Bear Rag Quilt

We had a family reunion this past weekend. Part of the reunion is an auction to make money to pay for the reunion. My sister decided that next year we would make a quilt at the reunion to sell. We discussed options and finally settled on a rag quilt. I had never made one even though several at the reunion had made them. I came home on Monday and started this quilt. I finished it Tuesday night.

I think the fabric is cute. It has a special rustic appeal.


My sister wanted to see the corners of this quilt and the binding. It is bound with a folded fabric and sewn like the rest of the quilt. The last binding is tucked in at the end and sewn with stitching to keep the corner from going ragged too. Click on the photo to see a larger view.

Create

Large Buttercup Batik Bag

This is the front of my large Buttercup bag. I increased the size 130% like Rae suggested and this is the bag I got. It is a really good size. It is the size of a medium size handbag.

The button on the bag is from my mother's button collection.

I like the way this strap turned out. The multiple stitching just really looks professional.

This is the back of the bag. Because it is Batik fabric the print is different in every part of the fabric, so you can get a different bag from a piece of fabric just by cutting out the pieces in different parts of the fabric.


The inside of the bag has three pockets. One is small for a cell phone or keys. The other two take up a whole side of the bag and are as deep as the bag.

Here is a picture showing the difference in size of the two bag.

Thank you Rae for sharing your pattern. She is at http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/2009/05/mothers-day-buttercup-bag-remix.html

Small Buttercup Batik Bag

This is my Buttercup Bag made from a Batik fabric. The pattern is from Rae. http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/2009/05/rae-goes-blahdeeblahdeeblah-about.html.

This is a closeup of the front. There are so many different ways this bag could have turned out. The secret was in where each piece was cut in the fabric. I also did a different clasp than Rae. I put a button and a loop on mine, same bag, just a different way to embellish it.

This is a small bag. There is a pocket for a cell phone and a pocket the size of sunglasses. It will also hold your wallet. If you want to hold more things than that, you need to enlarge Rae's pattern by 130% like she has suggested on her blog.

This handle is really pretty. I cut the handle first because I wanted this pattern on it.

The back is totally different from the front.

Another view of the back. This was a really fun bag to make. I enjoyed making it and really like the way it turned out.

Graduation Towels

These are the towels I am making for graduation presents. Just simple machine embroidry. They have always seemed to be a popular gift. Everyone likes things with their names on them.

So You Sew Fun Bag

This is my "So You Sew Fun" Bag made from a line of fabric with that name. It is 12 1/2 inches wide, 10 1/2 inches tall, and 4 inches deep.

This is the back of the bag.
This is the inside. The bottom is lined with plastic canvas that is covered with fabric.

I did the quilting on my own machine. I quilted around the flowers and then stippled in the black background. The quilting is hard to see because I am learning and chose thread that didn't show up to much so that you can't see my mistakes.

I did a triangle pattern on the bottom part of the bag.

This bag turned out really well. The girls that critiqued my bags all really liked this fabric.

Youthful Poll

I was having a hard time deciding which bag I liked best and which bag my daughters-in-laws and daughter would like best. I showed the Sultry bag and the Schlep bag to the physics teacher and she said that possibly the material in the Schlep bag was more what people our age would like. Sooooooooo, I took my 18 year old son the the fabric store with me. He picked out some fabric that the most stylish girl in school would like, or so he thought. Last night his friends were over. There were 7 different girls. I showed them the bags and took a poll on which they liked best. There were some surprising results, at least surprising to me. The two most stylish girls loved the Schlep bag. This surprises me because most older people who see it aren't attracted to it. Personally, I love it. Some liked the Pink and Green Bag. This is my personal favorite. I really like the size and pattern of this bag. I also love the stitching. I think it makes the bag. Almost everyone loved the Sultry bag, which didn't surprise me. And the stylish girls also liked the bag that is still being made from the material my son picked out. It was from the "So You Sew Fun" line of fabric. I probably won't finish the "So You Sew Fun" bag until next week, but you can be looking for it soon. I think I am done making bags until my girls see them and decide which they like the best. I want to make them bags for this coming Christmas.