A Little How To for the Many Bags That I have Made

This is one of the simpler bags you can made and I have made it in many sizes.  Below are directions for constructing the bag which you can make the size you want.

1. Assemble the fabric.  You will need enough of 2 fabrics to cut out a front, back, 2 sides and a bottom,  You might want some for additional pockets as well. You will also need some fusible interfacting.  I also cut out two 2 1/2 in x 22 in strips of interfacting and fabric for the handles,  This is pretty consistent for straps no matter the size of the bag.

2.  Decide what size you want the bag. For instance, say one that is 18 in high, 12 inces wide and 4 inches deep.  You would then cut fabric for back and front, then sides and then the bottom,  You need to cut the lining, main fabric and the interfacting the same  size,  I add a alf inch to each dimension so I would cut 19 x 13 inch pieces for the front and back

 19 x  5 inches for the sides and 5 x 13 inch piece for the bottom, 

3. Iron the interfacingt onto the front and back pieces.

4.  Iron the interfacting onto the straps.  Fold the straps in half and fold over the sides so that they are one inch wide  Sew down both sides,  Attach to the main fabric by laying the strap facing the bottom of the bag and sew down.  Fold up so the straps are facing the top and sew around a once inch square.

5.  Place lining fabric on top of the main front and back right sides together making sure straps are not caught along the top.  Sew along the top and then open up,

6.  Do the same for the two side pieces.

7.   Pin the lining/main fabric pieces together so they don't slip, then sew the side pieces to the main pieces leaving a 1/2 inch opening at the bottom,  Pin the bottom on and sew all the way 

to about 1/2 inch from the sides.  Trim all the seams to 1/4 inch.  

8.   On the right side sew about 3/8 of an inch at each seam.  This is so there will be no raw edges in the bag.

At the beginning, you might also decide to add a pocket to the lining or the outside and this should be done at the time you are adding on the straps,

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More Baby Quilts!

I am very happy with how the quilt made using the unusual block turned out.  My version ends up with blocks that are 10 1/2 inches before sewing together.  It is made up of 4 in squares, 4 1/2 squares that I use to make half square triangles, and 5 in squares which I use to made the quarter square triangles.  I will be making more of these as I have lots of squares in ll these sizes.  I showed the basic block in my last blog post,

  

This quilt and the previous one are the same as many others I  have done as I have lots and lots of black and white prints.  The blocks are very simple - made up of 3 in finished 4 patches and 4 3 x 6 finished strips, half dark and half light.  I found out the hard way that you have to be careful to add the strips in exactly the same way each time and I ended up with mirror images in the next batch I was doing!  

This is kind of an "I Spy" which is why I blew it up a bit.  Again, I used many of thpse 5 in charm squares that I  have accunulated.  I try to be really good now about cutting up any leftover backing fabrics into squares.  I do squares with this type of fabric as it generally is highly patterned and not great for strips.  I cut solid substitutes for the most part into strips  This keeps the random scraps to somewhat of a minimum. 

Each of these baby quilts is 40 x 40 are are distributed to the Neo-natal unit at the local hospital,I am also working on some larger quilts which go to various charities,  I contributed 4 quilts to the Hurricane victim out in western North Carolina,  

I have also finished a challege wall hanging for our quilt guild challege -- triangles.  I call my "Somewhat Obtuse" and will post it after it is shown -- it is a secret for now!!

 

Half Rectangle Triangles and a New Block I Am Trying!

This is the finished top (except for borders) I made using the half recctangle triangles.  It currently measures 33 x 55 but will be larger after the borders.

This is the basic block that makes up this patterns.  The only tricky part is getting the triangles going in the right direction when piecing.

I used this technique to make the half square triangles.  The pieces were 5 1/4 in x 2 1/2 in.  It was supposed to yield a 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 rectangle and it some cases it did!!  A lot of cases it didn't...

This is the other technique I used and it didn't yield anywhere near the results I wanted as the tectangles were too tall and too skinny!  So next time I decided to use half rectangle triangles, I will use the handy, dandy rulers I purchased pictured below!

This is the new block I will be playing with.  A friend sent me the Instagram post with this made up and it was quite easy to figure it out (the piece was made up of many blocks).  More on my next post about the proportions you need to make this.  It is a great use of all those different size squares I have stashed away in plastic bags -- 5", 4 1/2", 4/" amd 3 1/2..

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Still Quilting!! And a Couple of Birds!!

I had a day of sewing off site and managed to put together four tops for charity -- 3 baby quilt tops and 1 larger one.  This one is a bit of an I Spy and is 40 x 40.

I was going to combine the next two for a large quilt and then decided I would just make 2 baby quilts instead.  These tops will need to have some border fabric to make them 40 x 40.

I definitely think this one which is 40 x 80 needs to be a bit wider so probably will add some borders as well.

This is the back of a Quilt as You Go quilt which is 60 x 80 -- bigger than I usually go.  I have a ton of 10 squares as well as all my strip scraps.

I like this one but will make the yellow center smaller the next time'

T.

 This is my latest interest and I haven't managed to conquer it yet!!  This block uses half rectangle triangles which are super tricky to get the right size and I still havent succeeded.  This piece has 36 blocks which you group together to make 9 big blocks.  These are not sewn together yet but when they are, I am afraid a lot of points will be blunted.  Haven't decided whether dI should make 7 more so that it is 4 x 4 and 44 in x 44 in.  I have used 2 different techniques so far to make these triangles the right size.  I finally bought two tools which should help but it is too late to change "horses" on this top!  The blocks were supposed to be 6 x 6 finished but are 5 1/2 x 5 1;2 finished.  I really like the effect of this block whch is easy except for those pesky half rectangle triangles!

It was nice to see something other than mallards in the local water.  Here are two ibis which were with a larger group.

And finally saw some Lesser Scaup down at Carolina Beach Lake.  I used to see lots of different ducks down there and was glad to see some of my old favorites back.

 

Busy, Busy, Busy Finishing the Thirty Tops I Made Last Summer -- Almost There!!

These are several of the 10 bigger quilts and the 4 neonatal quilts I have managed to get quilted in the last few weeks.

It has been my salvation as I have encountered all sorts of problems with all the computer and computer related things in my life!!  This of course is added to the annoyance on the computer on an ongoing basis!

This next quilt club meeting is a trunk show for members to show quilts from the various challenges in which they have participated.  I told the woman organizing it that I had 8 or 9 and she said to bring them all so I will!!  Had to check my blog so I wouldn't miss any!

 

Just a Few More Quilts and Stuff

Just a couple more of the quilts I have completed.  I know there are more but may have missed a few pics!

The next two pictures are of potholders I did to give out to the ladies in the cookie exchange.  The ones in this picture were grabbed first to my surprise as I like the brightly colored ones myself.  I tried several techniques for putting on bincing and finally went with NOT doing the 45 degree angle instead doing a straight seam to finish them off.  They are only 7 in x 7 in so that angled seam was a nightmare.

All of these were made from leftover quilt blocks.  Some I cut down a bit.I will definitey be doing more of these as it is a great use of leftover blocks.

I'm Still Here!!

I have been very busy just finishing off the 30 odd tops I made this summer, many of which I have already piectured but  many are done now.  I still have to download some more pics from my camera ut these were all from my phone.  

These 40 x 40 inch quilts were all made for donation to  the neonatal unit at the local hospital.

This was my own variation on my old "bagel" quilt.  It was quite by accident but I ended up liking it!

It is a variation of the old kaleidoscope block but with some light color in the "spokes".

Before Christmas, I had a very fun time with some friends of my daughter working on a cookie exchange in the kitchen of one of her friends!

The next four are all donation quilts
 for another group I participate in.  They are all about 40 inches wide and 60 to 80 inches long.There is also another one still  on my camera!!  I have been very busy machine quilting!!

  

I have been fascinated by this block and did break it down so I could try it out.  The toughest part was the half rectangles.  I finally found it was easier to just cut them diagonally and piece rather than making them like you do half square triangles.  Stilll don't have the right measurements down pat, but I am getting there.

This is the block!  You then put four of them together.  I am working on a version of this for my guild's challenge but won't post that for awhie!