I found another great use for the iPod Touch. I found the best way to keep track of my sewing stitches and the adjustments I make to the stitches on my new Janome 6600 is to take a close-up picture of the foot used and then type notes on the photo.
Putting this in the IPod Touch saves on ink and paper as I don’t have to print it out. I bring my iPod Touch into my sewing room a lot.
Sherry had asked -- how did I add that extra outer zipper?
My purse consists of 3 sections –-
1) The Front, which continues up and over the top to the back for an inch. I created it that way so that I could take advantage of an uninterrupted design area for the front.
2) A 1-1/2” section between the upper and lower zippers.
3) A section which is below the lower zipper.
The section below the lower zipper (lined) is sewn to the bottom half of the lower zipper and it becomes the frontside of the outside pocket.
The backside (inside) of the lower zippered pocket is a piece of the lining which is sewn to the top half of the lower zipper.
The lining of the purse consists of 2 sections --
1) Back lining sewn to bottom half of top zipper (which also covers up the area of the lower zipper).
2) Front lining sewn to top half of top zipper.
After sections and lining of purse are sewn together and while it is still flat, the purse template is laid on top and cut around (See previous blog entry). After purse is cut out, I then stitch around the purse’s lower pocket at sides and bottom (defining pocket) to give the pocket sides and a bottom. If you don’t stitch around, defining the sides and bottom, stuff in pocket would move to parts of purse you don’t want stuff to move to.
When you look inside the finished purse, you do not see any sign of the lower zipper.
Hope this helps you Sherry (and others) to figure out how to make that lower zippered pocket. I think I initially figured out how to do it by looking at something that had that kind of construction. You can learn a lot about the construction of an item by looking inside or turning it wrong side out.
Here’s the pieces of my new purse all constructed and cut out and ready to be sewn together.
And here’s the backside, showing the zippers --
I used to carry a big purse. One day I decided it was a nutty thing to do. The bigger the purse, the more junk you haul around. Now, that would make sense if you used half the stuff, but I found out I wasn’t. The first thing I downsized was my wallet. Went from a big leather thing with pictures in it and all kinds of stuff. Got a small wallet which carries coins and paper money and IDs.
One day, I laid out all the stuff from my big purse and only put back into it the very barest of essentials. I figured if I found I needed more stuff in the big purse, I could always put it in. What I found myself doing was eliminating more stuff from the big purse!
Went shopping for a smaller purse and at the time, couldn’t find anything I liked. So, went online and searched. I found wristlets and then the cosmetic bag instructions which I found suited my needs.
My small purse goes on my shoulder and lays under my arm, very close. They say that is the safe way to carry your purse – on a short strap, close to your body.
Besides what I normally carry in the purse, there is still room in it for my iPod Touch and earbuds and a cellphone. I’m one of those few people who does not always carry a cellphone! LOL If I ever need to carry stuff that doesn’t fit in my small purse, I then throw the small purse into a tote bag along with my camera and other odd assorted things.
WIP = Work In Progess, UFO = UnFinished Object
Here’s the front section of a small purse (for me), WIP:
What I found works good for purses is a 3-layer combo of fabric, 80- cotton/20-poly batting and non-fusible interfacing. The interfacing gives it some body.
I made the PaperPieced scene from the EQ CD “Town & Country Patchwork” by Cori Derksen & Myra Harder. I got inspired by those very same trees on that CD to make the Christmas Shopping Bag that I designed last winter.
I’m the type of quilter who likes to have several projects going all the time. So, I have a pile(s) of WIPs which turn into UFOs at some time or another and then back to being WIPS again. Right now, my UFOs outnumber WIPs! But, I do finish projects. Eventually.
Do you have more UFOs than WIPS?
You know, I’ve heard of quilters who start a project and stick with it until it’s complete! They never have UFOs. I’ve never actually met someone like that … just heard about them. Do those quilters really exist? Or did someone make that up to make the rest of us feel guilty!
Now, to go and see if I have enuf of the lighter green fabric to make either version! If I don’t, I will have to have another plan.
The setting triangles on the FS present an upcoming decision – what do I want to quilt there? It’s a pretty big area. Flowers? Leaves on a vine? Geometric? Abstract? I’m sure the quilt will talk to me as I work on it. It happens every time! The quilt seems to know what it wants.
As eyes get older, they require all kinds help. Like eyeglasses, good lighting, magnifying glasses and needle threaders! While doing some handsewing the other day, I realized how I’ve come to really appreciate the Clover Needle Threader. It is such a simple, magical tool that works every time.
Insert needle eye down. Lay thread in the slot. Push button. Needle threaded! Works every time.
When my 9 year old grandson was over one day, the Needle Threader was out and he asked what it was. Told him it was a needle threader and told him what to do and he threaded a needle and got that wonderful look on his face that meant he was impressed. And he wanted to do it again. And he wanted his mom to do it! Takes a lot to impress these 9 year old tech-savvy kids these days … yahoo for the Clover Needle Threader!
Wow! I’m happy with this block. There are over 200 pieces in it. And lots of match points!
It is a PaperPieced block and is from Sue Garman’s 2009 Block of the Month quilt from thequiltshow.com It is the center of the quilt. I did not want to commit to the whole quilt, but I sure liked this Feathered Star. I also made a block from Sue G’s 2008 Block of the Month quilt. It was appliqué. Made it into a one-block wallhanging.
Now to go into EQ6 and see what kind of layout I can come up with for this wonderful Feathered Star. I want to make a wallhanging and I know where I want to hang it, so I also know approximately what size WH I will be needing.
Now to go and have some fun playing in EQ6!
And if you want to make some super-easy-to-construct Shopping Bags that are good give-aways, here’s a link to my bloggin’ buddy Sunnie’s http://patchworkpie.blogspot.com/2009/08/fabric-bags-e-z-way.html tutorial.
The AOL Quilting Community had a nice newsletter back when the AOL Quilting Community was up and running on America Online. Now, some volunteers have gotten together and have brought it back as a monthly newsletter.
It has computer tips, quilting help, stories, quilt projects, links and other interesting stuff. Here’s the link to go and join up -http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ninepatchnews/join After joining, you will get the newsletter in your emailbox every month.
DH & I were pleasantly surprised to see Joan Rivers’ new TV show on the TVLand channel last night How’d You Get So Rich? It was very entertaining. The premise of the show is how many times have you driven by a beautiful (expensive) home & wondered what the owners did for a living to afford such a place.
Very close to our heart was the first segment about the inventor of Billy Bob Teeth. Yes, he made millions. DH bought a pair of those teeth many years ago and he enjoyed amusing the little grandchildren with those teeth.
One of our grandsons was so impressed with the teeth that he saved up his weekly allowance & bought his own pair of Billy Bob Teeth. When he had his school pic taken that year, he persuaded the photographer to take a second pic of him with his Billy Bob Teeth.
Life is being very ordinary, lately. I should be very happy about that -considering I’ve had a lot of very unordinary things happen in my life. Kept thinking that I’d blog when I had something interesting to blog about. Well, instead of never blogging again (cuz nothing interesting was happening) I think I should start blogging about my very ordinary life.
In my ordinary life, like a lot of you, I am interested in all different manner of this and that. Today I found Zentangles.
I don't know if you are aware of Zentangles. Robbie has some examples on her blog --
http://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/2009/06/zentangle-time.html
Be sure and check out Robbie’s “wolves” -- her thread painting is awesome --
http://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/2009/08/art-of-nature-quilt-pictures.html
She suggests to do a search on youtube for Zentangle. I did and was most fascinated by
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Nlz4XMxcs -- how to do a Zentangle Mandala.
There are other Zentangle videos that I want to view.
I doodle when I am on the phone. Usually on the newspaper that is on the table. Or on a scratch pad. DH can usually determine how long I've been on the phone by the amount of doodle on paper!
This would be good practice for free motion quilting. I have heard to draw, or doodle, on paper, the design that you are going to be FMQing in order to get into the Zen. I guess Zentangles would get you into a Zen.