Friday, March 14, 2014

Chubby Charmer Bag

I'm far from an expert bag maker...in fact, I haven't made many and those that I have are well...works in progress!  But I came across a super cute bag pattern at a local quilt shop that I just wanted to try.  Pair that up with an end of the bolt clearance sale at another local quilt shop and I decided to give bag making another go.

The Chubby Charmer bag was designed to be made out of five inch charm blocks, but the shop where I bought the pattern had it made up in just a solid piece of fabric.  Despite the headache that ensued from trying to figure out the math, I did my best to get it put together!  It involves quite a few layers of fusible fleece which made for some sore arms when trying to quilt it.

Nonetheless, I'm pretty happy how it turned out - please just don't pay too much attention to how the seams match up on the side!

Chubby Charmer Bag

If I had to do it again (which I'm not so certain I would), I would pretty much do it the same with the exception of how the interior pockets are constructed (whether I read the directions wrong or that's how it's written - some of the fusible fleece shows inside the pocket!

Chubby Charmer Bag

I added a snap (my first time ever doing that).  This thing is a monster in size - the bottom I added measures 9 x 17"!  I'm thinking it'll be great if I'm ever toting around a quilt that needs it's binding!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Snowflake Star

It's no secret that I love Kate Spain's fabrics.  I also love a good Christmas project.  So a couple of years ago when one of the major quilting magazines featured a Christmas project with Kate Spain fabric, I jumped at the chance.  Somewhere/somehow I snagged a Kate Spain jelly roll and slowly got to work on putting together the Snowflake Star quilt!

Fast forward a couple of years (yup...it really takes me that long) and I finally finished one!  (This mind you was after quite a few issues with it that at one point made me seriously consider giving up quilting).  Anyways, it got quickly quilted and bound in order to give to a quilty friend for Christmas.  She loves the color blue, and it's not everyday you find a holiday themed quilt that's got blue in it.

Snowflake Star

It's not too large - maybe about 38" square, but I think it's fun!

Should I even mention that one jelly roll makes four stars total?  Yup...that's a true statement.  But, in an effort to get some of my unfinished projects done, I soldiered on and finished the three additional tops.  They're currently sitting in the pile of projects that need to be sandwiched!  Perhaps one more will get done by next Christmas?

Monday, March 3, 2014

Knitting Project Bags

It's been a bit of whirlwind the past few months - coming off the holidays into the start of a new semester at work and then lots of other committments.  I haven't been crafting as much as I would like - other than a ton of scarves since they're fairly mindless.  But, in January I did get one project done...knitting project bags!

For Christmas my sis asked for some bags to use for her knitting projects.  So when I had a bit of time after the holidays (and we had chatted about what she had in mind), I whipped up three bags for her...

Knitting Project Bag
The tamest of the bunch

Knitting Project Bag
Because every knitting project needs some sheep

Knitting Project Bag
And because she builds helicopters (sorry for the somewhat blurry photo)

These were all made from Jeni Baker's (In Color Order) Lined Drawstring bag pattern.  She's got a great tutorial online, but I had purchased her pattern to get the dimensions for the bigger project bag, which these are!

They got sent along via snail mail shortly after they made and hopefully they're being put to good use!