Shop Girl Bag Challenge

I teach classes at Quilting Bits and Pieces quilt shop in Eudora, KS.  The gals in the shop came up with a fun holiday project.  All the "shop girls" who work or teach there are invited to make a bag using a shop pattern and fabric.  I chose the Harmony Handag by Studio Kat designs.  I thought it looked fast and easy.   YEA RIGHT! 

Ok, back to the story. . . On December 5 the shop is having their annual Christmas sale and everyone who comes in and brings a canned good or food item (for the Eudora food pantry) gets to vote on their favorite bag.  The shop girl with the bag with the most votes gets a shop gift certificate!

Being competitive, I was all over the Shop Girl Bag Challenge, and picked out a great bag (or so I thought) and some wonderful new batik fab with ducks and cat tails.  Then I opened the pattern envelope.  GULP!  Thankfully there were illustrations in the pattern because it was so hard to follow that I had to read each step about 6 times.  Then all the pieces have patterns and notches and interfacing, and fusible fleece, and peltex and zippers and ties, and flaps, and. . . .more like a prom dress than a quilt bag.  I can usually whip up a bag in a few hours, but it took me a day to cut everything out and 2 days to stitch this baby up.  It came out just as pictured, but not without a good bit of "unsewing" on my part and a few choice words directed at no one in particular.

So. . ta da. . here is my version of the Harmony Handbag!  Instead of a button in the front I found this cool old buckle from the 40's.  I made two lined rectangles and threaded them thru the buckle to create a bow ornament.  I thought it contrasted well with the fabric, and made the lining color sparkle a bit.  I stitched it on invisibly from the inside and liked the way it looks with the pink inset in the front.

The pink lining shows in the front inset and in both sides where the ties are located.

So now I need all my friends to go to the shop on December 5 and vote for my bag.  It may not be the best looking but it sure was the most difficult!  LOL  Thanks for checking out my baggy saga!

Working on Projects

I cleaned up my studio this weekend. . . at last. . . and finally had room to unpack several recent projects from classes and a quilt show. I wanted to finish up a few projects so I could start on another major project or two. I taught a class on making tote bags recently and finished my second class sample yesterday. It came out quite nicely, altho I used a fusible fleece for the inner lining that was a bit too stiff. Next time I will use something softer and easier to work with. I love making tote bags and have made quite a few, but admit I have given away most and only have pictures of a few. You can see pictures of some of my bags here.
Another project I am working on is this Winding Ways quilt, made from a John Flynn precut kit. I have made 2 of those now, and I just love the precision of the precut pieces. His system of marking the patches with small cuts to match centers makes stitching so easy and precise.
I am currently quilting it myself on my Bernina 153 in concentric circles and really like the look. I am struggling with how to quilt the plain borders, and have thought out any number of ideas. Any suggestions? The 6" turquoise border needs something interesting, but I am more of a piecer and designer, and am only learning to do my own machine quilting, especially on a quilt this size. So what projects have you been finishing up?