of boxes were received in January 2021.

Island Batik Boxes and the Video Shoot Setup

The second set of boxes were received in July 2021. Here is my home video showing the goodies as I unbox them.

For the August Challenge (Try a Tool) and Blog Hop, I will be working with Island Batik's Butterfly Blooms collection.

Butterfly Blooms

Foundations to Match Spring 2021 Bundle

Matching Yardage ...

 It has been long time since I made an open wide pouch (pattern by Noodlehead) so I made 4!

I used faux leather for the outside and cotton for the inside, one with the sports print

Linking ...

 More end of year teachers' presents on my list but I took a break from the bags to make some pencil cases. I can't really make bags for men I think. 

I started with 10'' squares for those pencil cases and added a 1'' square of faux leather on either side of the zip.

First step is to sew the zip to the outside and lining so it is "sandwiched" between the 2 layers.

 I have taken some time to sew this week-end and although I had planned to do a lot more than I have, I have managed to make 6 more Zero-Waste Wave Bags. 

My first series was with this gorgeous raspberry faux leather. 

It was all going so well until I realised I forgot to sew one strap....

Thankfully after a little bit of unpicking, I could fix it and have 2 more bags

One for my daughter's form teacher and one for one music teacher

One for the French teacher and one for ...

 I hadn't listen to a podcast for a long time but a few weeks ago I listen to the Love to Sew episode on zero-waste sewing. I checked the links from the episode and was intrigued by the ZWWave bag pattern by bag.uettes. The shape is beautiful and I figured it should be easy straight forward enough to try this pattern for end of year gifts, especially this year when I have lots to make.

I duly bought the pattern and printed it to try my first bag. The instructions are very clear and the pattern pieces are ...

When we go from spring to summer, I want to ditch my everyday purse for a quick and simple option, like this drawstring backpack! You can whip one up with 3 half yard cuts of fabric and about 90 minutes. The perfect summer backpack to toss in your necessities all summer long! This drawstring backpack […]

Not exactly exciting sewing today but I am happy I have done it. After finishing my quilting, we took the frame apart but I didn't put it away. I have been meaning to make some bags to keep the parts of the frame together for quite some time but never got around to it. I guess it is quite a boring and easy project so it has not been top priority.