Finally stitching

It's been six weeks since I've sewn a stitch!  Three of those weeks I was traveling.  Such a life!  I went to France for the first time and had a fabulous time.

Now, it's back to reality.  Before I left I wanted to make a new dog walking bag.  The old one was getting raggedy, it's five years old.  This went together in about an hour, and I think it'll last for another five or six years!

There's plenty of room inside for plastic bags, my phone, and keys.

The cross-body strap leaves my hands free to managed the dogs.  I'm still not good at selfies!

Here's the original and the post:

May your bobbins always be full,

Mail Sack Bags

Six Mail Sack bags finished!

A couple of weeks ago I did a fabric pull of canvas.  My cousin Brooke is legally blind, she can see about 10% of what she should, so she really can't sew.  She sent me a photo of a bucket bag, nothing special, and asked if I could make one.  I told her, Sure, but wouldn.t you rather have something like this:

I'd made these two for Sharon and myself.  So I made Brooke a Mail Sack bag, and when it was finished, I thought, "That was fun, I think I'll make some more!  In the last two weeks, I've made a total of six mail sack bags.

I've worn glasses since I was 8 years old, for 64 years.  This bag is for me!

All the bags have the same aqua and white polka-dot lining and mixed up pockets.  I think those have become my signature.  Now, I ready to get back to the Lawn Diamond quilt that I took a much needed break from.

May your bobbins always be full,

Lawn Diamond Quilt and a break.

I've got Good News and Bad News about the Lawn Diamond quilt I've been working on.  First, the good news.

1.  I'm making slow but sure progress.  I came up with a plan to keep everything orderly.  Then I got busy cutting the fabric.

2.  There are 120 blocks to be foundation paper pieced.  I started with 20, to make sure my paper piecing chops were in order; then I did 40 more and got all 60 of them trimmed.

3.  I was ready to tackle the final 60 blocks.  When I did the first two sets, I chain pieced the blocks.  Chain piecing 60 blocks, gets really boring, really fast.  I'm at the halfway point on these 60 blocks and need a break.

Now, for the Bad News.

1.  So far, this has taken me a total of five weeks.  Life has gotten in the way, and I'm also tired of chain piecing.  If you're not familiar with foundation paper piecing, after stitching each seam, you need to trim the seam allowance, then press the seam.  Each time. It's very time-consuming, but very worth the effort.

2.  I need a break.  Instead of plowing thru the last half of these blocks, I'm going to make some bags.

I have a fabulous cousin, Brooke, who is 40 and can't sew because she's legally blind.  She's not totally blind, she has about 10% of her sight, but that's not enough to sew.  She's one of my favorite people.  She lives in Indiana and we keep in touch via social media.  She asked if I could make her a bag; that's what I going to work on during the "Lawn Diamond Break".  I've previously made 3 Mail Sack Cross Body Bags, so I thought I'd make one for Brooke and a couple of more to have on hand.

This is the canvas fabric I've pulled from my stash, enough for 5 bags.  I don't know if I'll make that many, but I'm prepared!

May your bobbins always be full,

Two Bags Finished

Yes ma'am, yes ma'am, two bags finished.  The left one is for me and the right one is for Sharon.  I moved right along to my next non-quilty project, the SDMQG Vintage Quilt Revival QAL.  I have two blocks to make for July and August. I made some HSTs for Julys' block, a Double Z, and trued them up.

I've got them all laid out, and will get them stitched up tomorrow.  The August block involves paper piecing, which will be a challenge for me, since I've never done any.

May your bobbins always be full,

Taking a Break

I'm taking a little break from making quilts, my primary "day-job" task.  As soon as I finished my Mail Sack bag,  Bob said, "Sharon is going to want one of those."  I replied, "No, she won't, I just made her and Jennifer satchels!".  Well, Bob as correct, as soon as Sharon saw my new bag, she asked for her own.

 I ordered some Enchino and MoMo dot fabric and when I finished the first memory quilt, I started cutting.  The aqua with the white dots will be the lining and the Henna Gardens and the tiny dots will be the pockets.

Now, to man the sewing machine.

May your bobbins always be full,

Mama's got a Brand New Bag

I couldn't resist the post title!  No quilting going on, now, but I did make myself a new bag.  I normally don't sew from a pattern, but Mail Sack really caught my eye, and I ordered it from Pink Chalk Fabrics.

The instructions are great; I only deviated by not making a zippered pocket.  I used home dec. weight fabrics from Lotta Jansdotter, Echino and Riley Blake and a scrap of polka dot quilting cotton for the pockets.

It's hotter than blue blazes outside, so the photos aren't great, but I'm lovin' my new bag.

May your bobbins always be full,

Dog walking bag

Yesterday, between regular life and visits to the hospital, I took time to make this across the chest bag.  One of Bob's joys has been walking the dogs, I've had to take over that responsibility.  Since I think my dog walking may go on for a long time I made this bag to carry the doggy pick-up bags.

I got tired of stuffing them in my pockets, then forgetting to take them out.  I'll take a pair of pants out of the closet, and in the pockets are plastic bags.  I think this will fix that problem.  When not slung across my chest, it hangs in the garage with the rest of the doggy paraphernalia.

Today is the 8th day Bob is in the hospital.  I hope he's home soon.

May your bobbins always be full,