Apr 13 10

Catching Up

Boy, it has been a long time since my last post! Kathy of Alaska won the thread giveaway, which worked out well since she had just ordered a new long arm machine and was awaiting its arrival. I have been furiously working on preparations for Spring Quilt Market, most of which has proven to be very time consuming and not as much fun as I’d like! But, one fun thing has been sewing tote bags for quilt shop samples for market. Here are the pieces of the prototype as they were being created:

…and here’s the prototype finished as it hangs on a doorknob:

…and here’s the inside; you can add pockets on both sides or not:

I now have several of these in various stages of completion. One thing that has been kind of fun has been working with fabrics that are part of collections since I don’t normally do that. My favorite right now is this tote based on fabrics by Jane Sassaman. (This is just the front; the tote’s not finished yet):

All of these totes have a center square that fits an 8 inch wreath with a variable center; that’s the fun of the totes! I don’t use fusible interfacing very much and all the linings use fusible interfacing, so I jumped over to Kathy Mack’s blog at Pink Chalk Studios and reviewed a wonderful tutorial on fusible interfacing that she posted a long time ago and it was just what I needed to get me fusing!! Really, if you need some good tips about how to get great results with fusible interfacing, this is the clearest, most concise tutorial I’ve ever read! And if you’re in the mood to just plain read a fun and colorful blog, add Kathy’s blog to your regular reading list!

And speaking of great blogs, make sure you head back to Kelly’s blog at I Have a Notion! Don’t forget that she’s hosting a 31 day giveaway that ends in 2 more days! Take the time to scroll backward and review every post because you can still be in the drawing for each day’s giveaway but only if you make a comment by 4/15/10!! She’s got some really great stuff that she’s giving away, so make sure you scroll backward for the entire month’s worth of postings!

And an update on the Feathers book…it’s still being printed and will take longer than we were told…total bummer, but there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’m trying to think about other things! It’s still coming and it will definitely be here in time for Quilt Market, but beyond that, I’m not feeling like I can count on anything, so we’ll just have to ride this out. But, I promise it will not disappoint and don’t forget, if you post a comment on the 3/18/10 blog post, you’ll be part of the giveaway for both the Feathers book and the hyperquilting book!

One Comment

  1. Betsey Ryan from Palgrave On. Says:

    Greetings!!
    I feel like I’m suffering from separation anxiety as it seems it has been so long since you posted…. Will you be coming up with a pattern showing how you put the bag together- or a blog? Is the Quilt Market to which you are referring, the one in Chicago? What are the dates?
    Cheers
    Betsey