I got so much done on this Ice Storm bag last night that I didn’t have much left to do tonight to wrap it up.
This will go in the mail tomorrow. Here the back side.
And look at how nice this is!
I’m loving that each one I do is just a little better than the last one!
Here’s some detail.
I got this done so quickly that I dug out my Aboriginal fabrics trip quilt left over strip tubes and whipped up some panels for my next bag.
Good grief! Those fabrics are so amazing!!!
Here’s the other side.
I’m having fun using up these old strip tubes. But I have a LOT of them! I could make a lot of bags out of these babies!
Rico has a sheep herding lesson tomorrow at noon. Then we’ll probably follow that up with a nice field run. We’re meeting friends for some dog agility training at 4:00. So it will be a busy day.
Sunday is a free day. I’m thinking we may get out and take a walk on a trail somewhere. It would be good for all of us to see something different.
So, today was totally different. I worked. The we walked. Then I worked some more. Then we walked some more. And then I sewed on yet another bag. It was so crazy! We’re all so excited with such a stimulating day!
And here’s something nice… SPRING ARRIVED IN PORTLAND TODAY WITH A BANG!!!
It was cloudy and damp in the morning, and then we had some downpours with blue skies. And then it all cleared up and the sun came out and the birds were singing and it just looked… different.
I went out and walked around the yard to see what was going on… forsythia buds opening up… flowering plum buds ready to burst… first daffodil fully bloomed…
And Daylight Saving Time arrives next weekend. MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR! I just love the extra light in the evening. It’s so hard to believe it’s March already.
So, I did get a lot done on this second Ice Storm bag tonight. I got both quilt panels sandwiched and quilted and I got the handles made and the body of the bag constructed.
I intentionally used some darker grays than in the other bag. It has a little bit different feel.
I also got the lining cut and interfacing fused. I got the zipper and slip pockets made and attached, and I made the zipper placket. I decided to stop before I made a mistake!
Several people have asked me about the fusible tape I’ve started using to install my zippers. This is the product that I bought online.
I will confess right off the bat that I didn’t read the instructions. Fair warning.
The tape is 1/4 inch wide, fusible webbing that is sticky on both sides, and has a paper backing on one side. this photo shows me peeling off the paper backing and you can see the webbing left on the fabric.
Here’s what I did for the zipper on the pocket:
I peeled off a section of tape off the roll, leaving the paper on one side, and stuck it to the zipper tape.
Then, with the paper still on, as the photo shows, I hit it with my iron to fuse the webbing to the zipper tape. Then I peeled off the paper and centered the zipper pocket opening over the zipper and used my fingers (not the iron) to press the fabric of the pocket opening onto the adhesive. Then I hit it with my iron to fuse the webbing to the pocket opening.
Look how nice that looks!!!
I left the iron on this long enough to make sure the heat got through to fuse it all together. There are two layers of fabric and two layers of interfacing between the iron and the fusible tape.
Once this was fused, I top stitched around the opening according to the tutorial I use.
For the zipper placket, I adhered the tape to the edge of the two fabric placket pieces, rather than to the zipper.
Then hit this with the iron, pulled off the paper and pressed (using fingers, not iron) these pieces onto the zipper tape of the long zipper. When it was all in the place I wanted, I hit it with the iron. Again, lots of layers so I made sure the heat got through and melted the webbing.
Once it was fused, I did the top stitching.
I’m a big fan of this stuff! It’s giving me really nice zipper applications. And the zipper pocket I made tonight is probably my best one yet! It turned out so good!
I’ll get this bag done tomorrow night ad get it ready to ship. I have another bag to ship so am wanting to get this one done so I can just make one trip to the post office.
Another stressful work week. I’m really glad tomorrow is Friday. I’m thinking I might take the afternoon off. I could really use a break… maybe have some extended time out in the sun.
My weekend is pretty typical… Rico’s herding lesson Saturday at noon, then meeting friends for agility practice. Sunday is wide open, but I’m thinking some kind of outdoor activity will be called for. Maybe we’ll go for a nice long trail walk. Don’t tell my boys until I decide for sure because I don’t want to disappoint them!
A friend I’ve never met in person contacted me the other day and wanted an Ice Storm Frankenbag, so I told her I’d whip one up for her since I was thinking about making another one but using darker gray batik fabrics with the left over Ice Storm strip sets.
I dug in tonight after after work and got the block elements made and started auditioning some darker gray batiks to see what I liked.
After our evening walk I dug in and started sewing. I got the two panels done really quickly since the block elements were already done. I like the darker colors. It will be interestingto see how different this bag looks once it’s done.
Here’s the first panel.
And the second one.
I’ll get these sandwiched and quilted tomorrow night.
I have another friend who wants a bag like this one…
So I’ll be making another one of these as well.
While I was in my sewing room tonight I caught a glimpse of all this hardware that I bought a few months ago.
I think that big bag is 100 key fob hardware pieces. It might be 200! What am I going to do with all those key fobs?
The smaller bag at the lower left is D-rings. I thought I might sew those into the inside of a bag to attach your keys. I should figure that out on my next bag.
The two bags in the upper left are the hardware you would use to make a lanyard. There are 50 pieces in each bag. I had ordered one bag from Amazon, got a notification that it was delivered but I hadn’t received it. So I contacted Amazon and they sent another set. A few days later my neighbor contacted me to let me know he had my package. So I have more of those than I needed. Here’s what they look like.
The quantity of this stuff is such a good illustration of how I do things. I tend to think that I need to buy in bulk. I’m happy knowing that I have this stuff available if I need it.
Years ago I made a few little fabric wallets that each had one snap closure. I bought hundreds of different snaps and a tool to attach them to fabric. I think I made around 10 wallets and haven’t touched those snaps since. But, by God, I have them!!!
I saw this cartoon tonight on Instagram. It’s one of my all time favorites.
After about ten days of significant rain, we are getting into another stretch of really wonderful winter weather.
I’m starting to see signs of spring in my yard. My daffodils now have buds on them. My forsythia has tiny yellow buds forming. My flowering pear trees will be blooming in the next couple of weeks. Spring is an amazing time in this part of the country. I will share spring blooms as they start showing up.
I think I’m paying for some video functionality on this blog. This is a test to see how this video comes through.
A number of people said they would love a tutorial for the fabric knitting caddy I made for a friend last week.
I thought I might write up a quick tutorial over the weekend, but then I realized that it really wasn’t necessary as there are probably hundreds of free tutorials available for a caddy just like this. All you’d need to do is add your own fun piecing and put the handles where you want them.
Here’s a few links to tutorials that will probably work really well:
agilejack 