Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I have a rule

My rule says no rotary cutting after 11 pm. Apparently, that rule needs to apply to sewing handles on tote bags. And if I hadn't just COMPLETELY toasted my SD card, I could show you what I mean. However, everything that was on that card is gone, and I can't even re-format the thing. It is now a useless chip of plastic. I'm sure I didn't downloaded everything to my computer before I lost it. I had my only pictures of Stealth Project 2, which I already sent,but forgot to post. So I guess you won't get to see that, unless/until the recipients can send me a picture of it. I am NOT amused.

So all you get to see is the corrected tote bag:



You'll have to use your imagination to see that the right side of the front handle was originally aligned not with the edge of the blue and white square, but with the edge of the green square next to it. In other words, right in the middle of the tote. Nice, eh?

The pattern I used is here. The finished product is bigger than I imagined it would be, mostly because I never really thought about it. I had to make some modifications to the pattern, since I only had 35 charms in my pack. I had half yards of the blue and pink fabrics so I used the pink for the bottom and the straps, instead of charms. Also, I added the white background fabric in the center. The embroidery design is from a pack called Dazzling Doodles by Helga Wilkins, blown up to huge proportions in my embroidery software. I'm not sure I'd do that again, since there are some long stitches in there that I'm sure to catch on something. I suppose I could stitch a piece of vinyl over it to protect it.

Since I only had an 18" length of fabric and I needed an 18" square for the lining, I pieced that, and added a pocket from the bits left over.



I think I had a piece that was 2" x 6" when I was done. Maybe. Not too bad. The pattern was easy to follow and went together easily, not counting the handle incident.

I had those grand plans to put binding on a boatload of baby quilts tonight, but it just didn't happen. I fixed the tote bag, so this evening wasn't a total waste of time. Tomorrow night is quilt night with the girls from work, but I don't think I'll be sewing. I don't feel like hauling my machine with me, and I don't know what quilt project I want to start next, so there's no cutting to do. I'll take my Dear Jane project bag with me, but I'll probably work on some knitting instead. I have some more washcloths to make before the end of the month, and there are a couple (or six) felted projects I want to do, too.

Since I lost my pictures, I can't show you my friend Beth's quilt, either. It's very pretty, with big pieced pansies on it. However, because of the fabric placement, if you look at it from a different angle, it looks like a whole flock of angry purple penguins. :-) We probably spent too much time giggling over that one, so I probably deserved to lose my pictures. Or maybe it was that chain email that I deleted right before that happened..... Spooky!!

2 comments:

Cida said...

Adorei as bolsas, me deu uma grande ideia.
Congratulations, your work is beatiful!

Lindy said...

Hi Connie, I just love your booga bag, do you do machine embroidery too. I don't imagine that is your own personally digitized embroidery that you can legally share? I love your knitting too, you must be a fast knitter, I haven't knitted in years but yearn to pick it up again, do a little crochet around baby blankets and bibs but the carpal tunnel although I've had surgery on one side still aches in my thumb. I'm a quilter and machine embroiderer and machine quilter, always too much to do but saw your posts on DJ. I've been working on mine since last week of July 08. I never knew about it before that and I've been quilting for years and years. I love your cat too. I took care of my sons cat this summer for 3 months while he traveled out of the country and miss her so much (she was a real stinker of a kitty too). Maybe I'll pick me up some round knitting needles and look for a pattern unless you know of any free knitting patterns on-line I'd like to make a similar booga bag and I make a neat throw that is so comfortable just like 15 k stitches and 15 p stitches to make squares. I am self-taught in knitting, no one told me that a knit was a pearl when you turn it over. But I made a king size knitted bedspread called the Seven Seas with cable stitch and knit and pearl -- I figured it out by the time I was done with it that a knit becomes a pearl when you turn it over. Sorry this is such a long post. If you have a minute to look at one of my webshots web pages you can see one of my embroidered king size quilts.
Lindy of Utah
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2950067820046555032bXncVB