Potluck Project Bag

I struggled with the placement of these fabrics. Some I adore and others are just fillers. It wouldn't be the best use of my precuts to only pull out the ones I love, not when I'm just working with 2 1/2" squares to begin with. So I fussed and fussed some more and got them all pieced into two panels.

That was the hard part. Sewing a zippered project bag is easy, even if I succumb the influence of Lier over at Ikat Bag and line it properly. And quilt the outside because if I'm playing with the fabric that's too good to cut, I should do things right. I'll like the finished bag more if it has some substance and holds its shape.

After all of that careful fabric placement and choosing the best thrifted zipper to match the yellows, can you see what I did? (Hint -- look at where the zipper is and which direction the prints are facing.) I didn't see the problem until I had the entire bag assembled and I wasn't about to rip out every seam to redo it. I keep hearing that we're not supposed to point out our mistakes, but if I can save one of you from sewing directional prints the wrong direction, I'm happy to share my embarrassment.

The Challenge of Working With Precuts

I enjoy working with precuts, but they can present some real challenges. 

I thought I'd use this Moda Candy bundle to make a project bag. It's been sitting in my stash for a while, too pretty to actually use in a project (or that's what I'd convinced myself because the ruler print is so absolutely perfect. Last night the solution finally hit me. Sew the squares into two panels and make a bag -- can't mess the fabric up that way, right?

I was going to divide the squares into two piles and arrange the fabrics so that the colors were evenly distributed. Once I got started, it was like a particularly vicious math problem. There are sooo many of those tiny checks. And a bunch of the prints are directional. And the whole thing just started to make my head spin.

I thought I was close to figuring it out, putting my favorite prints on one side of the bag and the others on the back...except for all of those tiny checks. Some of them even have duplicates! Looking at the pictures as I type this, I can see lots of poor choices with the fabric placement, then I think of sewing them together and keeping every square in the right order and facing the right direction and I think I'll just take the boys down to the river instead of struggling with it.

I do love the fabric collection (Moda Potluck) and could do amazing things with a jelly roll or some yardage, but these little 2 1/2" squares may be the death of me. Or may go back into my drawer of fabric that's too good to cut into.

Going to the Quilt Show?

Are you headed to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt show this weekend? If you are, are you ready?

I'm most definitely not. For the first time ever, I'm going without any kids. I've been scrambling all day to get my ducks in a row before I leave the house tomorrow morning.

The plan, if all goes well, is to spent Friday visiting area quilt shops and picking up Row by Row Experience patterns and then go out early Saturday morning to watch the quilts go up. I'll be posting pictures from the show to my instagram feed.

Now My Pens Are Safely Hidden

I'd forgotten that non-Crayola felt tip pens were a thing. Now that Pinterest has reminded me, I'm absolutely in love. Those little white stars at the top of the cap make me happy and conjure up vague hazy memories of red pens in my dad's desk at work.

To keep my pens mine, I needed a little bag to keep them contained in my bigger bag. The fabric choice kept stopping me in my tracks. I've got all kinds of cute novelty prints, but they're all sewing themed and that didn't seem right for office supplies. I'd finally settled on the American Jane ruler print and has the pieces cut before it registered that these are not rulers...

I'd say "oops" if  this print wasn't an even better choice for a pen bag. Measure twice, cut once, and actually look at the fabric you're using!

Weekly Stash Report

While I was curled up on the couch last week recovering from surgery and sulking, Mom was on a Halloween shop hop up the Oregon coast and picked me up kits  for thirteen cute Halloween blocks. And a yard of gorgeous book spine fabric. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but it'll be something special.

While I was waiting for the power to go out yesterday, I followed some fun rabbit trails and found drool worthy projects:

Becky's Henny Penny and Cocky Lockey potholders make me want to learn to crochet Right Now. The last pair on the page reminds me of our two lovebirds.

This paper pieced haunted house is soooo intricate! (How many pieces are in that basement window?!) I don't paper piece, but after seeing this project I sure want to give it another try.

All Hallow's Eve, with its appliqued tree and moon, might be more my speed.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 1/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  1 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 30 1/4 yards (+4 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 23 yards

Yarn used this Week: 50  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 5950 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 9118 yards
Net added for 2016: 3168 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

{To Good To Cut} Halloween Fabric

The week before last, the alternator in Teenage Daughter's car went out and she used the van while her car was in the shop. Which was fine. We picked it up and on the drive home Hubby realized that a wheel bearing had gone bad so it sat in our driveway for a few days and then at the mechanic's place for another week. Which was okay.  Friday, they called and the other wheel bearing is bad (but they couldn't tell it was making noise until they replaced the first one.) The boys and I have plenty to do here at the house, but this is starting to get a bit old. If I really want to go someplace, I'll have to drive either my daughter or husband to work and then pick them up, which means a couple of extra hours on the road. I'm not that desperate yet.  

And as if the car wasn't enough fun, I'm having surgery on Thursday. It should make my life much better, but that's what they told me about the knee surgery so I'm a little stressed and the hormones they've got me taking don't seem to be helping matters any. Neither does the fact that they changed the date on me. (I'm completely sympathetic to the patient who needs the emergency hysterectomy and I'll gladly give up my place on the schedule for her, but I wish they'd told me about the change before we went through so much hassle with my husband's employer to get him off the schedule for that day.)   

Except for a yard of clear vinyl that I picked up at Walmart with the groceries, I'm not buying fabric. Instead I'm going through my stash and deciding what I'm excited about. 

Halloween fabric is almost always exciting....

I think the one on the right is going to be the backing for Hocuspocusville (at least that was the plan when I ordered it a few years back), have no plan for the ones in the middle, and am trying to decide whether to applique those potion bottles on a bookshelf quilt.

The boys need bags for carrying library books that aren't feminine or babyish and this zombie drive in print that I found at one of the shops we visited while we were collecting Row by Row patterns has got to be the most non-girly cut of fabric on the face of the Earth! Just one problem....I think when I finish the bag I'm going to want to keep it for myself. Same with the movie posters.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 3/4 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 1/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 29 1/4 yards (+2 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 22 yards

Yarn used this Week: 400  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 5900 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 9118 yards
Net added for 2016: 3218 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.