Pride of the Prairie

AQS Des Moines

Interesting quilting motif

Love this!

A Few More Photos

AQS Des Moines

Roses

Thread Painting

I love this one!

Whew!  Busy day - made some changes in the studio - organized my fabric stash by hue and value -- hoping to complete an art quilt this week (Yeah, I know - crazy)  Meanwhile...

A Few Photos of Some of My Favorite Quilts 

From AQS Des Moines

(Yes, that is me looking at the quilting for ideas for my own quilting jobs)

Here is a picture of the Jumbo Glam Bag -- This will be our next Daisy project!  It is a good sized purse. It would make some of your more fashion conscious friends and family a wonderful Christmas gift!  Please read yesterday evening's post for instructions how to obtain the copyrighted pattern.  We will be beginning this project later next week so you have plenty of time to send for the pattern.  As I mentioned last evening, due to this being a copyrighted pattern,  I cannot give dimensions or any identifying portions of the pattern.  You WILL need the pattern to be able to do the Daisy project.  I will be showing the steps pictorially, but will not be able to provide the important info like cutting out dimensions, etc.  Hope you are excited to join us on our Daisy project #3!!

Daisy Project #3

Jumbo Glam Bag

Just to give you a "head's up" - You will need to obtain the pattern for the bag from Tiny Seamstress Designs by Tiffany Jenkins at tinyseamstress@yahoo.com 

It is called Jumbo Glam Bag -  I cannot give you the dimensions and info because this is a copyrighted pattern.  However, I will be presenting the step by step photo instructions.  Tiny Seamstress has a blog  http://tinyseamstress.blogspot.com  

Here's the fabric I've selected for the Jumbo Glam Bag!!  

Daisy Project #2

Insulated Food Carrier

Part 5

Part 5 will conclude our instructions for the Insulated Food Carrier.

By now, you will have finished all the binding around the flap section piece and all the binding around the handle section piece EXCEPT for the handle cut out area.  This part of the instructions will discuss the 2 step process you need to use to finish off the rough edges by the handle area.  

• As you notice above - the dowel will slide into the little slot that you create by sewing binding to the dowel pocket area.  First, you will separate the the layers so that only 1 layer of fabric attached to the Insul-Bright is separated from the other layer of fabric attached to the opposite piece of Insul-Bright.  By doing this you can see that you will have an area for the dowel to slip into on both the left and right sides of the handle-cutout area. 

• When attaching the binding to the edges (the same way as before), you will need to sew the binding to the handle area by hand with a needle and thread.  Trying to sew this small area by using your sewing machine will be too difficult.  When you've finished attaching the binding around the edge of the "dowel pocket" area, you will then fold it over the seam allowance and hemstitch it so as to cover the seam allowance and make the nice finished edge.  
• If you click on the picture above, it will enlarge the picture and you will be able to see that the lower edge is finished last and is a separate piece of binding.  You will need to also sew that area with needle and thread as opposed to sewing machine work.  When you come to the corners, you will need to bring the binding up into and from the lower corner to finish off the raw edges left from the "dowel pocket" binding.  I just folded over the top edge and worked the binding inside the corner and pulled the binding and hemstitched the edges to hide the raw edges left from the "dowel pocket" binding.  It is a bit tricky, but just hemstitch it stitch by stitch...

• If you click on the picture, it will enlarge and you can see the arrows and instructions explaining how to tack the two parts of the insulated carrier together.
• After all of this is completed, you can place your dowels (each should be cut to 14" long) inside the dowel pockets on each side of the handle section.  If you like, to make the dowel stay in place, you can tack together the edges of the pocket, just below where the dowel is inserted into the pocket.  Or, if you prefer, you can sew snaps in place, so that you can remove the dowel when laundering.

I made 2 cards in Fall color fabrics. Cute!!  Check out this tutorial

http://craftapple.wordpress.com/2006/08/23/quilted-cards-tutorial/#comment-24936

Daisy Project #2

Part 4

Review of mitered corner stitching

Sew to the corner, lift needle, cut threads

Move the "dog ear" over

Start sewing from the corner (see instructions below)

• As shown above, just to make sure the mitered corners work out well, by way of review - note that when sewing the seam AFTER you've basted it, sew only to the corner and STOP - raising the needle and cutting the threads. .  
• Then move the "dog ear" over, and put the needle down into the fabric at the point where it is just beyond the "dog ear" multi-layer area.   (as shown in the picture above)  
• Go ahead and sew that seam doing the same thing when you come to the next corner.  
• REMEMBER TO LEAVE THE UNSTITCHED AREA AND TWO BINDING TAILS AS INSTRUCTED IN PART 3.   
• ALSO, FOR THE HANDLE AREA - LEAVE BOTH HANDLE AREA ENDS TO BE COMPLETED LATER WITH BINDING.   (You can set aside the handle section piece after you've finished the binding around all edges EXCEPT the cut-out handle portion)

After basting and sewing the binding on the flap section piece, you should now have the open area and the 2 binding tails that look something like the picture above.   

To finish off binding on any project, including quilts or table toppers, or wall hangings, the above tool is a handy dandy tool to have.  It is worth every cent I paid for it.  I think I bought it from JoAnn's using one of their 50% off coupons.  If you do not yet receive JoAnn flyers through the mail, I strongly recommend you sign up for them the next time you are in the store.  The coupons really help when trying to build your repertoire of notions and tools.

• If you remember in Part 3, we mentioned that you needed to leave a 10 to 12 inch section of the binding un-sewed (leaving the 2 binding tails for working with later).  
• Lay out your flap section like the picture above.  
• First we will be working with the RIGHT binding piece.  
• Lay the right binding piece along the edge of the flap section as shown above.  
• Using a tape measure, measure the open un-sewed area to find the CENTER.  
• You will CUT the right binding tail at the CENTER of the open un-sewed space so that it ends at the center of the opening.

Next, you will lay the binding tool over the RIGHT binding tail.  Pay special attention that the arrow in pointed to the right and looks like the picture above.

Now, lay the LEFT binding tail OVER the binding tool and fold-back the strip AT the 2 1/2 inch line (because our strips were 2 1/2 inches wide)  

Cut the LEFT binding strip at the fold as shown above.

The next segment is tricky... Open out left binding strip so right side is facing UP.  Open out right binding strip and place RIGHT SIDES together with the left binding strip.  Position end of right strip along top edge of left strip.  NOTICE: BINDING PIECES WILL BE RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER AND AT A RIGHT ANGLE TO EACH OTHER.

• Looking at the picture above, lay the binding tool along the pinned edge so that the corner point of the binding tool at the lower left (see picture) is at the point where the two binding strips start to overlap.
•   Line up the diagonal line on the binding tool at the edge of the overlapped fabrics.  
• Next, you will need your marking pen or chalk to mark a line along the lower edge of the binding tool.

Mark along the edge onto the fabric from corner to corner of the overlapping area as shown above.

NOTE: I LIKE TO PIN ALONG THAT LINE (NO PICTURE TO SHOW) AS A "FAKE" SEAM TO TEST TO MAKE SURE THAT THE FINAL BINDING RESULT WILL NOT BE TWISTED.  IT IS VERY EASY TO MAKE A MISTAKE AND DISCOVER THAT THE BINDING IS TWISTED AFTER YOU'VE SEWN IT.  THIS LITTLE "DOUBLE-CHECK" EFFORT MAY SAVE YOU GRIEF AS IT HAS ME SEVERAL TIMES.

 

After making sure everything is correct, sew the seam.  You will find it will be a bit awkward and you will need to stop (with the needle down into the fabric)  periodically throughout while sewing this seam to make sure everything is lined up accurately and not pulling off in one direction or the other.  The point is to sew from point to point along that line IN A STRAIGHT LINE.  

Trim away the outer triangle of fabric leaving about a quarter inch seam.  Press the seam open with your iron.

When you are done with those steps, it should look like this (see above)  Presto!!  It is exactly the right length. 

 

Pin your seam and sew this final length of binding to the flap piece.  You will probably need to trim around the edge to make everything straight and square.  Now you are ready to hand-stitch the binding by folding it over and using a "hem stitch" to hide all of the outer seam allowances.  Good hand work can be done in the evening while watching TV : )