Dinkin' Around

I've been waiting til the dawgs finished their chow to make this bag into a tote. I first saw this back when I was going to the Chattanooga Modern quilt guild. (I don't go anymore...long boring story). I thought it was so clever, and even tho I don't need another tote bag, I had to try this. It was free after all, and recycling! My knitting-chair-cushion fits inside perfectly and I have a green scissor, green yarn and a green pen to coordinate, doncha know.
It is so simple to make. Cut the bag somewhere near half. The bottom part is the bag and the leftover top part is used for the handles and the optional inside pockets. Those were very hard to sew in, as the plastic fabric doesn't squish under the sewing machine very easily.

For the main part of the bag,  I folded down the edge, top-stitched it and added the folded over stitched strips as the handle. For the inside pockets, I just stitched the bottom closed, added a center line of stitching and best as I could, sewed it to the inside of the bag. It won't be a carrier for really heavy stuff, but it was fun to do and I will use it, if only to carry my cushion to knitting group.
+++++
February is half over and I am ready to start planning my Quilt As You Go project. I've been collecting project ideas on my Pinterest Quilts to Piece board. I am looking in particular for a layout that will work as a QAYG, meaning, I can assemble large areas, quilt them, and then add large areas that are quilted, and join them with connector strips.
I really like this Kaffe Fasset fabric design. Very simple and a great use of long eighths of fabric, joined with half square triangles in all their fun patterns of sawtooth borders, pinwheels, and flying geese. It's minimally fussy, and log cabin assembly, so very thrifty in terms of no waste. I don't have most of these fabrics, so don't expect it to look like this...much.




And I just love this sweet girly Cathy Underhill quilt, so much so that I pinned it twice (to Pinterest). Simple again, but so what? It would make a great bed quilt for my room. I might pair it with solid pinks to stretch the amount of florals I own. The center part would work as the top and then I would do the wide borders in separate pieces and attach, qayg fashion. So Easy that way.






I have been collecting striped fabrics and saving them for something...and looking at this selvedge design makes me think it would be great in stripes, not selvedges. As the sides get longer I might divide them into squares and turn every other one for variety. Plus, to quiet the riot, add solids for balance.





Love this last quilt top!! I don't have the wide striped fabric but the layout is a great one for QAYG. Big blocks in a row, joined with a band of narrow smaller blocks. Genius. I am considering this seriously... but for now it is all just talk!
++++++++++














Wednesday is my usual knitting day, but instead, I am staying home and switching out my closets. Since I am losing weight, I need to make my old slim clothes more accessible and that led to thinking I need a bigger closet. I have one, but it is full of Rubbermaids (art supplies, notions, computer junk etc) and those can now go back to the garage, on those empty shelves which used to hold stuff that is now up in the garage attic. Got that?
What started this was a trip to Goodwill. I ran out of too-tight jeans, my diet yardstick, and of course don't want to spend good money on interim jeans, only to lose more and not be able to wear them too. So I bought a couple of too tight at the moment jeans and have to put them somewhere! I know you understand.