When Amanda Herring, The Quilted Fish, sent me my Flutter fabric to play with, you might remember she sent me a rolie polie (like a jelly roll) of 2.5" strips. (See my post about the fabric here...I am still hoarding the layer cake!) I wasn't sure what I'd use it for, but I thought about making some Christmas presents for one or both of Sweet Pea's Brownie leaders. I ended up making this little bag out of nine 2.5" strips.
(Sorry my photos are so dark. Seems like the only time I can find to take the photos is at night or early in the morning....and it's always dark! Not the best lighting for photography!)
It's kind of cute, I think. For this bag, I decided to pull nine blue strips of fabric, rather than making a multi-colored bag. I thought it would be fun to have a blue bag. I like it. I think it would be fun to do it again with lots of different colored strips. I like that you only need 9 strips in order to complete this entire bag. However, the size of the bag is a little awkward. I'm not quite sure how functional it is. It finishes at 8.5" x 10.25" x 3.5". It's really a "gift tote." I'm nost sure what you would use it for after you've used it as a gift tote.
I found the pattern in this magazine. You can see their sample in the upper right-hand corner. I thought it would be fun to sew a little bag and then put some goodies in it for the gift. As you can see, it's called the 3-hour Gift Tote. I think that's about right. It probably took me around 3 hours to make this. Maybe a little longer with the quilting.
The inside of the bag looks like this. It's fully finished...no raw edges show. That's because you do some French seams on the side. You can't really tell from this photo, but on the left-hand seam, I had some raw edges peeking out. I didn't catch them far enough in the seam. Dang it! And I was afraid to rip the stitches out for fear I'd get a hole. So I left it. My workmanship was less than ideal on this. But since it's a gift bag, I let it go. (Besides, I didn't have the time or inclination to make this bag again. It wasn't a bad pattern. I just didn't like the bag enough to make more at this time.)
Do you ever have days when you're sewing, and you just want to get it done? It's not about enjoying the process on those days. I was having one of those days when I made this. I just wanted to get it done, and I think my workmanship suffered as a result. I don't like sewing like that.
It was a good opportunity to practice my machine quilting, though. It was a small, nonthreatening piece on which I could practice. I used my gray Aurifil thread. I thought I did "okay" on my quilting. My stitches aren't all that even, and I think I quilted it too heavily. I have a tendency to do that. I feel like I have a "heavy hand" when it comes to quilting. It's not always good. I think this was one of those times. :-)
This is the back of the bag. You can tell, because you can see the join on my binding, and you can see where I overlapped the ruffle a bit. It's a nice, clean finish. The pattern had you drawing up a gathering stitch to make the ruffle. Since I've been playing with my ruffler foot, I used that to make the ruffle. I thought the ruffle turned out really nice and neat. I tell you, I am in love with my ruffler foot!
I love pistachio nuts. Our grocery store sells them at the holidays in these nice, canvas bags, all tied up in a nice ribbon. They make such nice gifts. And I thought one was just the right size to fit in the bag.
Yep. Just the right size! Now, I wish I had had the time and energy to pretty it up even further with some tissue paper and all, but to be honest, it was all I could do to get Sweet Pea out the door with this as she headed to her Brownie meeting on Monday night! She gave it to one of the leaders, thanked her for being her leader, and wished her a merry Christmas. The Brownie leader took the pistachios and apparently left the bag. I think she didn't realize it was part of the gift. The other leader is going to take it to her. I hope it's not that she didn't like it!
The other Brownie leader is a quilter and really likes Flutter. So, she got some fabric. She gets to make her own goodies from it. :-)
I so appreciate Sweet Pea's Brownie leaders. Sweet Pea loves Brownies, and without these two gals, who were willing to take on the troop, the girls wouldn't get to enjoy it. I admire people who are willing to take on 9 or 10 little 8- and 9-year-old girls a couple times a month! (At least one of them works full-time, too. Wow. I simply couldn't do it.) So, I really wanted to express my appreciation to them. I hope they enjoyed their gifts.
Next time, I'll be back with some more links to the rest of the projects in our Emag. I'll tell you a little about one of my projects. And as soon as I have time, I'll show you how I did the other project in the Emag (i.e., the one that's not featured on The Quilted Fish blog).
Are you ready for Christmas yet? I'm not! I'm really rushing around this week. I have to have all my grades in (all but one class is pretty much done!) and be ready to travel (oh, man, I have some shopping and all my packing to do!) by the end of the week. My deadlines for everything are Friday. So, I may be "here" only sporadically this week and next. But I'm very excited to get to see SisLH and the rest of my inlaws this weekend and then my side of the family after that.
Hope your preparations are all coming along smoothly!
Until next time,
