Buy the pattern

I am very happy to finally share with you, The Spring Sling, a pattern I originally wrote last fall, that was published in the 2014 Spring issue of Quilters Connection magazine. Let me tell you all about it!!


I'm pretty proud of this bag, as it was my first submission to a magazine. The theme of the magazine was "modern quilting", and I tried to come up with a pattern that was both fun to make and had characteristics of many of the new trends in quilting: negative space, solid fabrics, secondary quilting patterns, random piecing, linens and - just modern quiltiness. Yes, quiltiness is now a word. Here is a picture of the magazine, along with a photo of me where I look 4 years younger than I actually am. Ahem. Yes, that is a selfie. I think I need a new profile photo. Note to self...

Quilters Connection:: For Canadian Quilters

Click to enlarge CLICK IT!!

The Spring Sling bag is a quilted, barrel shaped bag, that will appeal to both traditional & modern quilters, and bag makers alike. This will look wonderful either in bright spring colours, or rich jewel tones with a dark main fabric. It's easy, fun, and very fast to make up.

The finished bag will have a zipper pocket, that creates a second "divider pocket", bag straps attached through grommets, and an adjustable cross-body strap.

This pattern is suitable for an intermediate to advanced sewer. Pattern instructions are provided in both imperial and metric measurements and are geared towards an intermediate quilter. Measurements are given to cut pattern pieces with a rotary cutter, ruler and mat.

The finished size is approximately:  Width: 11” (28 cm), Height: 7” (18 cm), Depth: 3” (7.6 cm)

Click to enlarge

MATERIALS:
Fabric and Interfacing:
•1 Yd. (1 m) quilting cotton or linen for bag exterior, straps and binding
•0.75 Yd. (0.75 m) quilting cotton for bag lining and zipper pocket
•22 mini charm squares OR 22 mixed scraps of 2.5” (6.5 cm) squares for the patchwork panel on the front flap
•12” x 36“ (30.5 cm x 91.5 cm) byAnnie’s Soft and Stabletm  (This size is available HERE, at the bottom of the page, or alternatively, you can use automotive headliner foam. You could also layer one layer of fusible light/medium interfacing combined with fusible needled fleece, such as Pellon Thermolam Plus over top, this may not provide as much firmness and shape to your bag.)
•0.5 Yd. (0.5 m) light fusible interfacing for zipper pocket
•1.5” x 1.5” (38 mm x 38 mm) scrap fusible Peltex or heavy stabilizer or interfacing

The Spring Sling Hardware Kit is available with 3 different lock choices!

Bag Hardware, Notions & Tools:
•(1) 12” (30 cm) or longer zipper (Nylon, closed end)
•(1) “Spring Sling Hardware Kit” or
  - (1) Small turn lock (purse lock)
  - (1) 1” (25 mm) adjustable strap slider
  - (2) 1” (25 mm) rectangular rings
  - (2) 1” (25 mm) or larger oval grommets
•Zipper foot for sewing machine
•Erasable marking pen
•Coordinating thread for quilting
•Neutral thread for piecing
•Clear drying instant adhesive glue for fabrics, crafts & metals, such as Beacon 3-in-1
•Rotary cutter, mat, and rulers, 1 with a clear 45 degree line
•Sewing machine walking foot for quilting


 

A few months ago (or more), I started a very, very easy strip quilt and I finally finished quilting and binding it during "Selfish Sewing Week".


This is just so basic, but the fabrics and colours in the "Simply Style" collection, designed by V & Co. for Moda, just make me so happy when I look at them... I really wanted to just let them be the focus. Plus, I wanted a quick finish ;).

Strips sewn together before quilting.

I just stitched the whole jelly roll together as it came off of the roll, but I did have to pull out a couple of the blues as there were just too many of those.


The end result is a very, very long lap quilt and the proportions are kind of odd.  My husband did wonder why it was so skinny, but I showed him how we, with our little boy in the middle, could all sit on the couch and read and all be covered, so then he decided it wasn't too bad!


It's a good couch quilt for us, however all of those bright colours don't really go with my teal and yellow accent colours right now so when I "throw" it for the day, I show the back side of it and not the front. I like the back side too!


Although... let me ask you this:  How long can you quilt with the wrong colour of thread in your bobbin before you notice?  I can use almost a whole bobbin before I find that I have a dark, dark (almost black) green thread in my bobbin case, when I am supposed to have cream.  Ya, I'm pretty good.  I didn't feel like ripping it out, so I just refilled the bobbin with the same colour and kept on going.  I was HUGELY disappointed, but I've gotten used to that terrible quilting on the back now and pretend that it's supposed to be like that. Ya, I meant to do that....

The backside, quilted with dark thread. BOOOO!

Thank you for reading!!
 

It's done.... and I love it!

Click to Enlarge

It's a bit small for the space, but I love it and I just love seeing this greet me when I come in the door.


Laney waiting for her boy to come home from school.

ABOUT THIS QUILT:

Thanks for looking!

Pat Bravo and I

Sewing Summit 2013 - Sept 18-21
Salt Lake City, Utah

Let me start by saying:  I like fabric, people, buildings, food, flowers, colours, and shopping, but more than all of those, I like to take PICTURES!  I've narrowed my pictures from my weekend down to a select few to share here. They are not fantastic pictures, they are just pictures that bring back some great memories for me. I want to show you my weekend in a nutshell... so there will be less text here... and more pictures.

If you would like to make a modern quilt that is quick and VERY easy to put together, this is a great one to try. I've made this quilt with a quick cutting and sewing method using fat quarters and instructions from this tutorial by Lindsay at Craft Buds.  Hop over to the tutorial as see how easy it is, you will make 8 blocks at a time!

I was first inspired by this picture of a Diamond Ripples quilt block done by Hadley at Flying Blind On A Rocket Cycle.  This was just one quilting bee block, and the large finished quilt is just stunning.  You can see it HERE.

Source: Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle

I LOVE the grey, pink and orange together and was looking for something similar, but when I saw Comma From Zen Chic for Moda, and that it matched well with the wedding invites, I knew I would have to be working with these gorgeous greys and golds.  BUT... I wanted my pattern to be on a much, much larger scale, so Lindsay's tutorial was perfect!

Fabric Requirements:

16 Fat quarters (18" x 22") (8 in grey or dark print and 8 in gold or light print)
3 1/2 yards of coordinating backing fabric
3/4 yard binding fabric
Twin size batting (at least 58" x 73")
Coordinating quilting thread

Instructions:

- This quilt is made from 63 - 8" Half Square Triangles (HSTs) that are laid out in a 7 x 9 grid.

- Using Lindsay's method, with 8 dark and 8 light fat quarters, you will make 64 HSTs, leaving one extra HST that you will throw in your scrap bag and find next year.

- START by going to the tutorial and begin under the 3rd photo with the instructions that read "Spread out and stack two of your fat quarters, and trim to an 18″ x 18″ square ".  I go ahead and pair one light FQ and one dark FQ together, right sides together at this step and then continue on with the instructions until you have sewn and cut all 8 of your pairs of FQ's and trimmed the HSTs down to 8". (To make it even faster, you could cut 4 or 6 layers at a time.) You should have 64 HSTs when you are done. Be sure to leave Lindsay a nice comment about her awesome tutorial!  Thank you!

- NOW lay out your HSTs in 7 x 9 grid that looks like this:




- With right sides together, pin blocks in each row on one side, use a 1/4" seam allowance and stitch the blocks together in each row.  Press seams open (Alternatively, press all seams to one direction in one row (right) and one direction in row below (left) and continue alternating left and right until all 9 rows are done.)


- With right sides together, pin rows together, sew with a 1/4" seam allowance, and press seams open.



- Prepare your backing fabric by cutting it into two large sections, and sewing it together with a seam across the width (horizontal).  Press seam open.  Your backing will be approximately 63" x 88".

- Baste your top, batting and backing together as desired.  I like to use spray basting.  This is a great tutorial for spray basting.

- Quilt as desired.  I have quilted with gold thread in the gold fabric and grey thread in the grey fabric, using a straight line quilting method, following the diamond pattern in the quilt. To do this, I started with the centre grey diamond, quilting in the ditch, and then continuing on to quilt all the grey areas of fabric, and then the yellow.  I quilted approximately 5/8" (I think!) apart using a quilting bar attached to my machine to measure. However, I would recommend you measure the width of your coloured stripes and divide it into equal parts to determine how far you want apart your lines. As recommended by my local quilt shop, this time I used a top-stitching needle with my integrated walking foot and it worked like a dream.  



- Bind using your favourite method.  I did machine binding, using this method from Red Pepper Quilts and it worked fantastic for me. The only thing I do differently is attach my binding on the BACK of the quilt in stead of the front in the very beginning so that it folds over to the front when I am machine sewing it down.  I machine sew it down on the front instead, and yes you will see all the stitching on the front of the binding, but I feel it gives me better control of how the front of the quilt will turn out.  If I do it the "proper" way, I am sewing on the front side and it looks pretty, but sometimes when I flip it over I see that I have missed the binding edge and it makes me grumpy.  You can decide on your favourite way, her tutorials are so amazing and helpful.

I hope you make one of these for yourself or someone else.  They make a great gift, and are just the right size for two to cuddle under on the couch!









 

Woohoo!  Finally got some sewing done last weekend.  I finished up the June, July and August foundation paper pieced quilt blocks that I'm doing in the Lucky Stars BOM hosted by Don't Call Me Betsy.  I think this quilt is really starting to come together, but it's getting increasingly hard for me to pick fabrics from my selected stash that have enough contrast between lights and darks.  I'm finding a lot of my fabrics fall into the medium (warm) level when it comes to colour values.

Here are the blocks, I particularly LOVE July, but June and August didn't turn out how I had envisioned.  But.. I don't think they are horrible.  They will go with the rest of the blocks even though I don't think they look good individually.  You can see the rest of the blocks HERE in the flickr set on my photostream.

June Block - Sunlight Star

July Block - Dulcet Star

August Block - Pinwheel Star

AUGUST SPECIAL:
"Double Happiness" Zipper charms!  Right now I have a special going on my website where you get a free gift if you purchase over $15.00 worth of bag hardware/purse supplies.  (This does not include sewing pattern purchases and this promotion is only available while supplies last.)  Get yourself a double happiness zipper pull, they are cute!



What else have I been doing?  We have a new puppy named Laney.  She is a mixed collie/lab/terrier (possibly), 6 months old, and we adopted her from the Second Chance Animal Rescue Society that operates here in Alberta. She's a lovely companion for our 8 year old son. We love her, but my flower beds have lovely new holes in them, so that keeps me busy.  When I'm not filling holes, I'm PLANNING the next time I can get some bag making and tutorials done.  Summer is so short here in Canada, so I guess I'm making the most of it too!

Thank you for reading! I would love to hear what you've been up to.

Laney, 6 months old.

 

How do you feel about asymmetrical quilts? I have to admit (shamelessly) that I am LOVING this gold and grey, very asymmetrical quilt, I made for a wedding gift. I've been waiting a couple of weeks to show it to you, but now the wedding has been enjoyed and the gift has been given, so bring on the quilt photos.  UPDATE:  Find the instructions to this quilt HERE!!

I'm not sure exactly what to call this quilt.  It's a diamond quilt, it's a very easy HST (half square triangle) quilt, it's a modern quilt made with the Comma fabric collection by Zen Chic for Moda, and most importantly..... it's a wedding quilt for Krystle and Rhys. This quilt is not just from me though, my mom, sister & daughters also all contributed to the fabric and supplies, and it was a gift from all of us to K & R!


Why is it a wedding quilt? To me, even though this quilt is not a wedding ring or double wedding ring quilt, it's still a wedding quilt. I was playing with the grey and gold HST's on my computer prior to any cutting or stitching and a center diamond started forming and repeating and no matter how differently I manipulated the HSTs, they kept getting changed back to this pattern. I always knew I was going to use the golds and greys from this brilliant fabric collection, I just knew. Ideas and thoughts kept fleeting and blinking in my mind about Krystle (the bride) and her family. My family has known theirs for a few generations now. Our family farm was near theirs. Krystle's Aunts used to babysit me when I was little, and my sister and I babysat Krystle and her sisters when we were teenagers, and in turn Krystle and her sisters babysat my daughters. Krystle has very loving parents, a close family and a wonderful circle of friends from her community and beyond. Krystle's ties to family and friends are strong and this quilt just illustrates this for me. How? I will tell you how the best I can, but it's not just visual, but also a feeling I get when I look at it.

To me the bride and groom, along with their immediate families, come together in the smallest gold diamond. Rippling out from the centre is an unbroken circle of gold that represents their closest friends and family.  Out from that, more circles that represent their extended families and friends.  Some of these circles are broken and some are closer than others, such as it is in life. The rings or bonds are still there, just unseen sometimes.

Click to Enlarge!

Another thing I see and feel in this quilt is sunshine and farming. The rows in a wheat field, the gold colour of straw, the yellow sunshine of summer, and the repeating pattern of crops. These are hard working, sun loving, farm people.

Click to enlarge!

Without all of this inspiration, if it was just fabric stitched together randomly, I would still love this warm quilt for a wedding quilt because it's just the perfect size for a couple to cuddle under on the couch after a long winters day.

Click to enlarge!

After I saw the yellow and orange wedding invites, I just knew the quilt was going to be perfect. Here is a picture of my table at the wedding. Gorgeous flowers in mason jars, arranged in a wildflower bouquet with class! Burlap, chalkboards, and candles. Best of all, little jars of honey from their family farm with cute little labels.  This is a picture of my clutch (there will be another post about this craft fail/resurrection at a later date).


If you would like to read more about this quilt, the block that inspired it, the fabric requirements, and how to sew HSTs, please watch the blog because I'll be putting that together for you.  UPDATE:  Find the instructions to this quilt HERE!! 

Before quilting.

The quilting process.

Lovely lines...

The back.

I hope you like it.  I think I'll make another...



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