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.
Last week, I was sewing with some friends. I finished a few quilt tops. One of them is this Birds and Geese quilt. I used my Charley Harper bird fabric for the squares. Then I used my small stash of hand dyed fabrics for the geese. It's my own pattern. I love how the soft colored flying geese (triangles) go with the modern birds.
Last month, I attempted to make the Circle Purse out of cork for my granddaughter. We used some rose gold hardware to match the Sallie Tomato cork. The Circle Purse is a free pattern on Sallie Tomato's website. It's certainly not perfect, but okay for a first attempt. Sallie Tomato has since updated the pattern and renamed it "Gwen". I'm hoping to try that next.
