Over the weekend, I was able to work on my Sauder Village block of the month. We're working from a book called "Strawberry Garden" by Fig Tree Quilts. We're on month 3, which multiple blocks per month. Some of the blocks are pretty small, but the results are better when I take my time.
While I was sewing with friends last week, I made another Redwood Tote Bag. For this one, I used some oriental fabric. Also, instead of the regular interfacing, I tried fusible foam. It worked great! The only issue is that when you quilt the foam sandwich, it shrinks. So net time, I know to quilt the pieces first, then trim them to the correct size. I even tried some fussy cutting - notice I got the crane in 2 different optimal places. I used antique gold hardware by Sallie Tomato. And I used waxed canvas for the strap, bottom and strap handle attachments.
This week I was sewing with some friends. I made 3 more Redwood Tote Bags. The first one took a while, but now I'm getting faster. For each of them I'm trying different materials and techniques and learning a lot. For this bag, I used a cotton/linen fabric for the exterior. For the fusible on the back of the exterior and lining fabrics, I used fusible fleece. Then I used rose gold hardware by Sallie Tomato.
I had a little time last week and whipped up 3 Zippy Strippy Bags in a neutral colorway. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.
A few weeks ago, I also finished this quilt top, called Christmas Wishes. The quilt pattern is by The Pattern Basket. I've been working on it for a few years. I'd work on the trees for a couple retreats, then I'd work on the presents for a couple retreats. I finally got it all put together. This is a king sized quilt for us. Fortunately, I've timed this right, so I have plenty of time to quilt it before Christmas!
I've been teaching our granddaughter to sew. This is her very first quilt. We started out with all the pink 5" squares out of my scrap drawer. Then we added other pink fabric to make enough light and dark pink squares. She sewed all the squares together and I put the rows together and quilted it. I used the quilting pattern Woven and a beautiful, variegated pink and purple thread called Water Lily.
While I was sewing last week, I also finished the main body of this quilt - Penguins by Elizabeth Hartman. 42 penguins - small, medium and large. The main body is done. Next, I'll add a thin red border, then a larger border to make it king size. I've been working on it for a few years now. It took a lot of patience and is not an easy pattern - but now that it's done, I think it was well worth it.
