Ultimate Travel Bag Progress

I had a good time participating in this past weekend's online quilt retreat, offered by the Northwest Quilters guild. It gave me an excuse to sew all weekend and it was fun to hear other folks chattering away about mostly quilt-related topics.

I decided to work on my Ultimate Travel Bag during the retreat as I had almost everything ready to get started. I didn't take any in-progress photos, sadly, because I was determined to finish the bag during the retreat so I was quite single-minded in my focus.

But, I haven't quite finished. Everything is ready for the last step of sewing the pieces together

but there are so many layers my sewing machine can't sew it. On that final seam where I need to sew this bag together I need to sew through the 5 layers of cotton on the panels, 2 layers of cotton on the handle, 4 layers of batting, and the poly strapping. I had to replace my needle three times getting to this point and re-thread the needle due to broken threads at least eight times. 

I was thinking the new plastic machines just aren't up to it, so I actually bought a used older Pfaff machine with metal guts and it can't handle it either. It's just too thick to fit under the foot. 

I may try squishing the layers flatter with a tool, but I don't have time right now. This project will have to wait for the finish. I may also ask around my sewing friends and see if any have an industrial machine I can use.

I was hoping to make several more of these bags while the process is fresh in my mind, but I'm definitely going to need to omit some layers.

I also finished making quilt labels and binding my Morris Garden Quilt. I've submitted it to the Festival of Quilts for display so I'm looking forward to being able to get a better photo of it.

This coming week I actually need to work on some painting in the house, so it may be a couple of weeks before I post again. 

But when I have time, I would like to quilt up fabric for more of these bags. LOL I'll have to figure out how I can simplify the project because I want to make at least two more insulated shopping bags.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday

Tuesday ToDo

Tuesday ToDo #86

Other than finishing my green stained glass blocks, I haven't really done much sewing this month.

But my local quilt guild has a quilt show⏤the Festival of Quilts⏤planned in March and I'd like to display some of my best finished quilts, so I am trying to get those ready. Most can go as they are, but I'll need to add labels to any that don't already have them.

I've also decided to finally get back to work on an insulated shopping bag for my husband. After my earlier failed attempt, I decided to try a largish-ByAnnie Bag: Her Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0. I've finally cut out the fabric I quilted last August.

So, my plan for the coming week is to:

• Make Muslin quilt labels for the quilts that still need them. (I think there are 4 total.)
• Finish binding the Morris Garden quilt so I can submit it to the quilt show.
• Add hanging sleeves, if required, to all the quilts.
• Begin working on the Ultimate Travel Bag. I still need to cut out the coordinating fabric pieces. And I've ordered the required hardware bits, so it will be several days before I can really get started.

Linking up with TuesdayToDo.

Green Blocks Finished

The later blocks definitely look better than the first few, but I doubt I'll take the time to make more of them. These blocks are easy, but VERY time consuming. Admittedly, I did not have a tidy workstation set up with everything in reach so I was getting up to iron and cut quite a lot. 

To be honest, I don't love these blocks. I've made quite a lot of scrap quilts over the past couple of years and many of them had green fabrics so my green scrap supply was pretty picked over. These blocks would have looked a lot better with more medium greens in them. 

Anyway, this is my planned arrangement of the rainbow blocks when I'm finally finished making them.

I've already finished the red and yellow blocks a couple years ago, so I'll be back at it when purple, blue or orange next come up.

Linking up with 

Scrap Happy Saturday
Oh Scrap!

RSC Green Stained Glass Blocks

I've been making slow progress on my stained glass blocks the past few days. I'd forgotten how long these blocks take to make. I tend to make piles of scraps and try to match up sizes. Once I've gotten a pretty big pile, then I try to assemble them into finished blocks. There's a good video on how to make them here: How to Sew a Scrappy Stained Glass Block.

I've finished three blocks so far, they're along the top.

I need 12 green blocks total so I'll try to combine partially assembled chunks and finish up the remaining blocks this week.

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday.

Tuesday ToDo #85

I finished the purple and yellow broken bricks flimsy. Since I assembled it for a friend to give as a gift, I'll let her make the backing the next time she visits.

I also finished quilting the blue and yellow broken bricks quilt. I used scrap 80-20 batting and quilted it with the Daisies 4 pantograph by Donna Kleinke. I used the So Fine Digeridoo thread I bought inexpensively last year. Once I had finished, I wished I'd used blue thread instead. I am still learning what thread colors will look good on quilts.

I have finally started working on my green stained glass blocks again. So far, I don't have any finished blocks, just lots of pieces. I tend to sew misc sized chunks and then at the end I join them up into blocks. I'll post a photo soon.

My plan for the coming week is to continue working on the green stained glass blocks. I need 12 blocks total and I'd like to finish them this week so I'll have time later in the month to work on bindings.

Linking up with:

Tuesday ToDo

Midweek Makers

Tuesday ToDo #84

Somehow it is January and I did not finish all the projects I'd hoped to before the end of the year. We had a last-minute unplanned project down in our basement and it took over my schedule. If you're interested, I blogged about it over at our house blog: Laurelhurst Craftsman.

Finally, today, I am back on to quilting tasks. I actually had a customer quilt dropped off in early December and the customer said she wouldn't be able to pick it up until January, so I just set it aside. Today, I finally got it on the long arm and finished quilting it. It is a pretty, very scrappy project. 

I've also put together a backing for the yellow and light blue broken bricks quilt so I can put it on the long arm tomorrow. 

For the rest of the week, I'm hoping to finish the purple-yellow broken bricks quilt for my friend Denise.

I need to decide if I'm going to try and participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I totally failed at it last year. I think I will at least try and resume work on my stained glass blocks from two years ago. Since I left off last time on the color Green, and that is this month's color, it seems sort of like fate.

This is what I'm hoping the finished quilt will look like.

Finally, it would also be nice to finish the bindings on those quilts that I didn't finish in December. So I have lots to do this month.

Linking up with Tuesday ToDo.