Long Arm Lesson

I got my second lesson from my Handiquilter dealer this morning. I am so excited about getting my Handiquilter delivered later this year! I decided the Unbeweavable lap quilt was a good practice project because it was fairly small and fit one of my batting remnants.

Not my favorite quilting pattern, but I had to choose
something that came preloaded on the machine.

Finishing the binding on this quilt will now get added to my ToDo list.

Tuesday ToDo #22

Not a great week in my sewing room since I spent most of my free time working on sifting in the basement. I am trying to clear out half the family room so I can make room for my new Handiquilter long arm machine. That seems like rather a higher priority than the items on my list.

1.    Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home. ✔︎

2.    Make a purse clutch that fits in my craft tote.

    Started, but not finished. I have several more hours of work left on it. 

3.    Work on the Halloween Monster Wreath from my WOOFA list (or ditch the project). ❌

4.    Make pillowcases to match the Harvest Quilt I finished last year. ❌

5.    Make pillowcases for the Snake River log cabin quilt. ❌

6.    Make pillowcases for the Finger Lakes log cabin quilt. ❌

7.    Finish making cut files in the Cricut Design Space. ✔︎

8.    Finalize the fabric selections and prep the fabric for the cutting mats. ❌

9.    Cut out the Sea Swept quilt project. ❌

I'm not sure how much time I'll spend sewing this coming week, but I will keep all these projects on the list until I have time to work on them. I may need to take a little break from the sewing blog (again) while I focus my efforts on downsizing and setting up a quilting area down in the basement.

Thanks to ChrisKnits for hosting the Weekly ToDo link party.

Aug Friday Night Sew In

I didn't get very much done for this week's Friday Night Sew-In because when I went upstairs to sew, my room was a mess and I spent the first couple of hours ironing and putting fabric away. 

I did do a bit of work on the purse clutch I am hoping to make, but I thought I could be all clever and build it with leftover soft & stable interfacing instead of the plastic they used but it's not working very well; it's difficult to tuck in the end of the zipper. I probably should have just followed the original directions, or at least assembled it in the same way.

I did get to play with some new fabric when I was ironing. Not sure which quilt design I'll make with it, but I'm sure I'll come up with something eventually.

The top fabric is a Hummingbird Lane batik. I managed to get it on clearance.

Tuesday ToDo #21

I made fairly good progress on my list from last week. These were the tasks I was hoping to work on last week:

1.    Cut out additional papers for the Japanese Poppies EPP (English paper piecing) project. ✔︎

2.    Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home. ✔︎

I actually spent a few hours on this project when we went to a friend's house for a gaming day.

3.    Continue work on the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt. ✔︎

Flimsy finished! I blogged about it here.

4.    Make backing for the Finger Lakes Log Cabin Flimsy.

  

I cut out the pieces, but I haven't sewn them together yet. My main goal was to make sure I had enough fabric and I did.

5.    Work on Halloween Monster Wreath from my WOOFA list (or ditch the project). ❌

I also worked on tidying up my sewing room. I am trying to finish up projects that are lying around, so with that goal in mind, my list for next week:

1. Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home.
2. Make a purse clutch that fits in my craft tote.
3. Work on the Halloween Monster Wreath from my WOOFA list (or ditch the project).
4. Make pillowcases to match the Harvest Quilt I finished last year.

5. Make pillowcases for the Snake River log cabin quilt.
6. Make pillowcases for the Finger Lakes log cabin quilt.

Since we're already halfway through August, I'm also trying to focus on tasks from my 2021 WOOFA list. I definitely won't get everything finished by the end of the year, but I may as well try and get as much done as I can. I've decided to try and work on the Sea Swept quilt next; it's been on my WOOFA list for two years now. Despite being frustrated with my fabric, I'll just choose the best fabrics that I have. Or maybe I'll mix some of them up and make it a bit more scrappy. I have already spent way too much money buying fabric online for this project.

7. Finish making cut files in the Cricut Design Space.
8. Finalize the fabric selections and prep the fabric for the cutting mats.
9. Cut out the Sea Swept quilt project.

Thanks to ChrisKnits for hosting the Tuesday ToDo linkup.

Unbeweavable Flimsy

Once I got started, it really only took me a couple of days to piece this small lap quilt. The blocks themselves are fairly easy to piece. This flimsy also finishes up one of the projects on my WOOFA 2021 list, though it will take me a while to finish quilting it. I've ordered a Handiquilter long arm so it's just going to have to sit tight until I get it set up and get enough class time/practice that I feel confident enough to quilt it myself.

I originally saw this quilt pattern on one of the reddit quilting lists and I went looking for the rulers that folks use to cut this out, but they are designed to make 6" blocks. I decided I wanted my blocks to be smaller because I wanted to use more colors; my blocks are only 4". I had originally planned to cut it out by hand with templates, but once I got the Cricut Maker I figured this would be a perfect project to practice using the machine. 

I was able to export the SVG file for block #2562 from BlockBase+ and make only minor adjustments in the Cricut Design Space. I'm quite sure it would have taken me more than a day cutting this out by hand, but instead, it only took a few hours with the Cricut. 

The block itself, according to BlockBase+, is called Washington's Puzzle and was originally published by the Ladies Art Company in 1895. It was then published again in 1973 by Beth Gutcheon with the name Checkerboard Skew. It is a fun block so I would definitely like to try making this pattern again, maybe with a rainbow. This might be a fun project for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I'm linking up with 

• Design Wall Monday
• Monday Making
• TGIFF, being hosted this week by Songbird Designs
• Brag About Your Beauties
• Peacock Party
• Quilting Patchwork Applique

Tuesday ToDo #20

Thanks to ChrisKnits for hosting the weekly Tuesday ToDo. The list I posted last week:

1.    Work on my new Craft Tote (A Place for Everything 2.0). ✔︎

I was so close to finishing yesterday that I pushed to get it finished!! I'm super happy about it.  I did an individual post about here.

2.    Cut out additional papers for the Japanese Poppies EPP (English paper piecing) project. ❌

3.    Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home. ✔︎

I only left home once this week so I didn't make much progress, but I did work on it while I was in transit.

4.    Make an appt with Handiquilter dealer for a lesson using the long arm and gather materials to practice on. ✔︎

It's scheduled for next Tuesday.

5.    Continue work on the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt. ❌

I set this project aside until I finished the new craft tote. Now that the tote is finished, I'll try to make some progress on this project.

For next week, I'll go ahead and repeat the items I didn't finish last week plus add more that I likely won't get to so I can keep track of them. =)

1. Cut out additional papers for the Japanese Poppies EPP (English paper piecing) project.
2. Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home.
3. Continue work on the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt.
4. Make backing for the Finger Lakes Log Cabin Flimsy.
5. Work on Halloween Monster Wreath from my WOOFA list (or ditch the project).

Craft Tote Finished!!

A Place for Everything 2.0, Craft Tote. Pattern from byAnnie.

I wasn't expecting to finish it so early in the month, but after working on it for Friday Night With Friends, it was difficult to not continue sewing on Saturday. Then once I got close enough to finish before my Tuesday check-in, I just kept going... 

The finished pages. The back side is the light purple batik.

This was definitely a learning process, but no particular step was too difficult. The directions were excellent, but I'm not always good at following directions. LOL 

It took me around five days to finish this project, including the day of machine quilting the layers. I made a couple of minor mistakes (like a zipper pull being on the wrong side), but I am happy overall with how this project turned out. The most difficult part was the bias tape around the outer edges; it definitely would have been easier with the stiletto, which I hadn't bought (but I likely will order the next time I order something from the Fat Quarter Shop).

I do expect to make another of these totes, and probably other byAnnie bag patterns, but I really need to spend more time on a stained glass project we've been hauling around for 13 years, for the rest of the month. I'd love to finish it this summer.

I've already started moving in my current EPP project.

The interior of the bag with the pages removed.

Backside slip pocket of the Tote

This also completes my August One Monthly Goal.

I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday, Monday Making, and TGIFF.

Aug Friday Night w/Friends

Since COVID has reemerged with the Delta variant we've decided to mostly stop square dancing for a while longer. That gave me back my Friday night to join Cheryll and everyone for this month's Friday Night With Friends.

I headed up to my sewing room after lunch and spent the rest of the day working on my new craft tote.  I spent most of the time sewing zippers and fold-over elastic onto the mesh and vinyl pouch pieces. I've never sewn vinyl before; it was a new challenge. I'm glad I bought new vinyl that had a tissue paper backing or it would have been nearly impossible.

Then I started sewing one of the two "pages" (the inserts that hold the tools and supplies). I managed to sew down the pouches on the front and back, but I still need to add the facings and bias tape, to cover the raw edges.

The project is going pretty slowly, partly because I have to spend so much time reading the directions and making sure I understand them. It seems like once I've finished this tote, I'll immediately need to make another, while the process is still fresh in my brain.

Craft Tote Progress

I decided I need to make some sort of project carrier for my EPP (English paper piecing) projects. After I found the byAnnie pattern at the Fat Quarter Shop, A Place for Everything 2.0, I decided it would be perfect.

For my primary print fabric, I chose the black Moda Wildflowers fabric because it coordinated with the black zipper yardage I had ordered. It is quilted with a purple batik. I wanted the interior storage "pages" to be a lighter color so I decided to use white fabric, quilted with the purple batik on the back side.

Since I've ordered a long arm, it was probably insane to quilt these on my home machine but I don't have the long arm yet and I was impatient to get this bag made. It took me most of a day to quilt those diamonds. But I did get to take advantage of a neat trick I read about recently: The Pilot Frixion Gel Ink pens have ink that will disappear when you apply heat, so I was able to draw the diamond grid onto the fabric, sew the lines, and then iron the fabric to make the lines disappear. It was amazing! I did make a few mistakes on the first piece I sewed, but I had it all figured out for the rest of the pieces.

Yesterday, I cut out the rest of the pieces. I'll be honest, it took quite a while to prep all the parts of the bag. It has more than a dozen zippers! 

Hopefully, now that everything is ready, I should be able to just sit down and sew it this coming week. 

I'm linking up with Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday.

Tuesday ToDo #19

I can't believe it's August already. Summer is flying by this year. And it's Tuesday, so it's time for me to check in on my weekly goals again.

1.    Continue to work on the Meadow Flowers Lap Quilt. ✔︎

2.     If I finish the Meadow Flower blocks, trim them down to size and piece the flimsy on the machine. ✔︎

Flimsy finished!! I blogged about it here.

3.    Choose fabrics for the next EPP project. (I've already cut out the papers.) ✔︎

These are roughly the fabric colors I chose. 

Japanese Poppies EPP Lap Quilt

4.    Cut out the fabric pieces for the next EPP project. ✔︎

The fabrics have been cut out with my amazing Cricut Maker (in about 2 hours!) and they're already glued onto the papers. I was a little short on one of the cardstock shapes so I need to cut out some more papers before I can truly declare it finished, but I have plenty to keep me busy for a very long time. Those baggies are for each of the twelve flower blocks.

5.    Continue work on the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt. ❌

I didn't work on this one. I actually started working on a new project that I need more urgently, my August One Monthly Goal. I'll return to the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt when the craft tote is finished.

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For this coming week, I'm going to make a too-long list for all the things I'd like to finish, but there are way too many since I have other, non-sewing projects I also need to work on. I'll do what I can and keep them active on my ToDo list until I can get to them. 

1. Work on my new Craft Tote (A Place for Everything 2.0). OMG
2. Cut out additional papers for the Japanese Poppies EPP (English paper piecing) project.
3. Work on the EPP project whenever we're not at home.
4. Make an appt with Long Arm Dealer for a lesson using the long arm and gather materials to practice on.
5. Continue work on the Unbeweavable Lap Quilt.

Melva Loves Scraps is hosting the linkup for Tuesday ToDo this week. Drop by if you'd like to see what everyone else is working on.

August One Monthly Goal

When I started taking hand sewing projects with me in the car, I looked around for something I could transport them in and I couldn't find anything that worked well. I've been using a food leftover storage container but it's not working very well. It works fine for carrying the thread and small pieces, but once I sew the pieces together they're too big to fit so I end up having to hold them separately and I'll eventually lose one of them if I continue using this container.

So, I started looking around for a pattern for something I could make; I thought I wanted something like a pouch with a bunch of compartments, but it would be nice if it had a strap to carry it over my shoulder. Eventually, I ran across the byAnnie pattern at the Fat Quarter Shop, "A Place for Everything 2.0." It has exactly the kind of storage I was looking for. There is a 9-minute video that describes it in detail here. 

It was fairly expensive to buy all the materials, but I did economize where I could. I bought a 15-yard black zipper and 16 gauge vinyl off Amazon for much less. I bought her Pattern, Mesh, Elastic and Soft & Stable foam from Fat Quarter Shop. 

For my August One Monthly Goal, I would like to make this craft tote to transport my EPP (English Paper Piecing) projects.