Teachers Bag

At our Rotary Cutters Quilting Group meetings of May and June, all except one of our members stitched Teachers Bags.  I am not sure where the name originated from, but that is what these bags are locally referred to.  Elsa, who won first prize at Bloemshow 2023 with her bag, told us all the tips and tricks she used for her show piece.  From first drawing the template for the bag by measuring the plastic file organizer which are used as an insert, to hiding the zips ends as well as the side pockets and various other practical advice.

I rummaged in my drawers for fabric and found this pastel-colored floral piece which I paired with tie dye fabric bought earlier this year from Curtain Dream.  Locally the same fabric is sold at almost double the price, so I will definitely support them again in the future.  

On the side pockets I embroidered designs from the Flower Market Set 2 by Hatched in Africa which I bought earlier this year when Secrets of Embroidery held their Gold, Silver and Diamond sale.  It is like an online shopping mall where various designers sell their artwork.  During this sale design sets which normally sell for $35 or more are marked down to $1 - for sure a sale one shouldn't miss out on.

                                        I think these designs compliment the fabric excellent. 

 

The file organizer looks like this

and here it is in inserted inside the bag

with the bag fully opened.

Closed the bag looks like this.

To help keep the loose flaps on top in place, Elsa gave us the advice to add some weight to it which I did by adding blue and pink satin ribbon with these beautiful large beads.  I also add the same beads with a tassel to the side pocket's zips and some small blue and turquois flower buttons to the top of the straps.

Elsa's bag

Frances's bag

Rika's bag

2023 is turning out to be a very fruitful year for our group with 3 projects already done and a new project starting with our next meeting on the 11th of July.

Simply Chic Carry All Number 6

After gifting a friend of mine one of these bags, she promptly ordered another one for her knitting and crochet supplies.  I rummaged through my drawers and found a beautiful and colorful Da Gama fabric to use for the outside of the bag. Went to the shops to buy coordinating fabrics as well as all the other supplies needed and started cutting and labelling the 57 pieces of fabric, corlene, batting and vinyl needed to stitch a bag.

Preparation included ironing the corlene to the various pieces of lining, quilting the outside panels of the bag and making bias binding.

I always use a serpentine stitch with a double needle to do the quilting with a variegated thread.

After finishing off the outside of the bag with an outer pouch and ribbon loops for attaching the handles,

it was time to move on to the inside and stitch both pockets.

The next step is to make the gusset and add the back and front panels as well as both inside pockets to the gusset and with that the main part of the bag is complete.

Here the bag is opened up and below when zipped up.

The last item to stitch, was the bag insert which attach to the Velcro inside the main bag.

With the main fabric being so colorful, I bought a whole rainbow of zips which might be a drawback as it means multiple thread changes.

I just loved stitching this bag as nothing is really difficult to construct although it looks complex.  I must also complement our local Pfaff/Husqvarna dealer whose instructions are still clear to follow even 13 years after stitching the original bags - this post refers.

Log cabin bag

 I bought the kit for this bag way back in 2017 and finally made the time to stitch it.

I just love the fabric, pumpkins and sunflowers, and adorned the bag with likewise buttons.

I used some of the 1 000 decorative stitches on my Brother Innovis instead of stitch in the ditch to quilt the bag.

The beautiful fabric.

This bag will come in quite handy when travelling.

Ironing mat / carry bag

During August's group meeting of our quilting group, we made a carry bag for our iron which, when opened up, convert into an ironing mat, perfect for going to classes, retreats etc.

The bag

My cute little travel iron

Snug as a bug inside the carry bag.

And opened up

The inside

and the outside.

Above is a photo of my different irons depicting just how small the traveling iron is.

I decorated my bag with some buttons of which I have loads.  Below are my containers containing all my embellishments, the top one for beads, buttons etc. the next one lace, ribbon etc. and the bottom big one packed with fat quarters.

I do not have a big stash of fabrics as I usually only buy fabric per project.

This was a very satisfying project as I only had to add the binding and buttons after our group meeting.  Not another UFO in the making.  

Now on to making some teddy bears for our guild's end of the year outreach.

Crazy quilt handbag

It feels like ages since I last did any embroidering or quilting as I only worked day and night for the past 2 months or so.  Workwise I left the company in England and returned to my previous employer on a 6 month contract basis to finish the only contract they have at the moment.  The company in England kept in contact and so I decided to return to them at the middle of April as I can't get any work locally.  That left me with unfinished business which I had to finish up after normal business hours leaving me with no down time at all.

Luckily it is almost done so this week I could start playing around again although my machine broke down after only 2 nights of embroidery and had to spend some time in the workshop getting fixed.  Hopefully all the problems brought about by sub standard work done by the local dealer are now fixed.

One of the crazy quilt handbags I wrote about in  this post was finished and gifted to a dear friend of mine for her birthday. 

After stitching all the pieces together, this is what the front of the two bags looked like.

Then it was time to complete one of them and I started with the red one.  It was a huge task with lots of stitching and quilting every piece as I go.  But the end product was a huge success and truly beautiful.

On the the back I added an extra zipped outer bag which I decorated with satin ribbon and a few other bits and pieces. 

The completed front.

                                               Below is a close-ups of the front and back.

I still have to finish up the black one, but is at the moment trying to catch up on the heart quilt where I am 3 months behind.  Time just slips away with 2021 almost halfway.

We are truly blessed not contracting the Covid virus going around although it is coming ever closer with friends and acquaintances coming down with it.  We are still deciding about the vaccine and needs your prayers in this regard as to what we should do. May you all be blessed with good health.

The designs for these bags can be bought here.

Crazy Quilt handbags

I've been embroidering on these a few weeks. At this stage it is just puzzle pieces which will be stitched together to form 2 handbags, one in red tones and the other one in black and grey.  Although I love BFC creations designs, these ones haven't grown on me yet.  The crazy quilting part is fine, but the embroidery done on the various pieces is not up to their usual standard.  If I had known this beforehand, I would have added other designs.  But, the final product might surprise me when it's done.  

Birthday presents

This year I am making sewing pouches for all the quilting friends for birthday presents.  The whole bag is stitched in the hoop on the embroidery machine.

The design is from Smartneedle and can be found here.

Prizes won

This year I entered 8 items at the Bloem Show of which 4 won prizes.  I also won a trophy for the most items entered by a quilter.

4th prize

4th prize

The bag below was awarded a 3rd prize

and the block a day quilt got a 2nd place.

And this is the beautiful Christa Gouws trophy for the most items entered.