I was thinking this afternoon about what my next project should be and I remembered something that I had done a lot of prep for a few months ago but never actually started.
I decided to start in earnest on the sea glass wall hanging I’ve been wanting to make for a friend’s birthday next month. Here’s how far I got tonight.
Here’s a blog post from a few months ago when I first started preparing the fabrics. Holy cow! That was January! Seven months ago!
I got the idea for this quilt from Exhausted Octopus on Instagram. She has a digital class for this project that she sells for a reasonable price. Check out her stuff on Instagram. You can also check out the #seaglassquilt hashtag to see a lot of quilts that have been made by people who have taken that class.
My friend wants a piece to cover an electrical panel in her main bedroom, so this piece is made to fit an odd size. And it’s pretty big. So the first thing I did tonight was select a piece of white on white fabric from my stash. It has bubbles on it, which feels pretty right for this project. Then I cut it to size and used masking tape to mark off where the pieces of batik stones will be placed. That marked off section is 15 x 38 inches.
Then I started placing the pieces of fabric that had Heat and Bond applied to them. I started with the lighter more earth tones in the center.
These fabrics, except for the background, are all batiks. I love the colors and patterns. Even in these neutrals there is a lot of color. And it feels like real stones to me.
I got these neutrals positioned, peeled off the paper backing and pressed them in place.
Aren’t those fun!
I started to place the colored batiks and got quite a bit done when my back started bothering me so I had to quit.
I will add pieces in green to the top left of this piece, and the bare space at the bottom will probably be aquas and purples. I’ll have to decide for sure once I get more pieces placed.
It was fun to place these small pieces of fabric on the background. It’s completely free form and I like that!
I received this very exciting fabric delivery this week.
That’s ten yards of a very boring batik that I got on sale. I will use it as the backing of my Frankenbag quilt sandwiches. It adds stability to the quilting and a little structure to the bag. It ends up completely hidden inside the bag so It doesn’t have to be pretty. I just want something light that won’t show through the lining.
I got a few more photos of Frankenbags this week. This first one was made by Nancy Coronato. It reminds me of the blue one I just finished. It feels very cool, and we used some of the same fabrics. Aren’t those spots fantastic on this one!!! There’s nothing more cheerful than a polka dot fabric!
This next bag was made by Kimber Dodge. I love the soft greens! And I’ve had pieces of that color way of Kaffe’s guinea flower on the left and I’ve never used it in anything I’ve made. But I love it! I need to get it into a project soon. And I’m loving that black and white Jumble with the green. And look… more polka dots!!!
Thanks to Nancy and Kimber for sending photos!
I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the weekend. Our weather has been pretty nice the last few days. It’s cooled down to the mid 80s the last few days, and will be even a little cooler this weekend.
agilejack 
Hi Loving the sea glass quilt- I made a few earlier in the year after doing the Exhausted Octopus course. They’re satisfying aren’t they? Also made an elephant wall hanging with a similar approach.
Still loving your Frankenbags though. I really must get on and try and make one.
Thanks for your blogs – hope your dogs are staying cool.
Jan
Sent from my iPhone
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You should try a Frankenbag. I’ve really enjoyed being able to easily finish some projects after a year of making around 20 quilt tops and not finishing one of them!!!
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Beautiful sea glass going on there 🙂 I see one in my future!
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YOu should definitely try one. It’s a fun way to use up not very many scraps!!!
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Your piece is stunning and it isn’t even finished yet!
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Thanks! It’s really fun to see it start to come together. It’s such a fun and different approach to fabric and sewing. I haven’t done much applique so it’s fun and challenging for me.
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Your sea glass quilt will be lovely. I made one earlier this spring. My brain has to work hard to do the free motion quilting, and I discovered, after much angst and agony, that my machine prefers 100% polyester thread, rather than the expensive cotton I had bought!
Thank you for continuing to post bag pictures. So many ideas !!
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Yes. I’m sort of dreading the quilting part. Having a hard time deciding on thread. Actually toying with the idea of using clear thread!!! I piece using gray or off white thread so I don’t have a lot of colors on hand. And I don’t want to deal with thread and tension issues. I might hit the store this weekend to get a selection of different colors for this.
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Wow love this project! I would suggest a pale yellow Superior Bottom line poly thread It is my go to often. It is very fine and the light color sinks into the fabric w/o causing distraction on colored fabrics. Whatever you do I know it will be lovely
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Thanks for the suggestion. The woman who invented this uses different color threads. I’m not sure I’m up to that. I just want to use something that won’t be a pain to quilt with. I’ve had bad experiences with some threads when I FMQ on my domestic.
Anne
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The sea glass is beautiful. You are a lovely friend to make it for someone’s birthday.😊
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Thanks, but I’ve been needing to make this for a few years! She wanted brown in it and I just couludn’t wrap my head around that brown part! When I landed on this design it all made sense… and the brown didn’t make my head hurt!!!
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[image: IMG_0522.jpeg][image: IMG_0523.jpeg][image: IMG_1354.jpeg][image: IMG_1355.jpeg][image: IMG_1356.jpeg] Thank you so much for the inspiration!! The first pictures are a bag I made for a friend. The second set is what I made for myself. I added an outside pocket just for fun. I think with the next bag I’ll put an inside zipper pocket as well as an outside pocket and I’ll add the zipper enclosure for the bag. I love your stories and all that you share. Thanks again!
Cheers, Karen Redfern East Wenatchee, WA.
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Karen; Can you email those photos to me at anne@agilejack1.com? They’re not coming through here.
Looking forward to seeing what you made. Thanks for reading!
Anne
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Hi,
will you stitch around the applique pieces ,raw edge ? and then quilt the whole thing ? or the quilting will hold the applique pieces that are glued on ?
I have been thinking of doing such a piece of fabric and use it for a tote bag .
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I will do some free motion quilting around each stone, and a few will get an additional swirl in them. I won’t do any overall quilting. I’ll have my quilt sandwich all made when I stitch around the pebbles, so that will be the quilting for the piece. It’s all raw edge.
Interesting idea to do this for a tote bag. I might have to try that, but I wouldn’t use white for a background!!!
Anne
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