Wednesday, February 15, 2012

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.




Posted by Picasa

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:14 AM

    Very cute idea. I hope Purina is paying you top $'s for the free advertising!

    ~RBC

    ReplyDelete
  2. Celeste Wegner1:46 PM

    Oh - I get the tight pants scenario. Since late September I lost 25 lbs. I had to put ALL the size 14 & 12s away and go to the thrift stores (SAVERS is my favorite) for size 8s. No more back fat!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats on the weight loss! I've lost thirteen pounds since the first of the year. Its very exciting, but I still have lots to go. I hear there's a good quilt guild in Rossville.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Celeste Wegner2:17 PM

    OK - the tips you provided are wonderful for fusing and quilting but have raised some additional questions.

    1. I had a hard time finding 30wt cotton thread in the color I needed. So I'm using 30wt Sulky rayon thread for my free motion quilting. But I found that this thread breaks easier when using the self threading needles (I never heard of such a thing until you mentioned it). Is there a brand of 30wt cotton thread with a good range of colors?
    2. I'm pretty satisfied with my free motion quilting but would like my pattern to look a little more consistent. How slow do you go when machine quilting? Do you sketch on the material any semblance of a quilting pattern at all? I did learn to quilt towards me rather than away so I can see the spacing while quilting. But I found that it takes extreme concentration to make sure I don't overlap, etc. Maybe I'm going too fast?

    All in all, I am having fun with this practice fusing piece and learned what not to do on my next project.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I get the tight pants thing only my regular ones are tight. This is not good.
    I like to see all your ideas percolating. I especially like the selvage quilt. It will be interesting to see what you come up with!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love my Cat Food bag/tote. I carry it all the time for library books and shopping at McKays. It has turned out to be very sturdy. I do miss seeing you at MQG. You are indeed an inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like your tote bag! Every time we throw away one of those bags, my husband says we should make something with it instead. Great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Melody,

    I love all your projects, so eclectic! Purina dog chow bag, very cool. I may have to make me one. Thanks for the ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the dog food tote. Great idea. I was given a chocolate pencilcase made in a similar way. I loveit. The idea is sooo cool.

    ReplyDelete

Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com