{Post 1,551} New I Spy

I am going to teach a friend to piece quilts. We were supposed to get together yesterday. She has never sewn. 

One of my girls gave me back a sewing machine I had bought for her, so I am giving it to my young friend (early 20's). She has a nearly 2-year-old and is pregnant with a second child. She has had rough morning sickness, so I did not get to go. 

While I was looking through my I Spy prints to taken them with me (I'm letting her pull from my stash), I found that I had a large stack of 3-1/2" squares. Usually I use 4-1/2" squares. I found myself thinking, "There are a LOT of these! I wonder if I could make a quilt top from just this size?" I pulled 144 of them, and this center was pieced this AM. I debated about framing each 4-patch, but I ended up just joining them right next to each other. I laid them out in a color wash, dark upper right corner down to light lower left. I will add a border or two and call it finished.

The picture is just the squares laid out, but the top center is pieced. I have my 3-year-old grandson this weekend. He is napping right now, but once he is up, I am all his. He got a haircut on his way over. Cute as can be!

{Post 1,550} I Spy Quilted

I taught a woman in my church to quilt. She has made many things already. Once I showed her an I Spy quilt, she jumped right in and planned three! Here is her first one. I like how there are "solid" colors going one way and novelty prints the other. I quilted it with white thread with loops. It measures about 38" square.

{Post 1,549} Box Bag, Take Two!

Since I changed phones, my phone charger is larger than before. I have a small travel bag I used to put my phone and iPad chargers in (two different ones). Same story as the toiletries bag...it was slightly too small. It was done in a piece of fabric I covered with selvages, so I went to work making a charger bag before I forgot how to sew them!

Here is my little charger storage bag. It is 4-1/2" long, 3" tall, and 3-1/4" wide.

{Post 1,548} Box Bag

My husband and I just did a two-day trip to Virginia. Our daughter is touring with a music/drama team this summer. That is the closest she would be for the rest of the tour. It was a delightful trip. Every time I pack up for somewhere, I think to myself that I sure could use a slightly bigger toiletries bag. I was exhausted yesterday. But I did finish this little gem. I looked at some boxed bags on Pinterest, and came up with this. It is 9" long, 4-1/2" wide and 4-1/2" tall.

I used one of my favorite Thimbleberries prints for the outside. The accent stripes and hexagons are made from the lining fabric. I thought they added some nice detail. I used fusible batting. I like the way it turned out! The accent strips were not supposed to meet at the top. I just sewed them down on opposite corners of my flat piece before construction of the bag.

True confessions...I had the zipper completely sewn in and then realized I had put it in upside down. The pull was on the lining side. I just cut off the stopper on the end and flipped the pull over. Worked perfectly. That could have stopped this project in its tracks if it had not worked!

I am having a hard time finding zippers locally.  Anyone have a good online source?