Ballet Bag for Bailey

My daughter is four and a half. She's the girliest tomboy I've ever met. When we were making plans for what to do over the summer break, she wanted to take ballet classes. Since her ballet classes are on the same day as swimming lessons, we knew we wouldn't be able to make it home to change into her dance clothes. It seemed a very good excuse to make her a little ballet bag!

This is the wonderful Bento lunch bag tutorial from Ayumi. It's really a perfect little bag. Cute and stylish with some lovely details in the construction that make the whole thing sew up like a dream. I especially like the drawstring cover that lets things stay securely inside even when a certain four and a half year old swings the bag like a lasso.

The cute ballet fabric is a Japanese cotton canvas print from Cool Cottons. Handles and drawstring cover  are Alexander Henry farmdale and heath. The blue dot is an unknown from my stash.

This is the third or fourth time I've used this pattern and I love it. Go make one for yourself!!!

April *ahem* Cocorico block

Finally made my house block for Charise in the Cocorico bee over on Flickr. Yes, I know it's June. Call me a slacker, or a perfectionist, or obsessive. I promise it won't hurt my feelings.

Actually, I had about five different designs drawn up but nothing that I wanted to commit to fabric.

And then I designed a block I really loved, started sewing, and trashed the whole thing because it. just. didn't .work.

Ugh.

Finally, I decided that less is more, radically simplified the design and came up with this.

The original (crazy, overly ambitious) design had a pieced house inside the key. I mean, really? Who do I think I am? Besides, this little polka dot number is way cuter than anything I could dream up.

And the original (again, crazy, overly ambitious) house was a fancy schmancy Victorian with turrets and who knows what else. As it turns out, a few beautiful fabrics and a simple, clean design made for a much more visually appealing block (that didn't involve cussing or crying - bonus!).

I think that this process, as difficult as it was, actually taught me quite a lot. I will definitely aim to simplify my block designs and try to keep things cleaner and less muddled with "extras." There are so many amazing fabrics out there that can do a lot more than my piecing skills ever could. But I will definitely keep playing and learning! And I really hope that Charise likes her block!

Exciting!

Awhile back I was invited to do a pattern test for Sonja over at Artisania. She creates beautiful and fun paper piecing patterns, so naturally, I jumped at the chance!

This pattern, I Love Sushi, will be available in her shop soon.

The blocks are fun and perfect for a confident beginner. The instructions, templates, and diagrams are all clear and easy to follow.

Can you believe I already had this sushi fabric? I was going to make pajama pants but it was too perfect not to use on this project.

Check out Artisania for some beautifully styled pictures of this quilt on the actual pattern! Thank you Sonja, I'm so flattered that you chose to feature the quilt on your pattern!

And now I'm craving some sushi!

Trajectory: Finished!

Yeah! A finished quilt!

For the binding I chose a patterned fabric with black, gray, and yellow on a white background. I wasn't quite sure at first, but as it turns out I really like the subtle peek at a pattern around the edges of the finished quilt.

I didn't do a tutorial on the binding because there are already so many amazing binding tutorials out there. For this quilt, I cut the binding strips at 2.5" and did a double fold binding. Sometimes I'll opt for 2.25" strips but for this one I really wanted to make sure the print was more visible.

And here's the back.

Seriously digging the straight-ish line quilting.

This quilt will be on display at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in July as part of a special exhibit by the Portland Modern Quilt Guild.

I hope you've enjoyed reading/playing along. It was great to have these posts as a motivator to get this one done. For some reason (um, maybe it's the 4- and 6-year olds???) I haven't had nearly the kind of time I would like to get my creative mojo going. Hopefully, things will balance out a little better soon and I can spend some more time playing and having fun with fabric.

Trajectory: Making the Quilt Back and Quilting

So, anyone still with me here? Sorry for the lapse in posting, but life has a way of rearranging the best laid plans.

Here's what I did for the back of my quilt. I started by making one block using two leftover boomerang blocks and two plain blocks:

Then I used a bunch of the scraps and trimmings of the various gray and yellow solids to make a big long strip. I really like using my leftover fabrics from the front in some way on the back - helps to tie everything together. Then I just added a bunch of kona in ash to fill everything out and make the back about 4 inches larger than the front on all sides.

Then it was all about winding a bunch of bobbins and finding my groove with the walking foot.

For this quilt, I didn't mark anything, just started in the center and used the seam lines as a rough guide. Some of the lines are more straight than others and I like the organic flow of it not being too "perfect."

And there you have it - back and quilting all done!

Yes, I realize that I didn't say anything about basting and making the quilt sandwich. There is lots of great information out there about how to do that part and if you've already made a quilt or two then you may already have a way that works for you. If you're curious, I usually spray bast my quilts because I don't have the patience (or knees) for pin basting. I do have some issues with the use of chemicals and what I might be doing to the environment so I'm constantly questioning their use and may re-evaluate my preference. For now, it's what I do and I've had great results. Not one single pucker on this quilt, front or back.

Meanwhile, I'm almost done with the hand sewing part of the binding and will have a finished quilt to show you next time! If you've been playing along, drop me a line and let me know how it's going. I'd love to see other interpretations.

Trajectory: Piecing the Quilt Top

Did you decide on a layout for your quilt? I did!

I went ahead with the original design layout but I was more thoughtful with how I laid out the background pieces, which you will see. When I tried to lay it out randomly, the dark gray really didn't play nicely with the others - too much contrast, I think. But I really do like how it all turned out!

Let's get piecing...

With your blocks all laid out, divide your quilt top into quadrants (4 x 4 squares of blocks).

All seams are 1/4".

Piece a row and press seams open. 

One you have four rows done, attach the rows to each other matching the intersecting seams:

Press seams open. You'll end up with a lovely big block like this:

Is it just me or does anyone else get a little giddy when their seams line up nicely?

Okay, so one quadrant down, three more to go.

Once you have all your quadrants done, it should look like this:

I'd apologize for the weird light in my pictures, but that's the sun and we just don't apologize for sun here in Portland!

Sew those remaining three seams, press seams open and you have a completed quilt top!

Up next: Backing and basting.

Trajectory: Layout options

How's everyone doing? Have you started piecing your blocks yet?

I started to play with placement and layout of the blocks over the weekend. What I enjoyed most was seeing the variety of options using this one simple block!

Here's the basic pattern that I used in the original quilt. I still like this layout and this is the one you'll want to use if you want your quilt to look most like the original.

But then I played around with making some stars and came up with this:

It's not complete - you can see that the top left corner block is plain instead of a boomerang and the one of the blocks in the bottom row is facing the wrong way. But you get the idea. I really like the secondary pattern made where the non-boomerang corners are joined together.

And then I experimented with a zig-zag:

I actually think I like this one best of all! I may need to adjust my assembly to make this version.

At any rate....play around with your blocks and come up with a design that pleases you. Next time we'll get into assembling the blocks into the final quilt top.

Most of all - have fun and enjoy yourself!