Labor of love

The genealogy project tracing my husband's dad during WW2 is done.  The photo books were delivered to me on Wednesday, and I got the packages put together to mail right away to Dave's 3 siblings.  The packages might even arrive in their mailboxes today.  This was definitely a labor of love for me because I really loved my father-in-law.  He actually passed away suddenly 3 months before we got married, and ironically he was the only person who knew we had just gotten engaged.  

The photo book was put together with photos and newspaper clippings, along with info gleaned from his discharge papers and other sources.  The spiral bound book is an eBook written by a man from his unit that follows that unit from training through the end of WW2.  The dates and locations in the book matched up perfectly with the paperwork and what was written on the backs of photos.  His name appears in the book on the Embarkation roster.  

The Wine Tote & more

 The wine tote bag is done, and it did turn out nicely in spite of my struggles with it.  Basting that bottom circle before sewing it was the right move.  It's actually pretty cute.  Using a border print was a good idea, and this kit used one from a previous Minnesota Shop Hop.  

I must point out the size of this tote - which is significantly larger than a standard bottle of wine like the one sitting next to it.  It even comfortably holds a 1.5 liter bottle.  

The Blockheads 6 block for this week is Cat's Cradle by Kiley Ferons.  I whined about poor instructions for that wine tote, but must compliment this designer on her very clear set of instructions for those half rectangles.  She had great pictures - and I still cut them slightly wrong!!  Those blue corners should be meeting the red corners, but mine obviously do not.   However I'm not redoing this block because it really still looks OK.  The first 3 weeks it was suggested to make 2 blocks, but this week only 1.   So there are 7 blocks total so far. 

A bag finish

Tuesday was one of those days with lots of focused sewing time.  No laundry or genealogoy projects to cut into my day, although I did have to go get some groceries late in the day.  The sewing themed Hemmingway bag is checked off the To Do list.
 

The mini version of it is also done.  This is the 3rd set of these I've made.

The pieces are all cut for the Puff bag.  There will be 50 of those little puffy squares, 10 in each of 5 bright colors.  

To Do Tuesday

 Well, there is ONE of the circles sewn into that wine tote project.  Good thing I began with the lining because it didn't go well.  The kit instructions had you do fusible interfacing on the lining to give it structure, and batting quilted to the outer fabric.  Let me just say that the fusible interfacing makes it next to impossible to smoothly "ease" that circle into the bottom of the lining.  I plan to hand baste the bottom circle to the outer fabric because it needs to look nicer than that lining does.  

When I got frustrated with the wine tote, I switched gears to work on the Hemmingway bag because that is a fairly easy project.  The zipper is an interesting process for this bag, and really the only tricky part.  The bag body is all one piece, cut on the diagonal.  The zipper is taken apart so you only use 1 side and attach that to that diagonal seam.

The diagonal is folded around so that the zipper meets again at the edge.  And now the tricky part - getting that zipper pull back onto the teeth of the zipper.  Any little thread sticking out will cause a headache.  But both the large bag, and the mini made with the trimmed triangle are ready to finish with the binding added inside the bag.

And because I was still irritated by that wine tote, I decided to play with scraps for awhile.  Remember the orange Paint Chip block from my Saturday Post?  It was made with 2.5" squares, which I have in abundance.  But I also have a TON of 1.5" squares. 

See the cookie tins and sewing notion tins?  All full of 1.5" postage stamp squares cut from scraps over the years.  I've been using them in the Gameboard blocks to make the center 16-patch unit.  And yesterday morning I had this crazy idea (squirrel) to use some to make miniature Paint Chip blocks too.  Why not?  The tins are really getting full anyway.  

Maybe today I'll finish up that wine tote project.  Or maybe another squirrel will distract me, and I'll go off in another direction.  LOL

Design Wall Monday - June 16

 How is it already halfway through the month of June?  

My focus this week is to finish up some small projects before they turn into UFOs.  

The quilted wine tote bag is seeing progress.  The bottom of both the lining and the outside are ready to stitch.  Then the bag can be turned right side out to add the grommet handles. This particular step makes me think of easing in sleeves when I was doing a lot of garment sewing.  Didn't enjoy it then, and am dreading it now. LOL

Yesterday I layered the pieces with the batting for another Hemmingway bag, and got it quilted.  Once quilted the piece is trimmed to size, and the diagonal is cut.

The smaller piece cut off can be made into a little bag using the same process, so that piece isn't wasted.  This will be the 3rd one of these bags.

Once the wine tote and the Hemmingway bag is done, I plan to cut the pieces for another cute bag from the kit I purchased about a month ago.  The Sweet Potato Puff bag is a free pattern, and The Pin Cushion kitted up some very cute fabrics to make it.  This is a small version of those "puff" quilts that were popular back in the day.  

Of course I have some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks to make in between these projects, and a binding to finish on last year's Saturday Sampler.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog  

RSC25 - Week #24

Buckeye Beauty blocks have been adding up quickly each month, and it's time to start laying them out to get a feel for how they will be used.  To begin the layout process, I'm sewing these into 4-sies, with the colors on the inside and outside corners.  

Once I had some in 4-sies I just had to start laying them out on the floor.  There are 23 single blocks in the little stack.  The 4-sies are 16" (finished).  Once there are enough for a quilt, then I can rearrange these to balance the color placement.  In the meantime, more Buckeye Beauty blocks will be needed, but it's closer to a quilt.  

One additional pink Give It a Whirl block was added to that set this week, bringing the number to 3 each for all of this year's RSC colors so far.  I'm in love with these blocks!!

Three more of the Triple Triangles happened this week, bringing the total to 9 of these.  These are about 15 x 6".  There are still a lot of those string triangle blocks waiting to be trimmed.  And I'll continue making more through the year.  

And then the 2.5" squares basket came into play . . . with a small squirrel.  I was actually only looking for enough orange squares to make a couple more of the Hollow 9 blocks, but I had saved a photo of the Paint Chip blocks shared by Cathy at Crazy By Design blog a couple of weeks ago.  They also use 2.5" squares, so know just what I had to do.  Two orange Paint Chip blocks were born, and the aqua one just happened because there was a little stack of aqua squares all together right at the top of the basket.  

One other orange project has seen some progress this week.  This is the wine tote that I'm making from a kit given to me by my cousin.  The lining is an orange plaid.  All of the parts and pieces are quilted and trimmed to size so maybe by next week I'll have it all finished

What RSC fun is going on out there this week?
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Friday check-in

This month has been really productive, with 2 quilt tops assembled plus lots of progress on other projects - quilting and beyond.  

The first quilt top was the Riley Blake challenge using my Tula Pink stash.  Lots of white and bright in this one.  One block a week was manageable.

The second quilt top is bright and bold with lots of black to make those colors pop.  The paper pieced Circle of Friends was a BOM project. Each block is 12" finished, and I added a 2" and a 6" border to all sides.  So it isn't huge, but it's a good size (52 x 64) to snuggle under on the couch.  So 2 very different sew along type projects are at the flimsy stage.  

The background of the blocks have 2 different black prints, alternated with no sashing to separate them.  I like how those come together with that subtle difference.  

The third Moda Blockheads 6 block was posted on Wednesday.  It's called Sunday Best by Anne Sutton (Bunny Hill Designs).  This is another 9" block and was a very quick easy one to make - once I cut the pieces the correct size.  My first cut of the red and blue squares were 2.5" instead of the 2.75" size in the pattern.  That is a lesson to read the pattern more carefully before cutting.  The extra squares went into the 2.5" square bin.