HELLO??

HELLO???  ANYBODY OUT THERE??

I know that you thought that I had fallen off the edge of this flat planet.  Truthfully the longer that I procrastinated about blogging the more I wished that I HAD fallen off the planet of the blogging world.  Oh how those snarky comments about bloggers who start a great blog and then leave it starving in the nether world are coming back to haunt me.  So in an effort to redeem myself I will try to catch you up on things that I have been up to for the past .... I don't know SEVEN months or so.  Seems like my last blog was about the bag I made to take to QuiltCon  and that was in February.  Don't tell anyone.  Just read/look and enjoy.

This quilt seems like a good place to start.  This is a quilt I made for my daughter, my Fledgling (she is the Doodle part of DoodleMoochie).  She has flown the coop and needs a quilt to keep her warm.  It is  a log cabin made with a Cotton and Steel focus fabric at the center of each 'cabin'.  I wanted this quilt to be special because before it went to the Doodle (the Fledgling) it was going to be entered in our local quilt show (Lick Skillet Quilt Guild).  So I decided to quilt it like this!

With a giant phone quilted in the bottom left corner.

Before quilting

A close up of the background quilting.

Finished!  The phone quilting part kind of had a slight wrinkle to it (especially after wetting it for blocking).  Hindsight is 20/20 though.  I should have used 2 layers of batting in at least this area for more effective quilting.  Alas, Doodle (the receiving Fledgling) didn't complain and I'm sure that it is just as cuddly without.

A close up of the border quilting.

This quilt won an Honorable Mention at the show.  Fine by me and the Doodle.
Happy Sewing!

AEROPLANE BAG

 I have just completed my Aeroplane Bag by Sara Lawson.  I think that I am going to love it, as it is just small enough not to be cumbersome and just large enough to carry a change of clothes, makeup and toiletries and medicine for one night.  It would also fit under the seat in an airplane and most definitely in the overhead bin.  Hence the name Aeroplane Bag (I'm just guessing here about the origin of the name).  At any rate I think it will prove to be one of my favorite travel bags for car, train or plane.  

Here it is in various states of construction.  It took me a couple of hours to cut out and the better part of a day to sew it together, but I am NOT a bag or garment sewer.  You must follow the instructions step by step and don't try to reason with them.... Just do what the instructions say.  The only real frustrating part for me was the top (outer) zipper.  The instructions were a little vague there, but I managed.  It is not the prettiest zipper installation I have ever done and on close inspection you would totally know that this is a 'home did' bag.  I also quilted the outer/upper sides of the bag in a grid before construction for extra strength.  I am planning on using this bag a lot.  So if you do quilt this area of your bag make sure you enlarge it just slightly (maybe a half inch or so) to allow for shrinkage caused from the quilting process.
 

The inside (sides of the bag).  Each with a zippered pocket!

The outside upper/lower/bottom of the bag and straps.

Turning the bag is so exciting!

Inside of the bag

Ta-Da!  The finished bag.

The only thing that I would change on the next one would be to add an outer pocket between the two straps.  If you really wanted to be fancy you could embroider a monogram on the bag or pocket (should you decide to add an outer pocket).

The real test is hauling it from Alabama to Texas.  Did I mention that I am off to  QuiltCon in a few days?  Surely I did!

You can find the pattern for this bag by clicking here.