Three years ago (!) Jen1 and I ventured to Bolts and Bobbins near Woodville for their garage sale. While there, I found this amazing fabric on sale. I thought all the coordinating colours would be great for English Paper Piecing - 'Shimmer Eclipse Iceberg' fabric by Deborah Edwards for Northcott Fabrics.

A month later, I had created this 14" x 10" piece.

It sat for three years while I figured out what I would do with it. Then I realized it would make a great back to a project bag. I added another 2 rows of hexies to the bottom to enlarge it to the dimensions I prefer to work with.

Next, I had to decide what I'd use for the lining and binding. At the same sale, I had purchased a (0.6m) remnant of a blue fabric - perfect for the job.

For the binding, I cut three strips of one of the darker bits of the striped fabric. Two of them were beside the selvage and a bit wider after trimming the selvage off. The third strip I cut from the inside. Because it was narrower, I encroached the adjacent fabric to match the width of the other two pieces. I knew the other colour would be hidden when I sewed the folded binding onto the front of the bag.

I then did all the usual steps, attaching strips above and below the zipper, as well as inserting the vinyl between the double-folded strip below the zipper.

After sewing the folded binding to the front and hand-sewing it to the back, I was pretty pleased with the result.

I have been considering selling some of the ones I've made but this one involved a LOT of hand-sewing and I couldn't imagine parting with it.

I still have some of the fabric left so could also make some coordinating pieces.

Will be on the lookout for more striped fabric like this. It really saves a lot of agonizing about coordinating colours.

And Yet Another Project Bag

I'm on a bit of a tear, making use of several quilted checkerboards I previously created - using quartered 5" charm squares and coordinating fabric.

Yesterday I completed another bag. This time the easy method was used by using a coordinating fabric for the back and extending the edges 1" to be double folded and used as binding.

When I bought the charm pack, I also purchased a fat quarter of a coordinating fabric - a nice, busy pattern - which will be nice for the back and 'binding'.

A fat quarter is just enough for this method as separately-attached binding strips are not used. I make my checkerboards 7 squares wide and 6 squares high  (~ 14 1/2" x 12 1/2" finished size). There will be enough of this fabric for the top lining strip and the strip below the zipper. As mentioned in a previous post, the extended edges of the back piece are folded over to the other side,

Then sewn in place with a coordinating thread. I'm not a perfectionist but I am picky about some details. I guess I could have used the beige thread for the topstitching above and below the zipper - oh well. The fabric strip below the zipper is a double-folded 2 1/5" strip with the fold against the zipper teeth and the opening downwards. I use double-sided stitching tape on the vinyl to keep it in position - the top edge of it right against the fold. The top stitching attaches the zipper to the strip and the vinyl. The lower topstitching is just through the open part of the strip and the vinyl.

I did use the dark thread in the bobbin when doing the first top stitching pass which attached the zipper to the strip, then changed to the beige thread on the second pass - a better colour on the back of the beige strip.

The coordinating fabric was also used to line the strip above the zipper on the front of the bag.

Another thing I do before attaching the back fabric is to trim the top and bottom edges, then stitch a narrow zigzag along the top (attaching the quilted checkerboard to the checkerboard strip above the zipper), then trim the bottom (attaching the bottom of the quilted checkerboard to the bottom edge of the viny. 

Then the zipper tab is slid towards the centre and out of the area beyond the edge. The two sides are then trimmed.

After all that, I lay the batting side of the quilted piece onto the wrong side of the backing fabric, being careful to centre it in both directions.

Note: When quilting the checkerboard piece, I made sure to quilt onto the non-fusible side, in preparation for this next step.

Now the fusible side is against the backing fabric. With a medium iron setting, and the vinyl side down, and fabric backing side up, I press the backing onto the fusible batting. Don't hold the iron in place very long as the vinyl can melt. Definitely never touch the hot iron directly onto the vinyl as it definitely will melt. (Trust me, I've had to redo the vinyl on a couple of bags because of this goof-up).

Back on the cutting mat and vinyl side up, trim all the backing fabric edges to 3/4", double fold over to the front and use clips on the newly-created binding to keep it in place for sewing. Avoid clipping directly onto the vinyl as it may leave marks. Definitely never use pins on the vinyl!

Starting on the right side and using coordinating thread for the top and bottom, sew around, attaching the folded binding to the front. The presser foot will want to stick to the vinyl so just use some tissue paper to cover the vinyl (just don't tuck it under the binding). 

At the corner, fold the edge you're stitching down and over, then the other edge. You should get a nice mitre which should be clipped to stay in place. Sew to the mitre then one stitch over it and stop with the needle in the down position. turn the bag 45º as if to sew towards the point. Take two or three stitches then reverse back to the pivot spot (circled in the photo). Turn the bag another 45º to stitch along the next side. Do this at all 4 corners. This will neatly secure the mitred corners.

I don't remember where I learned this cool tip but a bit of patterned, folded ribbon is a neat way to insert your 'logo' into the binding. Sunflowers have a special meaning for me so I was thrilled to find a spool of this ribbon.

The front view of the sunflower alternates with a side view. And it's not that difficult to cut and fold the ribbon to insert it in the proper position.

I still need to make zipper pulls for the new bags I've made. Perhaps another time when I want to avoid 'adulting' aka housework/errands.

I did go outside, too. Every day something else has bloomed in the garden. It's kinda wild-looking but it reminds me of all the work Skip did out there.

A California Poppy - self seeded from last year.

Foxglove from last year - the bees love flying in and out of the blooms.

Deadheading the Bachelor buttons/cornflowers promotes more blooms. (weeding is needed)

Along the back fence. The bell flowers (campanula carpatica) are starting their white and purple blooms.

I'm really looking forward to the shasta daisy blooms. A big clump of them were transplanted from our now deceased stitching friend, Sharon's garden a couple of years ago. I did buy another pot of them last year at an end-of-the-season sale at a nursery.

In May it's hard to tell what is a weed and what is a perennial. My plan is to label them the perennials in the fall so next spring I'll know what is what. 

Another Project Bag

Yesterday I made two project bags. I like to quarter 5" charm squares and lay them out checkerboard-style on fusible interfacing, pressing them in place before stitching the columns and rows.

This technique allows for practically perfect 2" squares. This charm pack was one I purchased at Country Clothesline in East York. 

With project bags in mind, I had also purchased 0.5 metre of a companion fabric which I used for lining, trim, and binding.

Normally, I like to use a patterned fabric for the back, extending each side by 1" which then is folded twice to the front, creating a binding, and stitched in place, like this:

The quilted checkerboards were created a while ago. Since then, I have found fusible interfacing with 2 1/2" grids which makes the checkerboard process even easier. However I did find the squares had to be trimmed a wee bit so there wouldn't be any overlap when laying them out.

For this Tilda bag,  I wanted the quilted fabric to be on the back and the companion fabric the interior/lining, I cut 2.5" strips for the binding. 

One tip I picked up from some YouTube video is to zigzag stitch around the bag to join all the pieces at the edges before attaching the binding. Top and bottom first, then the sides afterwards. Stitching over vinyl can be tricky. The presser foot wants to stick to it. The issue is resolved by lining up tissue paper with the edge and zigzagging over it and the edges. It also helps to use a walking foot for the many layers and avoid 'bullnosing'. The paper tears away easily.

After sewing the binding to the right side, it was folded over to the back and hand-stitched in place. I used the technique in this video to join the two ends of the binding. Leave lots of the ends unstitched and take your time.

So for this bag, there is a plain interior and a quilted, checkerboard back.

On a (yet to be revealed 'stealth') bag, I created checkerboards for both the interior and exterior. I did use a companion fabric for the zipper trim and binding. On that bag, that pesky binding didn't go so well. I thought I'd try sewing a double-fold binding around the edge hoping to avoid hand-stitching. The result did not look good so it was removed. The needle holes through the vinyl were very visible so couldn't be reused. The strip was detached from the zipper and vinyl. A new piece of vinyl was cut and attached to the strip and zipper, then cut to match the edges of the bag.

I added an extra piece to the previously-used binding strip and folded it in half lengthwise - wrong sides together. 

The binding was attached on the front and again, folded over to the back and hand-stitched into place. The result looks so much better. This method is much more labour-intensive but makes use of checkerboards inside AND on the back of the bag. 

All will be revealed at a later date.

Hexie Mat Finally Finished!

Back in September of 2022, I traveled up to Beaverton to the Farmer's Wife Retreat House for the Border Creek Station quilt show. I purchased an English paper piecing (EPP) kit called 'Runaway with Hexies'. 

It was a complete kit including the instruction sheet already-cut-out hexies, and backing and border fabrics. 

I also purchased a pack of Clover No. 9 Appliqué/Sharps needles.

Back at home, I began enthusiastically sewing hexies together. Over the next few weeks, I decided not to do the 5 hexie 'flowers' and only did three. 

Today while looking for something else, I encountered the stitched hexie mat and the accompanying backing and border fabrics and decided to finish the project once and for all.

I trimmed the stitched piece, to create straight edges; then cut the backing and binding to fit. After sewing the folded binding onto the right side, I folded it over and to the back and hand stitched it down.

All done!

This doesn't even put a dent in the number of stitched/sewn pieces that need to be fully finished but it's a start.

June Stitch Day

Kimat Designs hosted a stitch day on Friday at the Lemonville Community Centre. I met Barb at Vandermeer's, parked my car, and she drove us there. 

The room is pretty big and in addition to the big, east-facing windows, the lighting is good. The air conditioning did a pretty good job at keeping the temperature tolerable in the hall but I brought a hoodie just in case it was going to be blowing on me (as had been a previous complaint in that space). Good thing I brought it because I was sitting right under it. Next time we'll tell whoever gets us seats to stay farther away from the back wall.

Of course, I brought both Ernest and Thomas to the event. They were admired by many.

Also at our table were MaryK, Judy, Jeanette, Joanne, and Jennifer (Joanne's daughter).

I bring the 'Newcastle Bouquet' sampler to every stitch day and work on it for a bit.  I completed the eyelet 'v'.

and brought the wool felt flower pot 'bowl filler' to show off.

The blanket stitch around the bee hive hole is a bit wonky so I'll redo it. The heat-erasable drawn lines are for the flower stems. 

A couple more rows were completed on the sashiko cherry blossom piece. One side has a bit of a pucker so I'll have to fix that.

Continuing to plug away at the Mystical Lanterns crochet project back at home whilst watching TV in the evenings, 67 'lanterns' have been completed so far. The pattern calls for 158 of them plus a dozen half lanterns for evening out the top and the bottom. I'm not even halfway yet. 

After the loop start, there are only 4 rounds - with colour choices completely at random. The kit came with 12 colours of Stylecraft DK yarn. I'm also using random bits of yarn left over from the Persian tiles blanket.

Assembly will likely be with a whip stitch with an off-white yarn. However, I could also do the mattress stitch to just butt one lantern against the other without the off-white showing. Will have to do samples of each and see how I like them.

I did some stealth sewing yesterday, It took all afternoon and I'm not happy with the sewn double-fold binding I did. I'm probably going to re-do it which will probably take another whole afternoon.

Wednesday is our June Trillium Guild meeting. I have two items to put in the Trillium Annual Themed Award (TATA). Both had been mostly stitched for a couple of years but I finished stitching and assembly this year. Neither will be award-worthy but I'll be happy to have them on display with the others. Photos will be shared after the meeting. Our stitching Saturdays will continue through the summer.

Today is a gloomy, rainy day. Not fun for anyone camping but our gardens are loving it. I'm thinking of having a nap.

Finishing an Embroidery Project

I finished stitching the flower bouquet yesterday when I had some of the gang over to visit with Jen1 and Poppy. 

I changed the colour of the Forget-Me-Nots from light blue (which I didn't think would show up very well on the blue shirt) to a light lilac colour. I took this photo before I added the yellow centres to the flowers. I used colonial knots as I think they lie nicer than French knots.

It's an oversized 'boyfriend' shirt from Old Navy.

I went on the hunt for some Black-eyed Susan vine (thunbergia) after stitching today and found some at Sheridan Nurseries. It was more of a lemon yellow than the golden yellow that I prefer but there were only 3 pots left. I was too late last year to find any so grabbed one of them. Once home I got it planted under the obelisk.

While out there I did some watering. I'm really curious to see how well the zinnias and sunflowers do that I grew from seed.

I planted this perennial a couple of years ago and it's in full bloom right now. I had to do a Google Lens search because I couldn't remember the name. It's Geum.

This year I also have a bunch of wild strawberries trailing all over the place. There is actually fruit on this plant. When they ripen, I hope the squirrels don't get them before I do.

The foxgloves are starting to bloom. I'm not sure how long they'll last.

My neighbour allowed me to transplant these bachelor buttons (cornflowers) from her front yard last summer. The first set of blooms are almost done but there are more buds.

Out front, the transplanted hostas are doing very well. There is some balsam from previous years popping up here and there. I was going to rip it all out but I might transplant them in different locations in this garden or move them to one of the gardens in the back yard.

I sprayed weed killer on some spots in the back garden and am hoping the chemicals will do their work. I think the growth has been arrested, now I'm hoping the weeds will just die. 

I still have a bunch of weeding to do in the back beds before I purchase and lay down mulch. My horticulture guru, MaryK, suggested I get 'natural' mulch rather than the coloured stuff. I used black mulch last year but I didn't like how hot it got in the blazing sunshine.

This Friday is Kimat Designs' stitch day. Barb and I will do our usual meetup at Vandermeer's Nursery and carpool to the Lemonville Community Centre. I'm not sure if or what I'll take for the Show and Share table.

Today at stitching I did a bit of work on my Tomato Tomahto. I'm still working on the first of 6 wedges. There's a LOT of stitching on that piece.

Starting An Embroidery Project

I've had an empty spot on the yoke of a denim shirt for ages and haven't been able to make a decision on what to put there. It's the spot to the left of the Queen Anne's lace and bee.

This is on the other side of the blank spot.

I was looking through some stuff on my desk and found this pattern that I had purchased on Etsy all printed out. 

I scrounged up some Sticky Fabri-Solvy and printed the pattern onto it, rounded up a 5" hoop, and picked out all the colours. Then I set to work - first stitching the stems. I'll finish up with the blossoms. I like surface embroidery like this because there are no threads to count. The printable, water-soluble stabilizer makes transferring the design very easy. it will wash away/dissolve once all the stitching is finished.

 I got this far before my eyes got too tired and it got too late. I'll carry on tomorrow.

I did some more work in the garden. I found some Round Up concentrate in the garage so mixed it up and sprayed all the weeds I want to get rid of in some of my flower beds. I don't know how long it will take to kill the weeds - hopefully not long. Since the concentrate has frozen and thawed through a couple of winters in the garage, I'm not sure how effective it is either. 

I dug out a couple of hostas first which I'll transplant in the front garden once the weeds are dead. I also planted the anemone corms which I'll have to remember to water regularly. I think I killed all my zinnias I grew from seed due to lack of watering. Darn! I may have more seeds left which I will plant directly in the soil. 

I've been on the mailing list of the ukulele classes I took pre-COVID. My friend, Alexa, took the beginning ukulele class this spring. So she, and another ukulele friend, Catherine, and I attended the ukulele play/singalong at a local diner this evening. My fingers are sure feeling it. There were 24 songs in the set list including some where I got to play my kazoo. The next event will be July 8. Then I'll get to play again at music camp.

Speaking of music camp, I received confirmation of the classes I signed up for and in addition to ukulele, choir, madrigals, and concert band on my oboe, I got into the very limited enrolment handbell class. Jen1 is also coming this year so we'll have our own rooms but will share the bathroom between our rooms. It should be lots of fun.