The Sew Together Bag...and the not so fiddly zipper tabs.

Sunday Sewalong at the GWSMQG are a highlight of each month...yeah I don't get out a lot!

Last weekend was the June Sunday, and a plan was hatched to have a group sew along - and what better to sew together than the Sew Together Bag. This is a downloadable pattern from Sew Demented on Craftsy

I really shouldn't have started yet another project,

but the fact,

* it is FINISHED,

* it was great to have assistance from someone who'd already made it,

* I cut into my Charley Harper fabric,

* it doesn't take up a lot of fabric,

* you can use scraps to make the outer shell, and

* you'll lose your fear of zips,

I figured I'd was ahead before I'd even started!

So two of the things that I learnt from following in someone else's footsteps are:
a)  that the zipper tabs are a fiddly as all get out, and
b) an 18" zipper is a tight fit if you're trying to avoid the metal bit, luckly I did have a 20" zipper (thanks @iamacraftykat).

The Quilt Barn has a sewalong on the blog that is worth checking out for great detail on the construction.

One problem I found with the pattern is the minimal photos and diagrams. The explanation of the zipper tabs seems a bit unclear and there are no photos or diagrams of this particular step. The way it is done in the Quilt Barn Sew Along, looks really awkward (to me, anyway)...much better to sew the sides first rather than all that pinning and trying to get folded seam allowances to stay put.

The way I sewed them is perhaps what the pattern instructs you to do, but with the lack of diagrams, it's hard to tell. The ones I sewed just slip onto the end of the zipper...

Anyway here goes with my version:

- fold your fabric in half and finger press the fold.

- open out and with wrong side facing up, turn up the short raw edge towards the fold and iron or finger press - I turned up mine about 1 1/4", on either side of the fold.

- the fold in half again with right sides together, and pin to hold in place.

- the width of the zipper and binding is 1 1/2" , so by sewing a scant 1/4" seam along each side of the zipper tab you will still have a wide enough opening for the zip to slide in to...

- sew 1/4" seam along each raw edge side LEAVE THE OPENING WITH THE FOLDED UP ENDS OPEN!

- turn right side out through the opening...and you have a tiny wee pouch with neatly folded in ends.

- there's no need to trim seam allowances (because you didn't go around a corner)...just gently poke out with a skewer, so the sides are neat and square.

- it's really easy to poke the zipper inside the wee pouch and push it down to the end...just scrunch it together a bit and shove, then smooth out! I just made sure there was no metal where I want to top stitch this in place.

- topstitch 1/8" in around all four sides.
The last step is to sew the bound ends to the middle of each side for your handle.

Look at all that Charley Harper lovliness! Such happy, happy colours! And cute birds! And gold and blue leaves! And a little red pincushion!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

May Catch-up

The only way I am going to catch up with blog news is to do a couple of bulk posts…I’ll call them MAY and JUNE, but there will be a bit of an overlap, so don’t hold me to correct dates!
and there’s nothing like a life in pictures to say it all…
But first I can happily say that the sewing machine cover (pictures in the previous post) I made for the Modern She Made Swap was a huge hit! Here’s the link to Cathy’s photostream and comments.

I'd signed up for a fabric basket swap on flickr, so I drafted a pattern for a rectangle kaleidoscope, based on the tutorial from Narcoleptic in a cupboard

and set about making a perfect basket, along the way picking up the perfect lining from one of the two GWSMQG Sunday Sewalongs that have been on in the past two months.

Just as an aside, our Modern Quilt guild has incorportated and now we are all official …just to prove it…here’s the badge!

What was I saying..oh yes the basket…well that descended into more angst because those beautiful panels were so darn thick at the ends that I couldn’t send it to anyone…let alone the blogger/designer I was partnered with!

So what’s a desperate, deadline-dodging, damsel do? Grab a cuppa tea, and go cut some hexagons and triangles in orange and grey FMF – luckily another of my partners “likes” and quickly whip up another basket.

Look how those clever triangles made themselves into diamonds too!

I also sent off this little organiser wallet (I was sending off very late),which was made from more GWSMQG fabric that was being de-stashed by one person only to be re-stashed by me.

I was truly happy happy happy with the parcel I sent…and so was Lori
(It might seem like I’m trumpeting my own horn – but after all angst and inner turmoil I went through with these swaps, you’d understand my relief in knowing that they were a hit.)
And just to prove that nothing runs smoothly, …I thought I’d be smart and cut and sew the lining a tad smaller so it wouldn’t be too loose…

now I have a basket lining in search of a skinny basket!

More catch-up tomorrow!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

Ins and Outs…

IN
A gorgeous quilt from Lorraine (Vid70) on flickr…I can’t tell you how much I love this maxi mini and how gorgeous the colours are…so much DS in one place… love!
and a happy little house…with our house number on it…goodness beyond bounds.

and again because it is so lovely!

This is part of the DSDQ swap…a truly brilliant bunch of swappers...keep a lookout for the next round!

The next IN
is this rainbow basket of scrappy goodness…

This is from the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap on Flickr. My partner was Stacey and she got me totally right!  If you want a bit of eye candy, have a look at her Madrona Road challenge quilt...she sent me some of her lovely hexagons in the basket!

And some NEW (look out for corny word plays) INS:
souvenirs of fabric and thimbles from Marisew’s trip to the US:
NEW YorkNEW Orleans

I don’t really have a thimble collection

do I?

OUT
I made a flag to send to Boston. My local guild, GWSMQG are sending some off. I foundation pieced this kangaroo and the heart and fmq’d (sorry for using that as a verb!) "peace". There will be thousands of flags from all over the world and I wanted to show that peace and good wishes were coming from as far away as Australia.

For more information about “to Boston with Love” go to this link
You'll need to get a wriggle on though…they have to be in by MAY 21st.

The last OUT to talk about is this sewing machine cover I made for the Modern She Made Swap – also a Flickr swap...my partner hasn't got it yet, so I won't say who it's for or show it all.
I found this one a real challenge, as I couldn't quite work out what to do for my partner…her mosaic had a water theme, lots of blues and greens and a liking for things “British”. Also the item had to have a “star” somewhere in it. Here’s what I ended up making.


In the end I am really happy with how it turned out…it took a while to work out the design, and it changed regularly, and I did some pebble quilting, so I stretched myself and learnt something new about technique and design in the process.
And as a tie-in with both swaps, some of the hexagons on this project were sent to me from Stacey in her scrap pack...clever huh?
And one other piece that literally 'fell' into place - I couldn't work out what to bind it with, none of the solids would work properly and then my precariously balanced DS fabrics fell onto the floor at my feet and out of the bag spilled the blue bubble colourway...spooky!

And I know you are asking “but,where is the theme star?”…

…a pair of “friendship” stars on either end panel!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

Party Time…

Well Hello…it’s been a while…but for good reasons…

There’s been a 21st birthday party here for this little fellow…

Preparation for a 16th birthday party for this little lady…

Though I know the answer, I still keep asking “where did all those years go?”

As the children grow up, the theory is that I will have more time to do what I would like to do…sadly it is still just a theory…big ones are hard work too!

All is not completely lost though, the sanity saver, and friendship builder, that is the GWSMQG Sunday Sewalong, happens once a month. My sewing machine gets dragged along to get a bit of a run! One day I will have something finished to show!!
In the mean time, here is the paper piecing I have been partying along with:

and a whole lot of partying with these….

This is the quilt for the 21st…it’s alright I’m only keeping to my tradition of having these late for my own children…

***************************************************

So I don’t run out of things to do I have joined up for:

* 2 Flickr swaps – The DS Doll Quilt Swap and Modern Scrappy Bits Swap are both due early to mid March…I’d better get a wriggle on there and start turning up on Flickr!

* My other favourite Flickr group – Modern She Made, is opening up signups on 25 February…do you dare? DO I DARE?

* Quiet Play’s  And Sew On...BoM- the next one is an "unpicker"…I should have a competition to guess how many times I need to use the real thing to make the block…at least there is no deadline for this one.

* GWSMQG has started a challenge and the info is on their facebook page – for this one, I have till April to finish –  plenty of pondering time to work out the main colour.

Well that’s me back on the blogging wagon – till I next fall off…

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

Neglected…

Poor neglected blog!
It is so mad at me, I even had to retype the URL into the search bar…
Just  a tad busy at this time of year.
Sorted scraps ready for GWSMQG Sewalong Sunday – December  9

Scrappy Circle of Geese is Emma’s block for Sew & Bee Happy – it will get finished now that I’ve made the Christmas presents I needed to finish.

Soaking fruit and Christmas cake making –started on December 8

It tipped the scales at a whopping 4.9kg

Luckily the recipe will make a 23cm cake and a boiled pudding and about 50 fruit mince pies. Rather than a cooked pudding, I'm going to make  an ice cream pudding…a nice treat for a hot summers Christmas Day.

This is just before it went into the oven, and I can tick off ”Cake cooked and ready to let the flavour develop” – December 18

Christmas presents made and handed over on December 19 and 20

This was bound and quilted before going to it's new owner

They all had hanging corners and I got the MaTH to buy dowel and cut it to size, so they were all ready to hang too!

3 commissions to make sewing caddys – the best feeling in the world!

From neglected to exhausted!

Linked to Richard's LAFF

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…