Pink Saturday at the Quiltery

Once again I am hooking up with  Beverly’s Pink Saturday.  All week long I have been thinking about what pink I wanted to post so here it is...fabric from my favorite quilting shop. Everyone taking part in this meme is asked to visit the blog of someone on the list has never visited before.  I chose Betty at She’s Sew Pretty. Her blog is whimsical and fun to read.  Pay her a visit.  I know you will have a great time.

Since school started I have not had the time to quilt, and now I am finding that I’m going through some serious withdrawal.  Yesterday was the turning point...I just couln’t stand it any longer.  On my way home from work, I stopped at our precious little quilting shop called “The Quiltery.”  It is manned by  the sweetest lady, Maureen, and the members of the quilting guild take turns helping her out. Going in there is so therapeutic after a day with the kids no one wants in their classes because they are so disruptive.  It is quiet, happy, small, and cozy, and I am surrounded by color, texture, and beautiful quilts and other quilted items on the walls. Yesterday I left with a bag filled with Halloween fabrics and a magazine entitled Quilting Arts Gifts. It was so filled with wonderful ideas I  had to return today for MORE fabric....NOT GOOD for the old pocket book!  After that I headed to our local wine shop to look for cigar boxes.  For a donation to the SPCA which I was more than me happy to make, I went home with 3 beautiful boxes in perfect condition. I’ve gotta have the cigar boxes for Debbie’s box swap though you do have the choice of using a jar.  If you are interested in participating, here is the link to her page and all of the information:

  Cozy Blanket...http://cozyblanket.blogspot.com/2010/09/some-fall-decorating-and-christmas.html. 

The fabrics on the right are just miscelaneous ones Maureen had on her shelves, but the ones on the left are mostly Amy Butler ones...some of my favorites.

As always, I hope all of you have a happy Pink Saturday and a wonderful and relaxing weekend.

Furoshiki Bag for the Beach

Yesterday while I was reading through the blogs I follow, I came upon a tutorial at annekata’s blog for this great little carry-all picnic or beach bag.  It is a quick, easy to make, super last minute gift. Because it was such horribly hot weather today, I needed something to keep me busy inside besides reading “Eat, Pray, Love”.  After looking at the tutorial, I decided to hit my quilting scraps and see if I could come up with enough of a single fabric to pull one off for a trial pattern.  The fabric I found was only a 36” square, not as large as the tutorial called for, but I went with it anyway.  The pony tail thingies were pink ones little Eloise left here over the weekend so I used them.  I did hand hem the square simply because I am so old I love and prefer hemming by hand! Mine is pretty crude compared to the one on the blog, but now I am ready to go to the quilting shop, pick out some really attractive fabric, have it be 43” square or so, and I will embroider the edges after I hand hem them. When you are 71, it is always a good idea to do a dry run practice piece before you sit down to make it out of good material as a gift. I am going to make one for my daughter and each of my two daughter-in-laws to use when we all meet at the beach for our family reunion in August. Give it a try....you will not be disappointed.

I hand hemmed my square, spread it out, and placed in the center my beach towel, book, and sunscreen.

                   I rolled it on the diagonal until the “V” at the end was on the top.

Here I pulled the two side tails taut and placed the ponytail thingies around each one.

Next I tied the two side tails together in a knot.

My completed Furoshiki Over-the-Shoulder Beach Bag!

Update....Friday.....I just got back from the quilting shop with 3 pieces of BEAUTIFUL Amy Butler fabric to make the Furoshiki bags.  I have already started on the blue and green one and am in the process of embroidering the hem. Here are the fabrics.

A Special Wrapping for the" I want One of Everything Bag"

This bag is a special present for a very person very precious to me so I wanted to do something different with the wrapping.  After a lot of thought, I came up with the idea of using color coordinated tissue paper with ties made from the fabric used in the purse.  I used pinking sheers for the hearts and ripped the ties like I did the straps. The results put a smile on my face. I’m not a very good photographer, but here are the results. Should you want to see some clever and attractive ways to use fabric in gifts, so the the Amy Butler main page, scroll down to the Free Patterns choice, and click.  It was her fabrics I used in making the bag.

I Want One of Everything Bag

Last summer my daughter introduced me to the Amy Butler line of fabrics which our local quilting shop, The Quiltery, just happens to carry. Her prints are so bright and vivid I am drawn back to them every visit I made to the little store. Last week, while looking through Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner, I became fascinated with her “I Want One of Everything Bag” pattern. Everything about the pattern shouted out, “You’ve got to make me out of some of that Amy Butler fabric.  So back to The Quiltery I went and bought a 1/4 yard of 12 of her gorgeous prints.  Working out the placement was a tad bit tedious, but the fan shaped front and back became a real eye opener when the pieces were laid out side by side.  Today I basted all of the little sections one to the other and then stitched them and pressed open the seams. My next step will be to create the lining, but that will have to wait for another day. Fun, Fun, Fun!