A Secret Baby Quilt Revealed

I realized that I neglected to post about this quilt top.  I first talked about it here in this post.  It was a big secret then and I just couldn't show it for fear of ruining a surprise.  A friend of mine wanted to make a baby quilt for her first grandchild. I found the kit to make this quilt at my Guild's rummage sale and bought it for my friend.

While she loved the idea of making the quilt she was a little over whelmed by it so I offered to piece the top if she would quilt it.  She thought that was a wonderful idea!  The baby has been born now so I think it is ok to show the quilt. The center section is a panel and there are 4 borders plus a row of pieced blocks.

I don't think I have ever put so many borders on one quilt, but I love the way it turned out! I know you may be wondering what the name of the quilt is, the fabric line etc.  I am sorry to say that as of this minute I don't know those answers. :(  I gave the pattern and scraps to my friend when I gave her the top.  If I find any information about it at a later date I will add it to this post.  Promise!

Bow Tie Challenge Prep

I had a little bit of time and I wanted needed to play with some fabric. In this post I talked about joining in on Bonnie Hunter's Bow Tie Challenge. I am making my Bow Tie blocks in Indigo Blue and Soldier Blue fabrics with a Cheddar background. I found my missing blues and added them to the stack. Out of curiosity I counted the fabrics. I have 58 different blues that will be in this quilt! That number surprised me but made me happy. The scrappier the better!

I began the cutting process with the blues.  The blocks finish at a 3 inch square.  I really didn't think about it until I had to cut the itty bitty 1 1/4" squares for the knot portion.  That is small! I love small blocks and pieces in quilts so I am not worried about it, but goodness that is small! lol  Do you see the little pile of fabrics behind the big one? This is what they look close up - Indigo Blue with a touch of Cheddar.

I am trying to decide if I want to add them into the mix and let them play with the other fabrics or keep the Cheddar color in the background only.  What do you think? Should I stick with just the blues and let the Cheddar background be the contrast? Hmmmm

Diva Essential Designer Bag

In my last post ,  I said that I would have have something to show you on my next post. :)  The Diva Essential Designer Bag (designed by Lynndi Enright) is finished! I made it with lightweight denim and Mickey Mouse Fabric because I plan on using this bag when I am visiting Walt Disney World soon! When I first mentioned making this bag here, I just knew that I had some denim in my stash...somewhere! I looked and looked but didn't find it. Have you ever wanted to make a project and the end up going to the store to purchase supplies that you think you already have (but can't find), and then end up going more then once to purchase more things for that same project?  Joann's Trip #1 - purchase denim fabric.  I knew I had velcro tape at home along with the needed batting and Mickey fabric so all was good! No need to buy any more additional supplies, or so I thought.  Before I talk more about my other trips to Joann's, this is what the bag looks like folded up to use as a tote.

The sides kind of poke out like wedges which I like because it is different. When you open out the bag this is what you see.  You can also use this as a back pack by putting your arms through the handles when it is opened up like this.

Inside there are a lot of pockets along all four sides. (On a side note here, check out my fingernails.  The gal who does my nails added some Mickey Heads on some of my nails the other day. I love them! I'm not sure you can really see them, but that is what the little black spots are on my nails.)    :-)

This is a shot of one of the pockets on the end.  It is called a secret pocket. When I saw this in the pattern I will admit, I was skeptical and couldn't quite figure out how it would really be a secret. Well, the top edge of the pocket is so close to the top of the bag you really don't see it unless you know it is there! The long piece of velcro really holds it shut. It looks like the perfect hiding place for a boarding pass or some other kind of important paper or item that you don't want to loose or that you want to have easy access to.

Trip #2. It was time to sew the velcro onto the flaps to hold the bag shut. I looked at the white velcro that I had and realized it just wouldn't look right on the blue denim. No, not at all.  Ok, back to the store to buy some black velcro as I didn't think they made navy. When I was looking the selection of velcro I did see a package of navy along with the others after all.  I picked it up but then saw some black velcro that said "snag free". That sounded like a good idea, because after all I was going to use this bag as a back pack too and the velcro would be against my clothes. So, I bought the snag free velcro and left the navy behind.

Once I got it home and opened it up I could understand why it was considered to be snag free.  There wasn't much holding power at all, hence it wasn't going to snag anything! So, trip #3 was to go back to Joann's and buy the navy velcro that I should have bought on the first trip to begin with! Live and learn? Yep!

I mentioned in my previous post that I would probably do a few things different if I made this bag again. All in all I thought the directions were written well. There are photos in the back of the pattern that I kept flipping back to during the construction.  While I wish the photos were next to the actual steps that they related to, I still appreciated that the photos were there. The pattern calls for you to insert plastic canvas in the bottom to help give the bag it's shape.  I chose not to put the canvas in. I really don't think I will miss it. I wanted a bag that was a bit more flexible.  I also plan on leaving the handles the width of the fabric instead of cutting them down to the size listed in the pattern if I make this bag again.  While I haven't actually used this bag as a back pack yet, I think this would make it a little more comfortable.

I like the way this bag turned out! I think this bag  took a little longer to make verses the typical tote bag  because of the extra pockets, but I think the pockets and bag are worth it!