New Sewing Machine

I found a machine that will sew bags! It's a Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ. I'd never heard of this brand before, but I saw it on Adam Savage's Youtube Channel so I ordered one! This was the third machine I've purchased because I want to make bags.

It took a bit of time to get it all set up. (Sorry, I haven't yet managed to get a good photo.) The machine is crazy heavy, over 50 pounds, and I don't trust it won't break my sewing table if I put it in the cutout, so I am still waiting for the new sewing table to set it up in a permanent location. 

I decided to give it a test drive by sewing a new purse. I spent a couple of days measuring my favorite purse and reverse-engineering the pattern. I decided to cut up some old, dead jeans for the fabric.

I made a few minor changes from the original purse but I think it turned out really well for the first try. And the sewing machine performed great. Now that I've figured it out, I think I'll make another in purple, my favorite color.

Downsizing My Sewing Room

My husband and I have decided to move into a smaller, one-story house so I am trying to downsize my sewing gear. We don't have a house lined up, but it is pretty clear to me I won't have a whole bedroom as a sewing room. So, I am starting the process now.

I am selling my tables and my excess sewing machines. I will miss these tables. I've loved having them.

Another Shopping Bag

The bag is based on Sew4Home's Zippered Thermal Picnic Tote. This was actually my third time sewing this pattern and it went much better because I didn't follow her directions for putting in the zipper and instead did a recessed closed-end zipper. It was so much easier to sew into the bag because those bulky tabs weren't in the way. I also didn't bother to sew in the interior pocket since I won't need it.

By the time I had finished building the bag exterior, I was out of the denim rectangles (I actually had to cut a few more) so I just did the pockets with a larger scrap I had lying around. The lining is some leftover trigger cloth from many years ago. The batting is Insul-Bright Mylar/Poly Batting to help hold in the cold when we buy freezer items. (I actually bought a bolt of it a couple years ago, so I'm happy to finally be using some of it.)

Now that I've gotten the hang of making this bag pattern, I might just make a few more as gifts. These really are great shopping bags. And I found a couple more canvas remnants while spending the last week cleaning up my sewing room/closets.

Linking up with:

Brag About Your Beauties
Finished (or Not) Friday
TGI Finished Friday

Thermal Shopping Bag

I finally finished one of my long term To Dos: An insulated shopping bag! This was my third attempt and I finally got one finished with the zipper!

I'd been sifting through all the stuff that's been dumped in my large walk-in closet and I found a tall pile of rectangular denim scraps. I don't remember why I originally cut these, but they inspired me to start sewing them together to make fabric for this attempt at the tote bag. I also found a remnant of red canvas that I used for the lining and binding.

I went ahead and tried the Zippered Thermal Picnic Tote pattern again, but this time I didn't wing it and followed the directions as closely as possible. It definitely went better, but lining it with canvas certainly caused problems as it is a lot more bulky than the lighter fabric recommended.

Now that I've figured it out, I'm planning to make another one, but I'm going to revise the pattern. The pattern for the zipper doesn't work very well with canvas so I'm going to try an make an Enclosed End Recessed Zipper for the next bag.

Linking up with:

Brag About Your Beauties
Finished (or Not) Friday
TGI Finished Friday

Fall Foliage Spectacular Quilted

I am delighted to have finished the quilting! I'm quite happy with how this one has turned out. This pattern is from Judy Martin's Cookies 'n' Quilts book and I used fabrics that coordinate with my living room furnishings.

Since I couldn't find an edge-to-edge design I liked, I created this block design by combining two different triangle blocks. I think it worked pretty well. I had tried a number of different triangles with that leaf design, but this was the one Jeff liked best, and the quilt was for him.

Heart Block P2P Triangle 01

Chloe's Garden Triangle 2

The small sashing design I created by snipping the leaf out of the garden triangle and slightly editing it.

I used Quilter's Dream Green batting, made with recycled soda bottles, as I feel it's the least I can do for the environment. And I used Madeira Aeroquilt thread in a dark green.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday
Monday Sew & Tell
Monday Musings

Brag About Your Beauties
Finished (or Not) Friday

Fall Foliage Spectacular Flimsy!

I finished my Fall Foliage Spectacular flimsy! Yay! I'm really happy with how it turned out. Had I remembered to pre-wash the backing fabric, I could already be putting it on the long arm frame, but I didn't. LOL

I have figured out how I'm going to quilt it, so once I get this fabric washed and pieced, I should be able to get this one finished fairly quickly.

I'd still like to make one more quilt in this same color scheme so now I need to choose what pattern to use. There are so many good options.

Linking up with:

Brag About Your Beauties
Finished (or Not) Friday
Off the Wall Friday
TGIF Friday

Fall Foliage Nearly Finished

My weekend unexpectedly freed up so I was able to spend it working on my Fall Foliage quilt! I'm delighted with how it is turning out.

Since I made this primarily from fabrics that have been in my stash for years, all the pieces were a yard or less. I need about a yard for the two borders and the binding and I don't have enough of any of the fabrics. I'd like to use the darkest green fabric, and I'd settle for one of the darker rust colors, but I don't have enough of either. Sigh.

I did find a quilt shop online where I could buy more of the darkest green fabric, but I don't know if I want to wait for shipping and prewashing to finish this quilt. (And I, of course, would buy enough to get free shipping.)

I dug around in my stash and I found this batik that is close to the right color, but I'm picky enough to not be quite satisfied with it because I never used it in the quilt. I'm probably just being overly fastidious.

I was hoping to finish this today, but I think I'll sleep on it for a day and decide whether to buy more fabric, or just settle for this batik. What would you guys do? 

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday

Monday Sew & Tell

Monday Musings