Travel Duffle Bag

You got a peek at the Travel Duffle Bag I was making at the retreat with my friends at Uncle Bucks Lodge in Brewster in June.  It is finished now and I have even used it once.  I started out with this pattern "Travel Duffle Bag" that can be found here at Patterns by Annie.This is a very large bag 21” L x 13” H x 8” deep.  I followed the directions and pattern but…..as my friends say….. with changes.  I never can make a bag just like an original pattern and have favorite features I like in any bag I make so just make the changes if the pattern doesn't include them if possible.  I have made enough bags over the years that changing the construction of a bag doesn’t seem to be a problem and more of a puzzle if I am not sure how to accomplish what I want.  Ok, now to see the details on the bag.  One change I made to the pockets on the ends was to make one of them from mesh fabric with an elastic casing on the top.  I also made navy blue cording to be seamed into the seam around the ends.  I stitched in the cording as I thought it might help the fabric wear less on these seams and do like the accent of the navy.  By the way I just love the fabric I chose for this bag.  I purchased a pre-quilted double sided fabric for the outside and another coordinating print I used for trim and lining.This end is just like the pattern, no changes and the view of the front below is also made just like the pattern.The backside did get one change though.  Instead of putting the patch pocket in the center I made it open on both ends and placed it a little higher on the back of the bag.  As you can see it will slip over our rolling suitcase to make moving it a bit easier when we are using a rolling bag.Now for a look at the inside where I made quite a few changes.  The original pattern has you seam the ends and then cover the raw edges with bias tape but I like a lined bag so made a lining to fit the inside of the bag.  To enable you to see I turned the entire bag inside out.  One long side has a zippered pocket.  Oh, by the way I quilted the lining fabric to a piece of soft and stable to help give the body of bag more shape. The opposite side I added a mesh zippered pocket so it will be easy to see the items I pack in this pocket.Now for the lining ends – don’t want to waste that space so more pockets -  I love pockets so guess what – they have pockets!  One end has a mesh pocket that has a casing with elastic at the top.  I made this pocket pleated at the bottom so it will hold lots of socks or what ever I want to stash there.The other end I added a pleated fabric pocket with a tab and magnetic snap.   It will also hold lots of things and hopefully keep me organized.  That will be an accomplishment if it works!That is pretty much it but I do want to show you my zipper pulls on the front of the bag.  I found and purchased a cheap necklace so took it apart and have two cute zipper pulls that make it look like they were made for my bag, the colors are perfect.  Here is one more look at my wonderful bag.  Looking forward to using it more so if you see me carrying my unique bag just give me a shout out.Until Later,
Lynn

Quilt Retreat With Friends

Three of my girlfriends and I decided to spend several days together in a beautiful, peaceful place in the sandhills of Nebraska called Uncle Bucks Lodge in Brewster NE.  We decide we all needed a bit of a break from our real life and time to sit and visit and do some stitching or work on other projects too.  If you have never been to the sandhills region of Nebraska and you are passing through our state I would highly recommend you take day to drive through if nothing else.  Wikipedia has a short history of the area and if you are driving head west on highway #2 from Grand Island and you will drive right through the heart of the sandhills and a jog off to highway #91 will take you to Brewster and Uncle Bucks Lodge. 
We were so fortunate that we got to spend our sewing and visiting time in this large room in the lodge.  We had lots of room to spread out and it had great lighting for our projects. We took walks around the small village, Wikipedia says the population of Brewster is 17.  It is also the county seat with the court house situated in the village, would guess it is the smallest town that is the county seat in the country.  We took walks each morning to stretch our legs and to smell the spicy aroma of the sandhills that hug the edges of town.  If you have ever been in pastures in the sandhills you will recognize the smell.  Have tried to figure it out and think it is probably a weed or grass that gives off the pleasant smell but it is very distinctive. Someone made the greatest street signs, each one a different silhouette.  We tried to find them all but we may have missed a few.

		Street Signs in Brewster NE VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Another treat we had every day was homemade goats milk ice cream across the street from Uncle Bucks and it was so yummy.  It is self serve and you put your money in the cup in the freezer.  This couple also had a self serve refrigerator with fresh eggs, goats milk, soda and treats.  Small town and rural trust at it’s best.Here are some other views from the edge of town and some of the village that is right in the middle of cowboy country.



Shirley is working on a hexagon quilt.  She had lots and lots of hexies basted and was starting to put them together but it may be a while before she is done as it is going to be a bed sized quilt.Janet chose to bring along a cross stitch project and she also spent some time doing some ripping for me.  I had a quilt commercially quilted once and it was not a good job so have been trying to remove it a bit at a time.  I appreciate friends that will rip for me.Fay is a fantastic beader was working on some of that plus she picked up a couple rocks on our walks and was felting wool roving around them and when dry she was going to embroider them.  Anxious to see them finished.I was the only one that brought my sewing machine but I got lots done on a large fabric duffle bag.  I had precut all the pieces and had them labeled at home.  We tidied up our stuff each night but could leave it all there to work on the next day.  We had such a great time that we have plans to go back next year.  We arrived on a Monday and returned home on Thursday and  the other guests that arrived or departed were interested in what we were doing and would sit and chat a bit.  One family with three little girls were there two nights and the little girls were so delightful.  They had questions about what we were doing but also just sat with us and told us all kinds of stories.  They had us four adults rolling with laughter at times.

If you haven’t figured it out we loved Brewster, we loved Uncle Bucks and we loved spending time together.

Until Later,
Lynn

Nebraska State Quilt Guild 2015 Challenge Finished Part 2

As promised here is the finished quilt – wall hanging.  It finished at 20” x 17.5”.  I did add some beading and a few buttons too so check that out in the detail photos below.  Some of my quilting lines do a squiggle here and there but I am trying hard not to be such a perfectionist and rip all the imperfections so they stay as first stitched.Can’t wait to see how the other challenge quilts I worked on are finished and the other groups that worked on challenge quilts.  Our annual QuiltNebraska is in about a week  so I don’t have long to wait.

Lynn

Nebraska State Quilt Guild 2015 Challenge Finished Part 1

The Nebraska State Quilt Guild started a challenge in small groups July 2014.  My group had 4 members.  As a reminder here is my block before it went on it’s travels to get it’s borders.  As a reminder here are the challenge rules -It is a round robin challenge with a team of 4-5 quilters of your choice.  Each quilt will start with a 9” finished center block.  You will build around the center block using borders with the following shapes—pinwheels, circles, diamonds, applique, and some embellishment.  The front of the quilt must have at least one of each shape listed but you may use more of these shapes if you wish.  Each quilt cannot exceed 120 total inches around.  It must be quilted, bound and a label sewn on the back.

I blogged about making the challenge block on April 17, 2015 and what it looked like when I got it back in the mail after 3 friends added borders.  I loved it and put it on my flannel board so I could study it and make a plan to finish it.  It was fabulous and I wanted to do right by it with the quilting.I decided it needed a final border around all 4 sides so laid the quilt on the fabric choices.  I do want to point out the angled border on the bottom left hand side.  I liked the look one of the gals did so re-fashioned the top right hand side to have the same angle.  Now it definitely has a light top and darker bottom.Of course fate stepped in and I didn’t have enough of the lighter navy fabric for the two borders (left and top)  Since it is a busy print I decided to just piece it matching the print design.  I pressed under the seam allowance on one side then found it’s perfect match and used Elmers School Glue to run a small line of glue on the seam allowance, matched the fabric, and pressed it to dry the glue.  I could then flip the fabric over and stitch the seam in the crease and know it would match.  I pressed the seam open to make the join less visible. Here is the corner where the pieced border is located.  I have to search and search for the spot and I am the one that pieced it!  The seam is straight down from the large white headed pin….can you see it now?  The seam lines up with the corner so almost looks intentional if you can see it.After the borders were all done and I did a little machine embroidery using the same built in stitches on my machine that I used in my block.  I stitched the flower like one down the navy strip in the green border and circles around the appliqued navy circles on the left.   Next on to quilting!  I want you to notice the vertical lines in the quilt below.  That is not machine quilting but my basting thread.  I used the wash out, water soluble thread from Superior Threads called Vanish.  This is the first time I have tried this technique and really like how it held the quilt together.I used this thread on the top and bottom in my machine and basted the quilt top, batting and backing together using the walking foot.  I did stitch from the center down and from the center out going both ways and had the lines about 1 1/2” apart then flipped the quilt over and again stitched down from the center to the outside on the other half of the quilt.  I lengthened my stitch about to the maximum but didn’t use the basting stitch as that tended to gather it a bit.  I could have stitched lines going the other direction but decided this was enough to hold it securely while I quilted it.  I did remove some of the basting lines if they were in the way of some of my quilting lines but left the rest  and removed it after I had the entire piece quilted.  I just soaked it in cool water until all the thread disappeared then washed gently using Quilt Soap.  I do use my bathtub so the quilt can lay flat during this process.  I rinsed it several times pressing the clean water through the quilt then used a large towel and rolled the quilt and pressed down to remove some water.  I lay it on another clean towel or sheet and block to make it square.  I know this is rather detailed but wanted you to know how I treated the quilted quilt.  Here is  last bit of info. for you  that I feel is very important - I don’t trim and bind the quilt until it is blocked.  Yes the batting stays together during the washing/rinsing and I have found I get a quilt that is more square this way. I used the following threads to quilt my challenge.  As you can see there is a variety of types and brands.Come back tomorrow to see the completed quilt as this post is long enough.

Until Later,
Lynn