Mr. and Mrs. K

Two Nicoles, one post.
The first Nicole is my brother's girlfriend. I decided to make her a tote bag for the upcoming holiday season out of some of my favorite fabric:The pattern is the Flourish Tote. The instructions were clear, it probably took me a total of 2.5- 3 hours, and I'm happy with the construction. I wouldn't recommend it as a first bag pattern for anyone, as there were some slightly advanced things like curved corners and sewing through so many layers. The only thing I need to add is some gray grosgrain ribbon going through the loops in the top. I used quilt batting instead of fusible fleece, and decided with all the heaviness not to put the darts in the bottom corners. Here's a shot of the inside, showing the six pockets (more Heather Ross stripes and dots):
The second Nicole is a friend of my husband's from law school, and she recently got married. Since she's a good friend, and warrants more than a blender, I made this for her and her new husband:
Click to enlarge-- also, it's really sunny outside here today!
All of these fabrics came from my stash except for the gray kona (I think it's called Charcoal). I took my original inspiration from Alissa's Sparks Baby Quilt but quickly deviated. Each of my center squares are 4", and I fussy cut birds:Then I added a rectangular border around each bird, and alternated the direction of the rectangles (vertical, like the one above, and horizontal). For the horizontal blocks, I added 2.5" of the gray to either the top or the bottom (half of each) and then sashed the blocks. The outer border is 6" on the top and bottom, and 3" wide on either side. I quilted 1/4" around each seam. I love the back, too:
(It's windy-- ignore my shoe at the bottom!)
I used the rest of my bird fabric (IKEA-- and the same fabric I used for my bedroom curtains) and more Lotus. Here's a closeup of the quilting, from the back:

I can't wait to put this in the mail and send it off to NYC! It feels so good to finish something, especially two things that make me proud.

phoebe bag

I haven't made a bag in quite a while, and I really needed a new one. I dug into some of my IKEA stash, and followed Rebeka's instructions for her easy Phoebe Bag:
(Butch is the best purse model ever)
Honestly, the hardest part was turning the flap right-side out, and sewing around that curve. My usual critique with handbag patterns is that the strap tends to be too short and out of proportion with the rest of the bag, but that's not the case here. The only hardware needed was a magnetic snap, which I already happened to have. I love this purse. I think it'll be one of my go-to patterns for holiday gifts this year (real life friends, forget this immediately).
The fabric for both the lining and the outside is home-dec weight, so I decided to skip any interfacing. It holds the shape really well, and it feels sturdy. The inside is a green, white and yellow IKEA print I got on clearance.It's very hard to photograph the inside of a purse! That bit of pink on the inside is the pocket I added. It's a keeper, for sure.

sewing for moms

Happy Mother's Day, if applicable. I'll be visiting my mom in a couple of weeks (she lives 1000 miles away), but tonight I'll have dinner with my in-laws. Of course, that means sewing something for my mother-in-law. Here's what I made:It's a variation on the Buttercup Bag, which uses a single fat quarter for the outside, and a second one for the lining. I decided to make it bigger, but since I still only had a fat quarter of the Good Folks, I compromised and made the strap pink (like the lining). I also added jumbo ricrac, which is probably my favorite part, and some striped pockets inside. I hope she likes it! I'll probably make something similar for my mom, too-- and I'm glad I have a couple more weeks to do so!

pleated purse

This purse is going to live with my quilting bee friend Stephanie's mother-in-law in Florida:It's made from this tutorial, and I used some of my favorite IKEA canvas and an orange and white swiss dot for the lining. The tutorial was just OK-- the bag is very cute, and I didn't run into any problems. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner-- I'm glad I've had previous purse making experience.
It's going to Stephanie's mother-in-law because she was kind enough to pick up an extra ABC panel for me, just like the ones we used for Stephanie's month.
I hope she likes it!

in progress

This is the Max L. quilt in the process of being quilted. It turned out to be quite a big larger than I expected, since I added 2.5" strips of khaki fabric between rows. Then, realizing it was a lot longer than it was wide, and Max L. simply isn't very tall, I added a 5" border all the way around. I used a cheater print that I got on super sale. (It's the black colourway)


Meanwhile, Mom got the package I sent containing her purses, the make-up bag, and a matching tissue holder. She adored all of it, which made me very, very happy. Being the master seamstress she is, she only gave me one good recommendation: to use some stiff interfacing to make sure the handles don't wrinkle. Good advice, as always. She also said it'd be an easy pattern to modify by adding welting of the liner fabric where all those seams are. I responded with, "Yeah, that'd look nice... but it'd be much more tricky!" I really think she's getting a kick out of me finally sewing, after years of watching her stay up all night in HER sewing room, rolling my eyes and not getting it. Creating makes me feel both closer and further away from my mom. I guess it's the curse of being a Jewish daughter-- finally appreciating my mom, now that I'm grown up and married and living 1,000 miles away from her.

So I don't end on a sappy note, here's a picture of a happy purse I made for myself:
The background is my Marimekko shower curtain. This is a pretty good canvas-- you may be seeing it a lot!

FQ Sling Bag

I found this awesome tutorial from Laura of We Wilsons. I'm glad I downloaded it when I did (immediately) because it seems that there was so much interest in the pattern, she had to list it for sale on Etsy. It's still really affordable, and I probably would've bought it. The best part of the purse is that it only takes 2 fat quarters, a zipper and some D rings, all things I had. I've been promising my mom a "cute, beachy purse" (her words, not mine) since I saw her in November. I think this will do the trick:The fabric is Palm Beach by Michael Miller, in pink and green. I think I like the line better for clothing (or a purse) than I do for an entire quilt. Here's the inside:
This was the first time I successfully put a zipper on something. Really, this was a great tutorial because the finished product actually came out, and it seems really well constructed. Also, the size is perfect. Now I want to make a bunch of these-- I can see one for every day of the week!