Planning a bag...

Last night I didn't sew a thing.  I did iron and cut some fabric to make a bag with.  I also browsed embroideries.

I'd like to do a light line embroidery on the front of the bag because it's going to be a very simple looking thing.  Here's the fabric I cut:

 The lime will be the lining.  I thought it was bright and funky.

I love the look of linen.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do for a strap.  This bag is going to be taller than it is wide.  I was going to install a snap closure, but I'm rethinking that.  I may do a zip.  Maybe make it a fold-over with a small snap on the outside.  I'd also then sew loops in where I want it to fold and attach the strap there.  This shouldn't take very long to sew up once I get it embroidered.  :)

I'll post the embroidery as soon as I decide what to do.  I've been going through Urban Threads.  Sooo many wonderful designs to choose from!  With my new ideas of how I'm going to design this bag, I may put a small embroidery on the 'flap over' with a larger one at the bottom of the front panel.

The Blocks

I brought this one into work. :)

It's kind of large, though. I may bring it home and use it there. Make one half this size for work. 

Tonight is Embroidery.

So I haven't felt like embroidering for a while, but I promised an embroidered coin purse for my niece. Tonight I embroidered the outside panel. My sister in law wants to learn how to make the zippered pouch, so all of the pieces are ready for her now.

The onscreen image:

Part way through the stitch out:

Done!

Because the embroidery is so heavy and the fabric was so thin, it puckered. :(

I also embroidered her name with glow in the dark thread. I've never used the glow thread. I was really impressed with how well it stitched out. :)

Now I'm working on an embroidery panel for a mug rug for my mom. 

The onscreen image:

I'm using purple where the green is. 

I love how the black is popping!

Not even half way through at this point.  This one is over 40000 stitches. :/

It took way too long to stitch out. :p

Here's the finished embroidery:

Tomorrow I'll piece it and make the rug. Can't wait to do that!! I might embroider another panel for my niece first (while I still have the embroidery arm on my machine) Too bad I don't have an extra work table and walking foot for my other machine. Then I could work on the rug and let the embroidery machine do its thing at the same time. 

My First...

Tumbling blocks!  The pink one is a little wonky, it was the first Y seam I tried, so I went onto YouTube and found a great tutorial! Very easy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08AlOM5COBU

I'll have to find that ruler, too. :)

Here's my concoction. I made it from some charm pack pieces I had laying around. 

I may just piece some plain fabric around it. Quite fun!

EDIT: I went to Joann's and picked up some fabric to frame it with. Next step will be quilting. 

The back will be the same cream as the background and I finally bought some bias tape so I can even bind it all up!  :)

Here is the 'batting' I've been using. It's fusible fleece and it's very thin, so I double it up, fusing a piece to both the top and the bottom. I need to do some research to figure out what I should use and not have to double. FYI - it's great for purse making. 

Here's the quilting front and back. I only did some simple lines. 

Front:

Back:

Now onto binding.  That's the part I dread. :/

Question: What's the fastest way for me to screw up a project?

Answer: By attempting to bind it. 

Second binding job. Second fail. I probably need binding clips. I only have pins. :/

It looks like crap. I definitely need to keep practicing my binding. Hopefully one day I'll figure it all out. 

For the next mini quilt / mug rug I make, I may just 'turn it' before quilting. (I'd sew the border front and back, right sides together, leaving a couple of inches unstitched so I could turn it right side out. Then stitch 1/8" from the edge all the way around.) Sad because I really do like the way binding looks when it goes on properly. 

Tonight's mug rug experiment.

So my experimentation continues. I think that I'm getting the hang of making these.  I'm trying to use up the scraps from my charm pack purse still. I've been wanting to do a 1600 quilt (a quilt made from a jelly roll), so tonight I tried making a miniature one with 4" strips instead of the 40" jelly roll strips.

Before quilting:

It was as easy as the Internet makes it sound. So then I had to quilt. This time I decided on trying a sort of diamond shape. 

And here's the back. I figured that I'd throw a pic in because I haven't yet. I went with a solid back for this one. Yesterday's had two panels. Maybe I'll throw up a pic of it when I bind it. 

Well. That's all for now. :) I really need to hit up Joann's this weekend so I can work on embroidering that coin purse for my niece. I also need to get some bias tape so that I can bind these rugs.