Bag and Quilts

I'm still catching up with things from the last 2 months that I haven't got a chance to post before....

The first thing is a messenger bag for Sweetie Pie's teacher. It was completed the night before the last day of school, June 12th. Gosh, it seems like it was so long ago.

SP's teacher loves horses, so I used the horse fabric for the flap and a school patterned print for the bag and handle.

The pattern inspiration came from here. I changed the construction and pattern a bit to fit my needs.

Here's SP modeling the bag for me that morning before headed off to school. Of course, the little doxies snuck in the photo too. :-)

Then, as soon as the bag was checked off the list, I pulled out some of my flimsies that have been waiting for the quilting.

Here they are after quilting.

From the top:

1. Fractured Crystal - I made the top a few years back after seeing it on Simply Quilts.

2. Strip Twist - a Quiltville pattern - the top was finished in February and blogged about it here.

3. Summer Breeze 2 - if this top looks familiar to you, then you may remembered that I had made two of the same tops. The first one was done last year, and I blogged about it here and here.

Quilts No. 1 and No. 3 were completed right before we left for vacation. I will count these two as June finishes for the One Project a Month Challenge (OPMC).

I wasn't able to finish sewing the binding down on STrip Twist, so it was completed during vacation time at Susan's house. Then it was washed right afterward. This quilt made the July count for the OPMC.

All three quilts were handed out to the recipients during our mini family reunion/camping.

This is a full view of Fractured Crystal....

... it went home with my SIL, Reyna....

Strip Twist went home with my nephew, Justin.

And Summer Breeze 2 went home with my older sister. Here it is on her couch. I didn't get a chance to get a photo of her and the quilt. :(
That concluded all the finished projects to date!

Have a wonderful day!

Spring Bag and weather

I took a break from making the quilt top for the Bushfire Quilt Project to finish this project. You had a peek of it from the other day.... it's my Spring flowers bag.

BTW, I have two scrappy side borders sewn on that Wonky Stars top... hoping to finish the other two sides during the weekend.

Anyway, there are some interests in needle turned applique using my favorite applique method, which is the back-basting method, down at the quilt shop. So I drew up a couple simple flowers for beginner applique class which I'm hoping to set up class schedules with Pagen (owner) soon.

If you have been following my blog, you know by now that I like to try and use a variety of quilting techniques. One of my favorite is hand applique. I L-O-V-E applique quilts. So I'm hoping that this applique class will take off and get more people into applique.

The students will learn the basics of applique and work up two flower blocks. Then, they can use their favorite tote bag pattern to turn the blocks into one to carry their supplies in ... or whatever else they like to use the blocks for.

Here's the other side of the bag.

Note: A single flower and lots of buds on my plum tree. :-) Will spring be here soon?

It was absolutely a gorgeous day today.... around 75 degrees. The news mentioned that it happened to be the warmest day since Feb. 4th, and I believe it. For the last two weeks I have been soooo cold! We had a couple storm systems came in during the last two weeks. It brought a lot of rain .. . and cold temperatures... like in the 30s. I know what you're thinking for those of you back East... that it's not that cold. But for Southern California.... it IS COLD.


I took this photo for Diane. She had sent me a message earlier in the week asking about the rain 'cause she's still waiting for it in Nevada. I hope you get some rain in your area by now, Diane. You can't really see it in the pix, but it was raining hard that morning. That's the view right outside my front door.

And the same view after the rain....

I love it after the rain! The air is clean and fresh... no smog! For the last few days when I stepped out my front door, I am greeted by the beautiful snow-capped mountain.


Take a closer look...

And this next one is for Mrs. G. .... she commented that I'm a big tease for showing you a peek of the bag. Why YES I am, Mrs. G! *LOL* and I will continue to tease you since it's great fun. Tee hee

Here's another peek of another project....

Aw gee... I am chatty tonight! It's way past my bedtime, so now I bid you a good night. :-)