Shhh.. it's a SECRET!!

...I am taking part in Lia's Handmade Secret Tote Bag Swap.

My partner, who lives far far away, will be receiving this tote bag.  I cant tell you who she is and for those taking part, the guessing game continues.

My partner did not give a lot of specifics except that she liked modern, big, bold and bright colours.  We all had a chance to add a photo mosaics to the flickr group to show our preferences in bag types, colours and designs, so I tried really hard to make a bag that she would like.  

I was very lucky that my sponsor, Dot from Dot's Quilts, jumped to the opportunity when I mentioned this swap to her.  So she sent me a variation of these beautiful fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's LouLouThi collection.

The moment I saw it, I knew I had to try and incorporate all of them, without cutting it up too much and not slice away the beautiful flowers and prints.  

The body of the bag has batting between the layers, and the outside pockets are lined with a medium weight iron on interfacing for added stability. 

I've added a photo of myself with the bag over my shoulder, just to give you an idea of the size.  I added a single side strap instead of two.  The final dimensions of this bag is 14 inches wide, 16 inches high and 4 inches wide.  I really like the size of this bag, I am definitely going to make one for myself,... oh no wait, my partner already did :-)

If you'd like to see all the other completed bags, please visit the flickr group, or this link up from Lia's blog.  Thank you Julia aka Lia for hosting this swap, and Dot for the beautiful fabrics.

Happy sewing.

Secret Tote Bag Swap

Lia's Handmades is hosting a secret tote bag swap.  This should be so much fun!

If you want to join in sign ups are open from May 1, 2013 until May 29, 2013.  This swap is open internationally and there's even prizes at the end.

Head over the Lia's Handmades for details.

Happy quilting.

WIP Wednesday - Quilted Tote

There's not a whole lot I can say about this bag, so I'll let the pictures speak for itself.

As I've mentioned on Sunday, when I started making this bag I used Stampin'Up fabric range Comfort Cafè that my sister brought over from the UK.  She's a Stampin'Up demonstrator and you can visit her blog HERE.  

I free motion quilted the front and back pockets using stippling, and the body of the bag straight line free motion quilting.

The little canvas piece was stamped using a "Stampin'Up" stamp.  It is not completely done yet, I still want to add a button or two for embellishment.

I've used my own pattern that you can download on my My Patterns page.  The only difference is that I quilted the bag panels and therefore the bag ended up a little bit smaller.

I am linking up to WIP Wednesdays @ Freshly Pieced.

Happy quilting.

UFO Sunday

These past few weeks have been hectic.  All good fun though.  

My dad had his 70th birthday last weekend (I shared with you the Golf themed quilt I made for him) and as a surprise my sister and her family who lives in the UK came to South Africa to surprise my dad.  I was the only one who knew about it, and we planned it since last year July.  It was so hard to keep the secret for so long, but it was definitely worth while.  It was so nice having the whole family together.  

So during the past few weeks there wasn't really time for any sewing or quilting, but I made some time to sort out some of my scraps.  

I've been very inspired by all the hexie quilts out there, and what better way to make some good use of all the scraps I've been collecting in a drawer over the past year.  I'm not even sure what I'll end up with, or how big this quilt will be.  It does not even matter how long this will take, it could be years.  All I want to do is to use up all of my scraps.  I hate to throw out any fabric, and this way ALL of it gets used and the bits that will now end up in the bin, is really too small to keep or use.  

I've finished assembling my twister quilt top.  This was meant to be an experiment, trying out the Lil' Twister tool.  After seeing how easy it really is I will definitely want to make something bigger.

As I've mentioned my sister is here for a two week visit from the UK, she's a Stampin'Up demonstrator, you can visit her blog HERE and see all the gorgeous cards she's made.  She brought some of the fabrics they use in their crafts and asked me to make a bag for her.  So I thought of using my own pattern, only this time I'm quilting the panels.  I'm not done yet, but will soon share some pictures.

Free downloadable pattern

I'm linking up to UFO Sunday with Leah Day @ The Free Motion Quilting Project.

PS.  Remember to come back tomorrow for the "Anything Goes" linky party.  

Happy quilting

FMQ Friday

The kids went back to school on Wednesday after having a holiday that lasted over a month.  So my week started out very busy, driving around all day, buying school supplies and sorting out paper work at their schools.  

I'm glad its all over and done with!  One thing that really annoys me is when either of them come to me late in afternoons with "Mom I still need....." or "Mom, can you please take me......".  Oh well, it's all part of being a mother :-)  I am very happy that I don't have a full time job to go to, otherwise I would not have time for any of what I'm doing now - no wait - this IS a full time job!

In between all of that I still had time to free motion quilt.  As I'm still busy with the quilt I posted last week (here), I cant yet share any pictures of the front, not until the birthday is all over with anyway.  

So I thought I'd share some of the free motion quilting I have done.  

These are taken from the back of the quilt.  One thing I know is this, I need a lot of practice on travel stitching, I went all over the place!

Lucky Star BOM - Funky Star

Easy Tote Bag Tutorial

In between all the school arrangements and free motion quilting, I still had time to work on my Lucky Star BOM.  

I even made a tote bag, and wrote a FREE pattern that you can find here.

All and all I am quite happy with the time I got to spend behind my sewing machine this week.  Hopefully I can get this quilt I'm working on finished this coming week, so I can start with "Express your Love".  At least I have some fabrics set aside, although I am still undecided about the background.

I am linking up to:  Leah Day's FMQ Fridays, Marcia's crafty sewing & Sew darn crafty party

Happy quilting.

Simple Tote Bag - Tutorial

I bought a few different prints of this beautiful Paris Pastel fabric by Timeless Treasures Fabrics from a local online quilt shop The Quilting Bug just before Christmas, not even knowing what I would make with them.  Since the prints where a bit too big to use on a quilt I thought of making a bag matching it up with a few different pieces of fabric in my stash.  So looking at a lot of pictures and tutorials on the internet for inspiration I made this simple and easy tote bag.

UPDATE (11/01/2013) To download the pattern for FREE, click HERE

Fabric Cutting Instructions (Inches)

Interfacing Cutting Instructions (Inches)

Making the straps

Start of by folding the the strap in half lengthwise and iron to make a crease down the center.  Using a pressing cloth press the interfacing shiny side down on the wrong side of the fabric, both sides of the crease.  Fold over the excess fabric and fold it in half again and iron it in place.  Top stitch 1/8 inch from the outside edges on both sides to make the straps.  Repeat these steps for the 2nd handle.

Front and Back Pocket 

Fold the pocket in half and iron a crease at the top of the pocket.  Insert the interfacing right up to the fold of the fabric, and iron it well to attach the interfacing to the inside of the pocket.  Keep in mind to center the interfacing as it is a 1/4 inch smaller on all sides to avoid having too much bulk at the seams.  You will make 2 of these pockets, for front and back.

Bag Body/Lining

Fold the lining fabric in half as you did with the pocket and iron in a crease at the top, line up the interfacing at the wrong side of the fabric to the creased fold and iron it down using a pressing cloth.  That creased line will be the top of your bag.  Unfold the lining fabric flat on your table.  Place the pocket piece on top (right sides together - interfacing at the back).  Measure ± 6 inches from the sides and mark with a pencil where the straps of the bags will be sewn on, I just eyeballed the center of the strips and placed that over the pencil mark.  You will top stitch over the layers starting at the bottom edge right up to about 1/8 from the crease line of the bag, top stitch across to the other side and then back down to the bottom.  

Adding all your pieces together

You will end up with 2 exact copies, if you want to add a pocket on the inside of the bag, you'll do it before assembling your bag, the pocket will then be sewn onto the blue print fabric, the opening facing up towards the straps.  With right sides facing each other line up the layers so that the strips and pockets flow in a straight line.  Pin your bag together.  Mark a space of about 6 inches, to leave an opening to turn the bag right side out, starting at the 1st mark, sew all around to the other mark.  To avoid the seam from coming apart when you turn your bag right side out, you'll have to back stitch a few times at the start and finish.

Finishing your bag

To shape your bag, match up your side seam to the bottom seam, I stuck my hand in the opening to feel my way around, and flattened it to create a triangle.  Measure from the corner to the inside 2 inches and draw a 4 inch line across.  Sew on the drawn line, back stitch at the start and end to secure that seam.  Do that on all 4 corners, cut off the excess and you're ready to turn the bag right side out.  

Closing up the opening I ironed seam allowance in where the opening was, now I'm NOT very good at slip-stitch so I just used my sewing machine and stitched about 1/8 inch from the one side of the bag lining to the other to close up the opening.

To secure the top of the back, I top stitched an 1/8 inch seam all around the bag.

The finished size is at 9 1/2 high x 13 1/2 (bottom) 17 1/2 (top) wide and 4 inches wide using a 1/4 seam allowance.   

Please note that I made these sizes up as I went along, and that this is my 1st attempt at writing a tutorial.  If you make this bag using my instructions and sizes please let me know if there are any discrepancies.

Happy quilting or in this case - sewing.

So little time...

Even with a busy schedule of taking care of my 1½ year old, I get quite a bit of time for piecing and quilting.  I have quite a few projects still in progress...  Here Kayleigh is quite happy sitting next to me, 'reading' a magazine.

Here are some of the things I've been working on.

I am currently busy quilting this wall hanging. 

Back of quilt

I have decided to quilt 'feathers' in the light yellow areas.  Its a first for me, but I am so pleased with the result.

I started out by drawing a 'half heart' and then added the feathers and worked from there filling the area with pebbles, it adds beautiful texture and really makes the feathers pop out.

Back of quilt

This lap quilt is still a work in progress, as I'm not entirely sure how I want to piece the border, I want to add  bright green printed fabric around the 9 squares but I cant decide if want to make it a plain border or random pieced pieces of fabric to add to the theme of the 'crazy' blocks...

My sister-in-law asked me months ago to make her a quilted tote bag.  She bought these beautiful purple print fabric, and at last I've finished it for her.  Cant wait to give it to her.

Another UFO, is this bed quilt (left) and a baby quilt.  I've thought of adding broad borders at the top and bottom, and applique Kayleigh's name at the top and something else at the bottom.  Still undecided..

As you can see, I have quite a few project to still finish, and already I'm thinking about new ones.  I think its best to finish these off 1st.

Happy quilting