Crazy for Pants Bags

In addition to getting everything ready for my first machine quilting class, I have been working on gift bags.  I made not one, not two, not even three or four... But fourteen gift bags using the Pants Bag tutorials at Glinda Quilts.  I cut most squares out at ten inches and the double fold casing at five by ten inches.  They are the perfect size!  I can buy 1/3 yard of the main fabric, and 1/2 yard of the solid and make two bags.  (A little bit goes into the scrap bin.)

I did have to do some creative cutting with all the Richard Scarry bags, because they were originally meant for a book.

I think the Richard Scarry bags are my favorite.

They are two-sided.

Monkey chose the orange one with the back hoe and school bus for his own.

I am so glad I bought three panels of the Richard Scarry fabric when I saw it go on clearance at my local quilt shop.  It makes great bags and quilts.  This is the quilt I made for Panda in 2012.  I still have two panels left.

Panda and Cheetah both wanted purple bags.  (You know they want one if Monkey gets one, right?)

Pink and purple ribbons to easily tell whose is whose.  ;)  Silly boys.

Then I used the rest of the floral fabric for gifts for two more neighbor girls.

I don't know if I like the pink or purple ribbon better.

I also needed bags for older boys.  So I found some camo fish.  Totally love it!

I won't mention that I sewed one bag with the fish upside down.  Didn't notice until I started threading the ribbon through the casing.

Then I decided to make bags for my mother and sister-in-law for their birthdays.

These both have 5/8 inch wide ribbon.  It looks cute but is a little harder to pull through than the 3/8 inch wide ribbon.

Add them all up and you get fourteen drawstring bags.  They are all lined with Kona cotton fabric.

I'd say that I'm ready for a break from the drawstring bags, but my boys still want more.  Can you believe it?

What I really wanted to do was quilt more quilts from my mindless sewing break, but these took a priority.  My friend just had a new baby girl.  I made her a baby blanket, but didn't want to forget the four older children.  They are my special friends too.

When I told my friend I was making things for all the children, she said I didn't need to worry about it.  But it was lots of fun!

It took me about an hour to cut out all the bags.  Each pair took about forty minutes.  Then It took about an hour and twenty minutes to do all the ribbon.  That was seven hours total.  Not too bad.

My hubby won't even feel left out, because Jennifer is making one for him.  She is super sweet and writes great tutorials.  But watch out, her pants bags are a little addicting.

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my side bar.  Something fun for every day of the week.

Favorite Quilting Designs

A big thanks goes to Panda for his help choosing a winner for my giveaway sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop.  He helped me fold all of the comment strips and put them in the bowl.

Then he helped me mix them up and drew a winner.  I think he picked the one on the very bottom.

And the winner for the $25 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop is... Jessica.  (She doesn't have a blog.)

Jessica is one of my new followers and a new quilter.  Congratulations, Jessica!  (Doesn't Panda make for a cute little Mr. Random?)

I had so much fun reading every comment, and am sorry I was unable to respond to all of them.  It did get a little overwhelming.  I want to welcome all of my new (and old) followers.  I am so pleased you are joining me on my quilting journey.  It is my hope that something I do may be inspiring for you.  :)

Nearly 70 people answered my question, "What is your favorite quilting design?"  Twelve people listed more than one, so there were eighty responses.  Here is what everyone said:

• 20 people (25%) said straight lines with the walking foot.
• 13 people (16%) said the basic stipple/meander.
• 10 people (12.5%) said spirals/swirls.
• 8 people (10%) said wavy lines.  
• 7 people (9%) said feathers.
• 5 people (6%) said loops/loopy lines.
• 4 people (5%) said pebbles.  (whether they could quilt them or not)
• 3 people (4%) said leaves/vines.
• 2 people (2.5%) said paisley.
• 2 people (2.5%) said echo quilting.
• 2 people (2.5%) said special stitches with the walking foot.
• 1 person (1.25%) said wood grain.
• 1 person (1.25%) said snowflakes.
• 1 person (1.25%) said ribbon candy.
• 1 person (1.25%) said matchstick quilting.  

Thank you everyone for answering my fun question.  If I were to have answered you anytime from 15 years ago to 1 year ago... I would have said loopy lines were my favorite.  (Sometimes with leaves, flowers, or butterflies added in.)  From 1 year ago to 1 month ago... I would have said spirals were my favorite.  However, for the last month I would have to say feathers are my favorite.  It just goes to show that my favorite is whatever I put the time into. Who knows what my favorite will be next month?  

I am excited to share these fun statistics in my upcoming class on Free Motion Quilting Basics at Daines Cotton Shop.  My first class will be taught this Saturday, and it is already full!  I am super excited.  I will teach it again in March and in April.  My March class is already half full.  

I went to speak with the manager today, and enjoyed seeing my quilt hanging up in the shop.  

They even have it hung up so the back side is also visible.

Can I just say that I am super excited?!!!

As a side note, I am not receiving emails with comments made by people with a Yahoo email account.  And they may receive a message saying their comment is "kicked back."  These comments are still posted to my blog, I am just not receiving the email notification.  I have enabled comment moderation for posts more than a week old so that I do not miss any comments.  I will also be checking my current posts to make sure I don't miss any.  I truly appreciate comments left on my blog, and I do try to respond to all of them by email.  I am not sure what else I can do to help with this challenge.

XX,
Jasmine

Quilty Kisses: Another Feathered Finish

First off, Happy Valentine's Day!  These beautiful roses are from all my boys.

My sweet mother-in-law gave me a gift card to a quilt shop I do not normally go to for Christmas.  When I went to look at the fabrics they had, I found myself very overwhelmed.  I had money in my pocket to spend, but didn't know what to get.  (I have found that I really like to buy for a specific project lately.)  Then I remembered Cynthia's suggestion:  look at their solids.  I was amazed by how many Kona cottons they had.

When I saw all their pinks, I remembered the XO quilt tutorial at Canoe Ridge Creations.  It had been on my bucket list since I saw it the first time.  I went home with a plan, then had to go back to the store to get the right fabrics.  I was able to find five of the pinks suggested and just replaced the darkest with Kona Ruby.  I really like my substitution.  :)

If you check out the original tutorial, you will notice there is an X and and O.  I really like quilt kisses, so I decided to use two X's.  To emphasize the X's I added a 1.5 inch cut strip between them.  Totally love it!  Just look at all these Quilty Kisses.

The backing fabric from "Kiss & Tell"  really makes me happy.  The funny thing is that I have never been drawn to fabric with lips before.  However, I think this is my. most. favorite. quilt. ever.  It is just so me:  simple design, fun quilting, quick finish (3 days), and quilty kisses.

Is anyone still wondering why I love it so much?  I was able to put my feather practice to use in the nine inch finished strips.  And it's ombre.  Enough said?

Maybe not.  ;)  Maybe you want to see some in process pictures.

Don't Kona Ruby, Pomegranate, Bright Pink, Candy Pink, Carnation, Medium Pink, and White look so pretty together?

On to the process... I made a template with long paper and 4.5 inch circles to mark the vines with a Hera Marker.

I also had fun picking out threads.

Note:  these are DMC 50 weight cotton embroidery thread.  I wanted to use them for the colors, but there was some fights between the thread, the machine, and me during quilting.  The thread liked to give up and break.  But it was totally worth it!

Then I planned the quilting.  I wanted to do spirals in the X's and feathers in the stripes.  I used clear vinyl and washable dry erase markers to see if I could make the feathers go behind the X's.  Luckily I was able to free-hand it and didn't have to mark anything more than the vine.

I used long arm quilting rulers to quilt the X's.

And it turned out exactly how I pictured it.

To simplify things, I used two different pink threads in the bobbin.  The middle of the three darks, and the middle of the three lights.  (Plus some white for the X's).

That way I only had to wind two bobbins and the bobbin threads each blended nicely with three of the top threads.

Another thing I did was cut the top and bottom strips a half inch extra wide.  Then I quilted the feathers to the marked line at 9 inches.

Then I cut off the extra making sure to leave enough to not cut off any of the feather tips.

After quilting I zig-zagged the edge.

And added the same binding from the "I Love You" line as my Rainbow in Motion quilt.  This time I decided to sew it to the back by hand.

I love the way it looks.

I love the corner label.

I love the back.

I love the front.

And I love how it brightens my kitchen.

Quilt Stats #128
Quilt Name:  Quilty Kisses
Pattern:  Altered XO quilt
Fabric Used:  Kona solids (see above for the list of colors)
Backing:  Kiss & Tell
Binding:  Henry Glass I Love You
Amount Used: 4 yards
Batting:  Hobbs 80/20
Size:  About 42 x 54 inches
Date Finished:  February 2015
What I learned:

• I really love feathers, ombre, and pink!
• Quilting spirals a quarter inch apart takes a long time.  (30 minutes for each X.)

What  great use of my Christmas gift card, right?  Kinda reminds me of the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  Except it's if you give Jasmine a gift card to a quilt shop...  But that doesn't sound as fun for kids as for Jasmine.  ;)  Unless you are Jasmine's boys and have a love for anything pink or purple.  Panda was even wondering why Daddy picked out the red roses.  He thought pink and purple flowers would have been so much nicer.

Daddy knows that red roses are my favorite.  (As is this quilt!)  Good thing my hubby doesn't mind decorations left up a little past the holiday.  I finished this with just one day to spare.

Now I need to go make my pink loving boys some Sugar Cookie Bars with pink frosting and cherry hearts.  They are the true loves in my life.

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties listed on my sidebar.  Click on the buttons to see what other quilters are up to.

Feathered Finishes

I am happy to say that I have put my feather practice to good use, and have now quilted feathers on two baby quilts.  (Both from my mindless sewing break.)  I love how they look!

On the first quilt, I quilted feathers in rows.

I am so pleased with how they turned out.

I think they look pretty neat on the back too.

I really like the entire pieced backing.

I also really like the scrappy green binding.

On the second quilt, I quilted a meandering feather.  The first thing I did was quilt an extra, extra large meandering line.

I forgot all about this picture until Judy asked if I marked my meandering line.  Yes, I did.  :)  I put it on the kitchen table and drew around some Ikea bowls.  This helped keep my line more evenly spaced.

Then I filled in the feathers.

Here is a close-up of the front...

And a close-up of the back.

The green and yellow backing is so cute.

And I love the multi-colored dot binding.

I am sorry if this sounds like bragging, but these quilts were just so much fun to make.  What was the most fun part?  Playing with someone else's leftovers.  My neighbor had given me three big bags of fabric which I sorted through.  To make these quilts I just had to add batting, thread, and time.  I will be enjoying them at my house for a little while.  (Just until I figure out where I want to donate/gift them.)  And seriously, if you want to see how far my feathers have come check out this post or this post.  They are kind of embarrassing, actually.

Quilt Stats #126-127
Quilt Names:  Feathered Race 1 & 2
Pattern: Jelly Roll Race Variation (my calculations)
Fabric Used:  Sherrie's leftovers
Amount Used:  4 yards each (8 total)
Batting:  Frankensteined Hobbs 80/20
Size:  About 42 x 56 inches each
Date Finished:  February 2015
What I learned:

• I love sewing jelly roll race type quilts.  
• I love quilting feathers.
• Feather Boot Camp, a free online class, by Suzanne Earley helped a lot!!!
• The cream thread really blended in.  I almost wished that I had picked thread that stood out a little more.  

It is hard to say which one I like better.  I almost think I like the one quilted in rows the best.  What do you think?

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up with some of the fun parties on my side bar.  Click on the buttons to see what everyone else is doing.  :)

P.P.S.  I now have finished two out of the eight quilts from my mindless sewing break.  Only six more to go!