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Friday, February 27, 2015

Favorites

Favorites1. Improv Quilt, 2. Juicy Fruit, 3. Sacred Heart, 4. Whimsy in Marsala. Blogged at http://pieladyquilts.blogspot.com, 5. Butterfly Whirl, 6. Eleri's Quilt, 7. Mustang Kiss Quilt Top - Finished!, 8. Sausage Dog, 9. birchen {finished baby quilt}

Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!

Happy Weekend!

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag

Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
Happy Wednesday! I have a fun project finish to share today. I made another Sew Together Bag! This is my fourth one, (first, second, and third) and I think for now my last full size one. I would still like to try shrinking the pattern by 50% and making a mini one. Maybe one day!

Sew Together Bag Pattern by Sew Demented can be found here.

Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
Since I made two with Dreamin' Vintage and one with Nordika, I felt like I should make one with Geometric Bliss. I used nine different prints from the collection for this bag. I also used four different zipper colors, which I hadn't done yet. They're all from Zipit!

Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
Every time I make this bag it gets easier, and I end up with a nicer bag. I was paying closer attention while making this one, so there was no seam ripping, woo! For this one I decided to quilt narrow straight lines on the bias. I will admit, it did stretch it a bit, but I still had plenty of room to trim it down. I like the finished look of it. I also split the exterior piece into two and pieced it since the tulip print is directional. I used Aurifil 50wt #2024 thread throughout!

Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
I love how colorful these bags are when you use lots of different prints. I think the resulting bag is so bright and cheerful. This is a welcome change from our current weather. The winter here is so dark and dreary. I needed this pop of color!

Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
I am pretty much obsessed with using the black and white polygons print with that fuschia purple. It is such an excellent combo. Still loving the black and white.

Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
I hope you'll try this bag pattern if you haven't already. It's a fun challenge, and you get a great sense of accomplishment when it's finished. I use mine to take my sewing tools and notions to class or retreats. It's the perfect size!

You can find the pattern to make these bags here: Sew Together Bag Pattern by Sew Demented

Happy Sewing!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

This Month

Quilt ladder
Happy Wednesday! I'm back, at least for today. This month has been pretty draining. I am working towards finishing up some deadlines, doing regular work, trying to keep the apartment in order, and planning our wedding from afar. Plus, it was Michael's birthday and our anniversary this month.

I haven't had much to talk about or show in this space, and honestly I think I needed a little break. I've been pretty quiet on Instagram too, I guess I've pulled back from most social media this month, and it's been good. I can't do everything, so something has to give. Hopefully next month things can get back to normal.

I did find time recently to refresh the quilt ladder. I love having quilts on display! It was made using this tutorial.

Fantastic Quilt Voyage
I've joined a quilt bee for the first time in years and I'm pretty excited about it. It's a traveling bee, so we had to send out our quilt "start" last month. I choose some orphaned blocks that all happened to coordinate in color. I can't wait to find time to work on this project.

Schwimmen hat in progress
I started my first knitting project of 2015, a Schwimmen hat (pattern by Shannon Cook). It's another gray hat, because I love gray hats. This is the fourth gray hat I have made, whoops! Oh well, I know what I like! More on my Ravelry.

Sewing room
We are finally to the point where we are simply running out of space in our apartment. Since we aren't planning on moving until we leave Madison, this means some purging is necessary. Thankfully, I love ridding through things, so it's not all bad. This past weekend I tackled my sewing room. I took almost everything out of the wall of closets, and got rid of a decent amount of stuff. Not enough, but there is nothing being stored on the floor anymore, so definitely an improvement! I also ordered this FJÄLKINGE shelving unit from Ikea to take better advantage of the space between my sewing table and the window. It's definitely one of the better quality pieces I've seen from there, and it fits perfectly.

Ice in Lake Mendota
Last month when it wasn't quite so cold (it's 2 degrees right now), we got brave and went out onto Lake Mendota for some photos of the ice. It was really cool. Don't worry, this is as far as we got from the shore.

George and I
George bunny has been good. He is so sweet, I like to pick him up for a squeeze everyday. He has been waking us up every morning at about 6:30am to go out in his play area. Stinker!

George
One more George photo just for good measure, cause he is so cute!

Have a great day!