I think the only thing worse to me than having to go shopping for a new handbag is when the bra style you've worn for 20 years gets discontinued. So... when baby sister gave me a new handbag for my birthday, I was excited. Going from a tote style handbag with six interior pockets and an exterior pocket... I needed to ponder on how I was going to organize stuff so it wouldn't be in one big jumble at the bottom.
I used batiks left over from other quilty projects but had to purchase a purple zipper to go with it. Could have used another color but hey! I like purple!
I weeded through everything in my tote since I won't need as much stuff as I did when I was working. That will lighten the weight of what I need to carry everyday.
The zipper pouch (made from a tutorial by Noodlehead (link) that I used in past), the hardest part was figuring out how to shape a pocket to hold my inhaler. The pouch is approximately 4.5" tall, 10" across at the top, and 3" deep at the bottom.
Since every store requires a "store card" to get sale prices these days, I hand-stitched a hook thingie to the seam on one side. This way, I don't have to do a major search for those all the time.
I'm sure I'll need to shuffle stuff around as I become adjusted to a new handbag. But ain't it cute??? Just 'cause I'm old, don't mean I am an old fuddy-duddy!
Making the mini blocks is just enough to keep me happy as I continue to work on projects around the house. I may have gotten a bit too interested in making the mini blocks to the detriment of other projects. And, while sorting fabrics mini-blocks around, ended up with one "lost."
I had to go back through several piles of sorted fabrics to locate it eventually but not before I made a second one because I thought it was lost forever. I also goofed up with a broken dishes block where I didn't pay close enough attention to the placement of the half-square triangles and ended up with another pinwheel block. But that's okay because I am NOT cutting 180 - 1 1/8th" squares and making five 6-patch blocks(link). Not happening!
I want to end up with 16 mini blocks and, after going thru all the historic/1800s fabrics... I will use what I have on hand rather than shopping for sashing fabric. I am making progress on emptying the two tables but it's slow... everything has to be sorted and put away in an organized manner so I can find it again. This table was piled at least a foot high with fabrics, batting, sewing stuff, etc. that needed sorting.... hope to get it finished this weekend.
I also finished the hat for a friend in Texas who has just finished with chemo but still has radiation therapy going on. I liked how the flower and leaves turned out... that's one pattern I will definitely use again!
I have been industrious and can now see the tops of both tables that were piled with miscellaneous sewing-related stuff that needed to be organized and put away. Amazing how much stuff one accumulates... I won't ever need to buy fabric again... *lol*
The blocks are 4" square and this mini-piecing requires a lot of squaring up be done. I supposed the half-square triangles that finish at 1" would really be too small to do without squaring up and cutting down. It was an adventure to be sure.
I took two photos... one with flash and one without. It's gray and the light is poor since has been raining here this afternoon... while we all keep watch on H. Irma. (I'm located about where the "m" in "storm" on the 2nd line of the note at the top.)
Blogging friends are the best... especially when they suggest QALs that you may enjoy. Earlier in the summer, Janet O. of Rogue Quilter(link)told me about the Temecula Quilt Company's Marvelous Mini Monday QAL(link). The QAL ran for 12 weeks for 12 mini quilt blocks and looked irresistibly charming.
I've become somewhat overwhelmed with all the projects that need doing, including organizing all the stuff from my sewing room and getting it back in there so I can find everything. So today, I decided to use the mini blocks as a reinforcer for clearing the dining room table and a folding table of sewing/quilting stuff and getting it back into the sewing room.
I have 2 small baskets of scrap 1800s fabrics from two other quilts so I don't have to purchase anything. The blocks will go together to make a small table topper... hopefully, the "sew a mini block" incentive will help keep me on track with the swing room organizing. Wish me luck!
The setup with the ironing pad on top of a shelf (see in background) wasn't working well for pressing rows of blocks so I realized that I would have to get my ironing board out more frequently than I hoped. So, I decided to make one of the little ironing tables that I've seen on-line, made from a wooden TV table.
I picked up the wood TV tray at Bed, Bath & Beyond using a 20% off coupon so it was reasonable... less than $15 inc tax. Having read a number of blog posts on this project, I chose the "TV Tray Pressing Table (link)," one of Elizabeth Hartman's projects. I liked that the table is holding up well after three years of use.
The hardest part of the project was getting the plastic shrink wrap off the table because the table top was wrapped before the strips were screwed down... so the plastic ran underneath the wood strips. (I used a very old seam ripper to cut close to the wood strips... and it worked pretty well... however, I couldn't get all the wrapping but... who's going to see it???)
Despite having several pieces of home dec-weight fabrics to chose from, I went with plain duck/canvas to keep it simple in this small, visually-busy room. There are four layers of Warm & Natural/White batting underneath the canvas. Ms Hartman did not recommend using Insul-Bright for this project and so I didn't... although others have posted about using it.
The 3/4" thick, solid wood table top required me to lean on the stapler while stapling. I also had to use a hammer to finish sinking the staples into the wood.
Although some bloggers had their hubbies staple the fabric to the table using those fancy air gun stapler things, I had no problem using the heavy duty Dritz staple gun that I purchased at Michael's (with a 40% off coupon).
After trimming excess fabric on the bottom, I steam-ironed the canvas on top, which got out faint fold marks. Now I'm ready to go.
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In other news, two friends are going through chemo and I am working on crochet cloche hats using cotton yarn for them... the cotton yarn is so soft and smooth. One cloche went out in the mail last week and the second is almost finished.
I added a lime green crochet "ribbon" to go around the hat and under the button after I took this photo to add a little more color... lime green is one of the swirls on the button. These days, I have more projects than time even though I'm retired. Who'd a-thunk it?
