Got an hour or two?

By now, maybe you've discovered that there's a free pattern available for download on the Hummingbird Highway website. If not, by all means, go download it!

For reasons way too complicated to describe here, I decided to handle the bag corners a little differently from most patterns you've probably seen. To make a long story short, I wanted to make a quick  & easy tote bag, use scraps, hide all raw edges, box the corners without creating extra bulk inside the bag.

Here's a walk through, step-by-step.

First, make the parts. I know it's hard to see from this picture, but the bubbly-looking purple stuff is my lining and handles. The pieced elements are folded up a bit to avoid having a gianormous picture.

Sew each lining to each scrap panel, pillowcase style. Turn, then close the opening. Place a ruler on the scrappy side of the panel with the 1" mark on the ruler aligned with the first scrap row. Fold the the top edge to meet the ruler to make a cuff. Press with a steam iron.

Open the cuff, and place the raw end of the handle right up against the cuff fold, so the inside of the handle is lined up with the scrap seam. Once both handle ends are in place, fold the cuff back into place, and fold handle over top of the cuff, then pin.

Topstitch across each cuff edge. 

Place the bag sides right sides together. Pin and sew 1/4" seam across bottom of bag, starting and stopping 1/4" from each end. 

To make the folded corner. With the bag upside down fold front side of bag so edge aligns with bottom, forming a 45˚ angle.

Fold back side to the bottom, creating a point.

Place a pin 2" from the point (blue pin).

Then fold fabric back on itself, right sides together and pin along side of bag (yellow pins).

Sew along side from the bottom fold (red arrow) to top edge of bag.

Repeat for folding and sewing for remaining side and turn bag inside out.

There you have it! Ready to fill with goodies!

Here's a fun idea: Use Halloween scraps and a ghoulish lining for a fun Treat Bag for Trick-or-Treating. You may wish to shorten the handle for younger tricksters.

Enjoy!
Joan

Leapin' Labor Day!

As the summer winds down, my husband and I headed to Lake Placid, New York for the long weekend. Located in the High Peaks section of the Adirondack Mountains, Lake Placid was home to the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games.

Mirror Lake

While most of the Northeast received a second round of late summer rain, Lake Placid greeted the long holiday weekend with overcast, but clearing skies. So, off we went to see some of the sights.

Beautiful Mirror Lake is adjacent to the village shopping strip. Just for kicks, we went into the bookstore on the main drag. "Let's see if they have my book," I said. Dave laughed. But looky what we found!!


Next, we headed to the ski jumps. A couple young men were practicing ski jumping off the 90 meter jump. Yes! Ski jumping in the summer! The mountain is fitted with specially designed wavy acrylic strips - they look a little like stiff green bristles on a broom. The strips are layered on the mountain - like a thatched roof - and sprayed with water to simulate snow. This video is really grainy, but you get an idea of the material on the mountain side.

Thinking this looked like a piece of cake, Dave and I headed up the elevator to the top of the 120 meter jump. Yikes! No doubt about it, it takes a special kind of person to strap skis on the bottom of his or her feet, point them down the hill, and let go. We took the elevator back down. Maybe we'll try the skis another day. . . NOT!

120 meter ski jump, the view from the top.

Village Comforts, unique fabrics and pottery

Of course, Lake Placid has a quilt shop, too. The weekend wouldn't be complete without buying a little (or a lot, in this case) fabric as a souvenir!

Lovely late summer flowers.

Once home, and back to the quilty tasks at hand, I set out for Moravia, New York, located at the southern tip of Owasco Lake in the Finger Lakes to do a presentation for the Piece Makers Guild. Great fun.


Did you know that Moravia has a historical claim to fame? Millard Filmore, 13th president of the United States was born there. I was informed that he was the first to install a bathtub in the White House. . . Who knew?

Scrappy travels to you!
Joan

Whoosh!

That's the sound of the month of August flying right by! Seems like late summer has been filled with travel, lots of new and old friends and faces, and, of course, quilt shops!

First stop: Ontario, Canada for a distributor Open House at QuiltSource Canada. Nearby, a quick trip to The Hobby Horse Quilt Shoppe, a beautiful destination shop in a converted pig barn nestled in rural Georgetown, about an hour outside of Toronto. Every inch of wall space, even the angled ceiling is covered with quilt samples, fabrics and quilty things.

Inside, the barn is chock full of quilty goodies.

With a name like 'Hobby Horse' you know a few shop mascots are available to greet you!
 

The Hobby Horse owner, Gail, and grandson, Quinn.

Next Stop: Ohio! For Checker Distributors Open House. But first, a stop at The Quilt Foundry for a trunk show and book-signing.

Whimsical Fish are a recurring theme at The Quilt Foundry.

What a fun place! Everyone seemed to have a good time for the presentation.

In its earlier days, this building was a manufacturing facility for Oleo packaging. New owners Lisa and Rich Spalding have added their personality to the building, as well as lots of fabric, notions, patterns, and a sizeable classroom.

The town of Maumee, Ohio threw a parade (how did they know I was coming?) on the same day of my visit. So limited parking was even more so on this sunny August day. No matter for us quilters!

Next, on to Archbold, Ohio, and Sauder Village. An entire village of original homes and businesses have been moved to this site to preserve Ohio's small-town history. Here's the General Store, located next to the museum. The museum features all sorts of vintage farm equipment, automobiles, and tools.

Embedded right in the museum, you will find Threads of Tradition. A lovely quilt shop that seems perfectly suited for its historical setting.

An easy transition, museum to quilt shop!

Hey! Lookie, lookie! I can meet me!

On the frame and ready for some hand-quilting!

If that was August, can't wait to see what September brings! D'ya think I should do a little sewing?

Sunny summer greetings to you! If you live along the US East Coast beware of Hurricane Irene, and stay safe.

Joan

Floating Castle

On Friday, with the long weekend ahead of us, and beautiful summer weather predicted, I suggested a quick trip to the 1,000 Islands to my husband, Dave. So, yesterday, after a two-hour drive, camera, and tickets in hand, we boarded the three and one-half hour tour from Alexandria Bay to Dark Island, and Singer Castle, the 'hunting lodge' of Commodore Frederick Bourne, the 5th President of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. (You knew, there was going to be some connection to sewing, didn't you?) 

Dark Island ahead

We passed a small handful of the 1,800 Islands dotting the St. Lawrence Seaway to reach our destination. As you approach the island you certainly get the feel of living on a grand scale.

Singer Castle on Dark Island

Four bells, complete with Westminster Chimes.

The mansion, built in the early 1900's, maintains many of its original furnishings and displays several full suits of armor, well-kept antiques, and beautiful furnishings in a stone castle built in medieval style.

The Breakfast Room, surrounded by windows.

Vintage Singer Sewing Machines, many of them treadle machines,  are on display throughout the mansion. Large windows offer splendid views and let in refreshing river breezes and sunlight.

A classic

Featherweight?

Ornate detail

It's easy to imagine transporting yourself to a different era on these grounds.

Turret office. Small but functional.

Turret Office. Is that an iPad?

Entrance to Swan Pond on Heart Island

And, of course, on the return trip to Alex Bay, we made a quick stop at Heart Island the location of the famed Boldt Castle. Work began on the castle in the late 1800's/early 1900s by George Boldt, dedicated to his wife Louise. Work stopped when Louise died suddenly, and the castle was and still is incomplete. In the mid-1970s, the Thousand Island Bridge Authority became owner, and began restoring and finishing parts of the castle according to original plans. Much of the main floor is now finished, with carved wood paneling, marble stairway, and leaded-glass domed ceiling.

Bedroom on second floor. Move me in!

Hope you enjoyed the mini-tour.

Happy 4th of July!
Joan

Summerberry Shortcake

It's done!

The quilt I started during the blog tour last week is complete. I chose to use a combination of scraps and strips to make my own version of "Brownies a la Mode" from Kathy Brown's book, Strip-Smart Quilts.

And I asked for blog-hopper input to select a border. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of the green floral print . . . but there's something about an under dog that draws me in! So I used the creamy fruits. (Can you believe that?!)

Truth be known, when I opened the folded cream fabric, I discovered that I had two length-of-grain strips of fabric perfectly sized for the border, already cut! It seemed like destiny favored the cream print.

To those who chose the green floral, do not dispair! I still needed some backing fabric, so I thought the green might be perfect. Nope. Not enough. Back to the stash to look for something else. And there it was - that same Chez Moi fabric in pink - perfectly matched to the salmon-y pink in the blocks. Ughhh! Not enough of that either. About 4 or 5" shy. Back to the scrap bin, to make one or two more scrap strips to lengthen the backing. Perfect!

Not quite enough of the pink for the backing. More scrap fabrics to the rescue!

Because the little quilt is going to a charity (more on that in a minute), and will probably be washed a lot, to save wear and tear on a binding, I layered the batting, backing, and quilt top. Sewed a 1/4" seam around the edge, leaving an opening. Then turned everything inside out, and finished the edge with a decorative machine stitch before quilting the entire piece.

And the quilt even has a label, and it's own name, "Summerberry Shortcake."

Now, about the charity. This quilt along with several others made by the members of my local guild during a workshop this winter are going to the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Site. Abused children, as young as 5 or 6 years old, get to select their very own quilt once they enter treatment at the center.

It breaks your heart to know that 300 children were examined by this organization in this community last year. So it's a small, small gesture to turn a little blog quilt project into something minutely positive. Worth every stitch!

On a quite different note, Summer has arrived at last. Enjoy!
Joan

Congrats!

Kathy Brown has announced the winners of the Strip-Smart Quilts Blog Tour today on her blog! Congratulations to all the winners!

And many thanks for all the wonderful comments and input on my blog post! It was so nice meeting all of you!

My scrappy-strippy version of Brownies a la Mode is almost done. I hope you come back to see the results. Will the border be the green floral, or the creamy fruits, or something altogether different? You never know!

I'll post some pictures here in another day or two, when it's all done, quilted, labeled, and ready to be a special gift. I'll also tell you a little about the charity project it is going to.

In the meantime, here's a picture from a corner of the garden. This wrench was just sitting on the rocks. Not sure why, but it fascinates me. The color. The crusty rust. How did it get there?

Okay, enough of that . . . . Moving on.

Happy Quilting!
Joan

Scrap-Smart

Hi all,

So, today it's my turn to review Kathy Brown's new book, Strip-Smart Quilts.

When Kathy asked me to take a look at her book and participate in her blog-hop, I didn't hesitate to say 'Yes!' because I know Kathy likes to make fast and easy quilts, and so do I.

The quilts in the book are beautiful, and there's about a kajillion ways to make really terrific blocks and quilts using the Creative Grids 90˚ Double-Strip ruler. All the projects start with strips. And the book walks you through the whole process.

If you've ever taken a ScrapTherapy Cutting Workshop at the local quilt shop, or if you've seen a copy of my book, ScrapTherapy, Cut the Scraps! then you know I'm all about using scrap squares, not necessarily strips.

So . . . I set out to find a way to use my scraps and Kathy's wonderful book. I chose a quilt from the book callled "Brownies a la Mode." Love the play of three different colors and values, plus who doesn't like brownies and ice cream?

Digging around in my fabric stash (and in my friend Gail's, too), I pulled out some solid colors and cut a few 2-1/2" strips. You can use the grid on the double strip ruler to cut the strips, so no extra tools are needed!

Then I took 5" scrap squares from my bins and chose an array of light- to medium-value scraps and cut them twice to make four 2-1/2" squares from each 5" scrap square.

I then chain-pieced the 2-1/2" squares into strips - to make a handful of scrappy strips - each using twenty 2-1/2" squares. I pressed the scrap seams open to reduce bulk.

Scrap-Strips, White Strips, and Pink Strips

Next, I put scrap-strips with solid-strips, and started sewing, cutting, and sewing again, following the pattern instructions. Watching the blocks come together is really fun! I didn't worry about where the scrap seams ended up. The ruler is designed so the shapes and the spaces between the shapes are the same size. After cutting, you have innies (scraps on the inside or smaller part of the triangle) and outies (triangles with scraps on the outside or larger part of the triangle)

Cut the strip-sets with the ruler to make 'innies' and 'outies'

Once I made several innie and outie blocks, I arranged them in a diagonal setting to make a small quilt top, made basically from three 'colors' - the cream solid strips, the pink solid strips, and the scrappy strips - like in the book. Now, all I have to do is choose a focus border print and I have a small quilt to donate to a local charity.

Blocks. Some with scraps inside, some with scraps outside

The quilt center with two border options. Which do you like?

Now, it's your turn. If you comment on this post today, your name will be entered into a drawing to receive a Strip-Smart Quilts book AND the Creative Grids 90˚ Double-Strip ruler at the end of the tour. There's a winner EVERY DAY of the blog hop!! As long as you're at it, why not help me decide which border to use? Comment whether you like the creamy fruits or the green/multi floral with the medium blue accent border.

Oh, by the way, there's a rumor going viral that there might just be a grand prize drawing at the end of the blog tour. Your comment is your raffle ticket. And it's free!

And, one more thing. . . hop over to dzyning things tomorrow and see what Linda Lum DeBono has to say.

In stitches,
Joan