Messenger Bag

 I fell off the Zakka Style Sew Along wagon

a few weeks ago,

 but jumped back on this week!

 I love messenger bags,

but have always been a little scared to make one.

I've made lots of bags,

but for some reason I just couldn't get my head

around how to make the flap work!

 The instructions in the Zakka Style book are great,

but I wish I would have used a stiffer interfacing,

or interfaced the lining, too -- my bag is a bit floppy.

I whipped this up yesterday,

and didn't have the hardware on hand to make an adjustable handle.

So I just figured out how long I'd like it

(47 inches was perfect),

to make it fairly easy to wear across my body.

Fabrics are linen (a blue/charcoal color)

and Reunion by Sweetwater.

What a fun bag!

Linking up to:

Works in Progress, 5.20.12

New this week:

Scrappy purple block for Katie,

for the Peace Circle of do. Good Stitches

Baby Hanna and Grandma Sheep

requested new summer dresses.

It's so interesting to me how different my girls are -- Holly is like me in so many ways, but different in her love of baby dolls.  As a little girl, I had no interest in dolls, but loved my teddy bears.  And my sweet Lexi sure loves her sheep, all 21 of them!

 I'm in the process of making more "read" bags, 

and writing a pattern, too!

Please let me know if you would be interested

in pattern testing for me --

I've never done this before, so I hope it doesn't take me too long to get it to a reasonably finished form! :-)

Happy Wednesday!

Linking up to:

Blogger's Quilt Festival

My Starflower Quilt:

I finished this quilt a few months ago,

but it's one that I just LOVE,

so I'm entering it into the Festival!

These quilt blocks were made by the lovely ladies of the Peace Circle of do. Good Stitches,

using Jennifer's starflower block tutorial.
I asked each of my "stitchers"
to use bright, happy colors for their blocks.

When I was putting the blocks together,

 I debated adding sashing in between the stars --

but ultimately decided that I liked

the denser look of lots of stars!

I quilted this in an all over meander,

and bound it with yellow to keep it bright and happy.

(the back)

Thanks for visiting!

--Michelle

NYB Mini Quilt

My NYB Mini quilt is finished!

My friend has a beautiful farm for photos --

and she didn't think it was too strange

 that I got out my camera

 and asked for tape right after we arrived

-- she's a quilter, too!

So while the kids fed her chickens,

we took quilt photos!

This mini quilt uses the NYB block 4 template.

I used some of my precious scraps

of Katie Jump Rope fabric

 to make it bright and sunny!

I absolutely love the KJR yellows!

(quilt back)

And here is where this quilt now lives,

in our back entryway,

a sunny burst of color welcoming us home.

I love it!

Linking up to:

Works in Progress!

This weekend I finished a pair of gift bags, 

along with fabric covered button hair binders --

birthday gifts for a set of twins.

 And I'm so happy to have this little quilt finished!

This New York Beauty block (#4) was really fun to make.

I'll devote another full post to this soon!

 And it's that time of year to start making

end-of-the-year teacher gifts!

Last year I made these book bags for my girls' teachers,

 so I figured I'd make a few more this year, too.

The "Read" is a bit funky --

 not sure if I'm in love with it or not.

I sort of paper pieced,

 sort of free hand pieced these blocks.

Hmmmm.

I love the brown print for the "bookshelves"  though!

Linking up to:

Works in Progress, 4/25/12

Last weekend I finished up this beauty!

(full post here)

Next up, more Retro Flowers:

Fabrics for the next few blocks

The first 9 blocks--

Wow!

I just love how they look together,

and can't wait until there are 16!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Linking up to:

From Start to Finish . . .

In less than 3 days!

Inspiration struck Thursday morning,

and I starting laying out HSTs.

(HSTs are Moda's Arcadia fabric)

 Thursday night I stayed up late trimming blocks.

 During the day on Friday I sewed the quilt top together.

After the kids were in bed Friday night,

I added Kona Ivory for the borders,

pin basted the quilt, and marked it for quilting.

 I used my Pilot Frixion pen
to mark 3 1/2 in squares in the solid border,

to match the 3 1/2 inch HSTs.

Whew!  

Went to bed at midnight (or a little after)!

Started quilting at 7am Saturday morning,

after Holly woke me up.

Finished the quilting Saturday afternoon,

while the girls colored this masterpiece:

Art Print to color yourself, found on Etsy

I sewed the binding on by hand on Saturday night,

since by then I was pretty tired of sitting in front of my sewing machine!

Finished at 11:18pm.

Sunday morning photos:

52" x 58"

I free motion quilted "orange peels,"

using this tutorial by the lovely QuiltyGirl.

The backing is the Katie Jump Rope orange dots,

so soft and cozy!

Linking up to:

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