Wednesday, June 1, 2011

What am I up to now?!

It feels like my head is packed with wool! lol
After been working on big quilts for I don't know how long, I have decided to make some smaller items. I also want to learn more about quilting etc, like needle turn applique, photo quilts, landscape quilting.... I feel I'm kind of 'stuck' in what I'm doing; I can't continue to cut squares and triangles, add them together and make big quilts all the time... :) I love to do that of course, but I feel have to 'develop' myself more to get more knowledge on what I'm doing.

Yesterday morning I had in mind to make a mug rug for a swap... I thought of making a cushion (applique) too, and I even looked for fabric for an applique quilt I've seen in a magazine 3 years ago....
Fickle minded and sidetracked as Gemini's are, I started making something else! :)



Since I have been working on - and finished (!) - some baby quilts over the last weeks, I decided to continue... Not making quilts, but something else....


I love these bright, colorful fabrics!

I decided to make a tote bag!
I decided to go for a basic tote bag pattern, but 'on the way' I decided to add some pockets; one (double) open and one with a zip.
This is something I have never done before, and without a pattern it felt like my brain was near to explode! I started working on the bag yesterday afternoon, and no way was I able to figure out how to do that darn pocket - the one with the zip! The zip was not the problem, the problem was how to sew the pocket to the lining! In the end (last night) I gave up, decided to 'sleep on it'.
It did work! I woke up 04:30 this morning and knew how to do the pocket! My brain must have worked overtime during the night! :))


Here the inside pocket with the zip. The upper part of the zip is not as it should be - I saw it afterwards - but that is what I came up with after one nights sleep. :)
The bag is almost done... Another adjustment and it will be finished tomorrow - if not sidetracked again! :))
I believe I have spent more hours unpicking compared to actual sewing hours - lol! I defend myself this is the first tote bag with pockets I've made! :)



8 comments:

zarina said...

That must be one powerful sleep. After one night, I still have not decided on the arrangement for the blue rhapsody quilt - scrappy or not scrappy. Mum wants the latter but not so keen on it.

Catskill Quilter said...

I enjoyed this post -- and it made ME stop and think about what I was doing too! It id hard to resist doing the same things over and over, especially when they are successes -- rather than step out and try something new! You have persuaded me -- today is the day for mug rugs! I even have some long-cherished coffee cup fabric in brights that will be perfect. Thanks for the inspiration!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I think sometimes we all spend more time than we want to unpicking!
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/

PJs Lapperier said...

Spännande. Lycka till med nya projekt!

Michelle said...

Cool totes. Isn't it wonderful how "sleeping on it" can give us the answer we need?

Elzaan said...

Your first attempt look great! Great work on beating the pocket. Can't wait to see what the tote bag looks like - espesialy if all those lovely fabrics are in it.

Dirt Lover said...

I'm a Gemini!! And yes, I get sidetracked. Kinda often, really. I start to do one thing, and then think maybe I should be doing another, and then something else happens, and I never get back to what I first started to do. Uummmm, oh, yea, I really like your fabric!!
~~Lori

Marit said...

Astrid, sprettekniven kan være vår beste venn eller fiende. Ikke gi opp. Stoffet på lommen var bare lekkert;)