Client Quilt and Clam Up Bag Swap

I completed a client's baby quilt on the longarmer.  It's a cute little quilt. The funny thing is that the client loves high loft batting. I've never cared for it myself but that doesn't matter. If the client likes it, I'm happy with it. After I finished quilting it, I did like how puffy it was from the thick batting. It really made the quilting show. 

The quilt shop had a clam up bag contest. You purchased a kit that had a zipper and a fat quarter in it. All you had to do was make the clam up bag any way you wanted as long as you used the zipper and somehow incorporated some of the fat quarter. So I had to make one. I chose to do it as a quilt-as-you-go bag. It went together quick and luckily I got to use my favorite color, yellow. Not that it mattered because after you made it, you voted for your favorite, then they became part of a bag swap.

A funny thing happened at the contest...I got the most votes! I don't know how or why but I did. The thing is I did not qualify for the contest really because I am an employee of the shop. So I never told anyone I got the most votes. How funny is that!?!

Here is the bag I received in the swap. It is cute and I like how they used vinyl to line it.

The Smith-Corona Typewriter

My granddaughter Chloe loved the series Wednesday on Netflix. She seems to like characters that are darker and more mysterious. This show really fit the bill for her. It was hard to explain to her about the television show The Munsters that we watched as kids and how this was a spin-off. Like something old can't be new again. 

In the series Wednesday types her stories on an old typewriter. After seeing that, Chloe was very interested in typewriters and she wanted one. Of course the one used in the series was an old antique that would be very expensive to find as well as harder to make work. But I started searching for one anyway.  After much research, I've found that it was going to be a tough find. I started combing Facebook Marketplace, Craig's List and Amazon. I found typewriters available but they were very expensive. After a few months of looking - I really wanted it for a Christmas gift - I put it in the back of my mind.

One day while on Facebook, I see an ad on FB Marketplace for a Smith-Corona typewriter from the 70's. It wasn't as old as the antique one Chloe saw on tv, but it was exactly like one I had when I was in high school. I contacted the seller and picked it up for cheap that same day. What a streak of luck.

I couldn't wait for her to get home from school so I could surprise her. She was tickled pink. We got out some copy paper and she started typing away. It's funny what you know that younger generations don't know. Like using the return carriage on a typewriter! I had to show her how to pull the lever from right to left to start a new row. She could not figure it out. I wonder if there's a YouTube video for that - haha!

                                         

Chloe typed and typed.

Chloe shows her sister Avery how it works.

Even Peyton had to see how it worked, I think she likes the sound of the clicking.

Chloe was generous enough to let Avery give it a try.

Her first letter was to her grandpa.

After making a bunch of 3-yard quilts for Quilts for Kids, I had a bunch of leftover scraps. I decided to turn the scraps into project bags and zipper pouches. It never hurts to get ahead before the next craft fair.

I dug through my giant collection of zippers and did my best to match them to the fabrics.

I used military themed fabrics to make some larger zipper pouches and lots of smaller scraps for 4" little pouches. It was a lot of fun matching zippers to lining and outer fabrics.

The Glam Bag

My sister used Peanuts fabric to line the box of the Christmas gift she gave me last year. It was such a cute idea. Today I used the Glam Bag pattern from Pink Sand Beach Designs to make this toiletry bag with some of the fabric. The pattern required fusible fleece interfacing and decor bond as well. I thought I was never going to be able to sew through all those layers but the bag sewed up like a dream. At first I thought the directions were going to be a little complicated, after all they are 4 pages long. But there's a method to the madness and when followed, you get a perfect bag. I still have lots of Peanuts fabric left so I am looking forward to making something else with it. 

Winter Quilt Show and Finished Projects

I attended the Winter Quilt Show in West Bend last week and I bought quite a bit of cool stuff. I'm not that fond of wearing t-shirts but I absolutely had to have this one! I picked up some longarm supplies as well. A quilt show is usually the best place to get stuff discounted for my longarm. It's nice to see some of the shows get back to pre-pandemic practices. 

I finished the travel tote bag I started last month. It turned out nice and I like the size of it. Even though I do love the fabrics I chose it doesn't match any of my luggage. So I think it looks funny on top of my teal suitcase. Maybe I will have to make another one to match the luggage or buy new luggage  - haha!

I also completed the largest of the Lori Holt zipper pouches. The panel came with quite a few of these on it so there's quite a few more to go. I just can't decide how I want to quilt them so I'm not getting as far as I wish when it comes to getting them done. 

Table Toppers and Upcoming Projects

When every new year comes around I like to try to complete old projects before starting anything new. So far I finished a large applique quilt and some charity quilts that were started last year. 

Now I have some table toppers on my radar to complete. I made them back in spring and quilted them over the summer. And then they sat.

I dug out the binding fabrics and got them done today. It felt good to get them finished.

I will post them to my Etsy page by the end of the week and get them packed away. There's no better feeling than when an old project gets finished.  With these completed, I broke down and started some new things.

This will be a travel tote bag when it's done:

This is Lori Holt's Zippy Bag panel. I can't wait to make these:

And this is a new quilt project:

I do have a few more old projects to complete yet but I felt like I could reward myself by starting some new ones. Haha!

Zipper Pouches and Other Stuff

I've been experimenting with making new zipper pouches. I started by embroidering a few designs on some linen fabric. Then I matched them up with some fabrics to make the pouches. It was really fun to put these together. 

I'm thinking these would make nice gifts or something fun to sell at my next craft fair. 

The flowers are blooming like crazy around here. Aren't these pretty?

I love the detail in this photo. I was pleasantly surprised I could get this close without this little guy getting spooked and jumping off the leaf. 

August is my favorite month. Nature's beauty is apparent and I love the hot weather. 

Last week we bartended at Irish Fest in downtown Milwaukee. And we saw Maroon 5 at the American Family Amphitheater on the lakefront.

It's hard to tell, but trust me, that is Adam Levine in the middle of the stage.

I went with a friend to a June Tailor warehouse sale this week too. Judy Gauthier, who is featured at the event was there. She is a quilt book author (3 books actually) and a quilt shop owner. I've known her for a long time and I looked forward to seeing her again. I made sure we got a photo together while I was there. 

Pencil Cases

I'm starting to get used to my new embroidery machine. This week I made some pencil cases using some new embroidery files I ordered online. I had two different bundles of teacher-themed fabrics so I decided to make some pencil cases using a little of the fabrics in the bundles. Thanks to ZipIt, the Etsy store that sells zippers cheap, I have plenty of zippers on hand so I can easily find one to match most projects. 

I didn't really follow any specific pattern or tutorial to make these pouches. I did look at the finished sizes of a few sewing blogs that had online tutorials and I settled on a finished size of 9" x 5". Here are the two I made. 

I discovered that I like the look of the embroidery on linen. Luckily, I have 10 yards of this good stuff. I washed it along with 10 yards of muslin to use as stabilizer on the back.

My granddaughters will give the pouches to their teachers during teacher appreciation week in April. I hope it is easy for the to decide who gets what.