Patchwork Baskets

Patchwork Baskets

Another "in a day" project as I have been so uninspired and really need to get on with the quilt along. If only there were more hours for sleep this week!

With Easter coming up I made a last minute decision to whip up some gifts to go with the chocolate. I was inspired by a photo on flickr and then hunted around to find a bag tutorial. This pattern matched the idea I had in my head perfectly!

The instructions are very easy to follow and I whipped up the green bag in a couple of hours as a tester. Then I fussy cut cats from Debbi Mumm fabric I had in my stash and made up the blue cat bag which will go to my Nanna filled with easter goodies.

Small Purse

Quilted Kitchen Memories

Remember this fabric which I bought last october? I trimmed off a crooked edge today and fussy cut some triangles to work on a small project. I'm hoping this will help bring my mojo back!!

It has been so hectic around here that I haven't been doing any sewing. I have a tonne of things I want to get to and no energy. I can now tell you all that I am starting a new job on Monday, so the last 2-3 weeks have been a whirlwind of interviews, filling out forms, meeting new people and finishing up at my last job. I had been at my previous job for 8 years, so I must say I am a little nervous about the change, but I know it is the right thing for me right now.

Finished Purse or Bag

I tried out several new things with this little project. First was the fussy cutting. I made a template for an equilateral triangle out of thick clear plastic - you can use the 60° line on a quilting ruler to draw your triangle! I found that if I was careful I could use my plastic template with my rotary cutter, so it didn't take too long to have quite a few triangles cut out. The clear plastic made fussy cutting a breeze. I marked my 1/4" seam allowance on the plastic and then just lined up the image and cut.

After piecing my triangles together I decided to use another new toy - Quilt Basting Spray. It is a dream to work with and held everything together without any pinning while I quilted. Next I made up my bag using instructions from Quiltsalott. My bag is a little smaller as I made my pattern just under 6" so that it fit on an A4 piece of paper. I adjusted her measurements by dividing by her width of 8" then multiplying by my width in all cases which kept the ratios the same.

I've always wanted to have a go at a bag like this, and this one is really easy. The finish is beautiful with no raw edges anywhere, although finishing the zip and the inner corners was a little fiddly. I photographed the back view as well, where you can see I reversed the direction of the triangles so that both sides would feature the kitchen fabric right way up.