Gathered Clutches - Hooray!!!

We'll I started this morning and managed to make four adorable, not quite perfect, but still totally cute gathered clutches!!  I used this tutorial from Noodlehead that I have had bookmarked forever.  I am so excited to have finally made these and to have had them actually turn out!!  Yippee Skippee!!

So, how about a little rundown :)
Making up all of the pieces was pretty easy.  Just your basic cutting straight lines and sewing seams.  The tabs on the zippers had me a little confused but I managed to figure it out.  I did learn something though about cutting.  See how my Octopus are floating sideways in the bottom left hand corner, ya gotta watch that directional print, oops :)

And a huge thank you for all of your suggestions.  It made a major difference to make the gathered fabric a little larger and then trim.  And I love the purple band vs the old dull color I originally pulled.  You all are the greatest!!!

After all the pieces were set it was time to put in the zipper.  This is the first time I have used the zipper foot on my machine.  I know, sad, but true.  It wen't pretty well but I did have a few hiccups.  Hey, no one is perfect right.

I managed to sew on the wrong side of the zipper for this piece and completely enclosed the zipper.  That's not gonna work.  A little unpicking always saves the day.   I also forgot to take a picture (a little frustrated at that point)  of me sewing directly on top of 2 zippers instead of to the side.  But, I learned a lot ;)

So once I got the zippers in it was time to sew the clutch together.  I have to admit, this is the part that I was the most concerned about.  The next picture tells the story :)

I managed to get the left side of each pouch turned quite nicely, the right sides were a bit of a different matter.  I did the pink one first and just didn't push out enough.  I was worried about busting the seam, should have worried less and pushed more.  Next were the yellow and green ones.  These had a struggle because I hadn't sewn the zipper in evenly in the last step.  See how on the picture above the zipper part lines up at the top but has a big gap at the bottom.  Live and learn.  But . . . by the time I got to the last one, perfection!!

So that's the rundown.  I learned a lot. Got a little frustrated, but mostly had a lot of fun.  And I want to make more, so that is a very good sign :)  So now, just for fun, let's see them each close up :)

 Clutch #1: Fabrics are Power Pop by Jenean Morrison for the main part and then 2 prints I got out of a clearance pile at my LQS  for the band and lining.  Sadly, I don't know the names of them.

Clutch #2: Fabrics are Heirloom by Joel Dewberry for the main part, Simply Color by Vanessa Christensen for the band, and Terrain by Kate Spain for the lining.

 Clutch #3: Fabrics are Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for the main part and the band and Mendocino by Heather Ross for the lining.

Clutch #4: Fabrics are all So Sophie by My Mind's Eye and it happens to be my favorite :)

I can't wait to give these to my special friends.  Thanks for all of your help and advice.  It really made tackling this project so much easier :)  And now, back to some quilting :)

And since these were a huge first time finish for me, I am totally linking up to Amanda and Amy :)

Have you made these clutches??

So yesterday I found that I am in need of some cute adorable thank you gifts for 4 amazing ladies.  And I figured this was the perfect opportunity for me to attempt to conquer my fear of zippers and make 4 cute gathered clutches. I have had this super popular tutorial done by Noodlehead bookmarked for years to make and this is where I finally make it!!  So I ask, have you made it before??  Any pointers for someone attempting their first zippered pouch??

Oh and while we are at it, what do you think of the 4 fabric pulls?? I have a few of my own opinions but I want to hear yours.   So, what do you think??

Samples Equals New Quilt??

Yesterday, I was thinking about making some samples for the upcoming class I am teaching at the end of the month. My Mother-in-Law is helping me with the samples for the Braided Irish Chain class as she is making her own quilt for my nephew.  So that easily took care of samples for that class.  My Flying in Squares class however was another matter.  I knew I needed samples on how to make no waste flying geese and then enough squares and geese to show how to put the blocks together.  However, I didn't really want to make 2 or 3 blocks that would end up being widow blocks and I wasn't really feeling like making a new Flying in Squares quilt.

So, I thought about it for a bit and then remembered a sketch that I had been playing with in EQ7 a few weeks earlier.  It has flying geese and squares, bingo!!!  It was easy to pick fabrics, I had a Cuzco by Kate Spain layer cake and it perfectly matches the Terrain prints in my Flying in Squares quilt.  Since I plan to hang this new quilt on the sewing room wall next to the Flying in Squares quilt it was a perfect fit!!

It was a little hard at first to cut into the fabrics.  I love Cuzco and that makes me want to just keep it on the shelf and pet it.  (Please tell me I am not the only one that has struggles with this)  But after a few minutes of admiring the beautiful prints and colors the cutting commenced.  I have to admit, there were several times when I was cutting that I thought to myself how crazy this is.  I have so many projects on my plate right now and I decide that rather than make a few samples, I might as well make another quilt.  Crazy but oh so much fun!!

I got all the prints cut and was ready to move onto the background when I realized I was completely out of solid white.   Horror!!  I was totally in the groove and didn't want to wait so I went to my scrap bin.  I had scraps in Kona white, Bella white, Bella Snow, and a few others I don't even know.  There was not enough in any one print but enough if I used it all :)  I debated for a bit and then decided, why not??  Neutral colored quilts seem to be all the rage at the moment so why not a mixed neutral background.  Time will tell if this was a wise decision or not :)

Oh, and the pattern . . . time will tell on that too :)  Now I just need to feed the kids and put them down for naps so I can get to some sewing :)

Half Way There

I have been working on my whole cloth quilting here and there. I have found in this last week that I haven't had a lot of time to sew so I am only about half way through.  It is also pretty slow going as the lines are about 1/4" apart so that makes for a lot of quilting.  But even with that I am so super excited with how it is coming out.   It has so much texture to it, I just love it!!   I really think it is going to look great with the design that idea that I want to finish it with ;)

And speaking of free motion quilting, I signed up for the Machine Quilting Negative Space class by Angela Walters on Craftsy.  I have been thinking about taking this class for some time and when I got an email from Craftsy that there classes were on sale for $9.99 I couldn't resist.  I have watched the first class and am really enjoying it!!  I am very excited about what I have learned so far and I can't wait to incorporate her lessons into my quilting.  Oh, and those squares sketched at the top, totally a new favorite quilting design.  Got to try that on fabric soon!!

And this is totally random, but I was so happy about it that I had to post a picture.  I used to make bread about every 2 weeks.  Then I just sort of fell out of the habit.  I think it has been a whole year since I have made bread.  So yesterday, with the freezing temperatures inspiring me to make something warm and comforting, I made up a batch of dough, and we enjoyed 3, right from the oven, loafs of bread with dinner.  Oh ya, I was pretty high on the awesome mom scale last night at dinner :)

Starburst Quilt-A-Long - Cutting

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Once again, here is the schedule, but if you want to work ahead you can use the tutorial  just be sure to take pictures of your weekly assignments so you can link them up for weekly prizes :)


January 14 - Cutting Post
January 21 - Goose in the Corner and Half Square Triangles
January 28 - Flying Geese
February 4 - Building Blocks - At least 2
February 11 - Finish Blocks and Sashing
February 18 - Baste it, Quilt it, Bind It
March 4 - Starburst Parade and Grand Prizes

So here we are at January 14th and this weeks assignment is cutting your fabric!!   Now I was hoping to show you lots of fun pictures of my new fabric that I will be using, but there was a bit of a post office mishap and my fabric is a little stuck in transit.  (But I should be able to track it down today.)  So, for the mean time, I will just show you some fun random fabric pictures :)

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - CUTTING

Now, before you just jump on into cutting, you have to make some decisions.  This is going to determine the layout of your quilt.  So, I am going to show you the way I decide a layout.   With that said, there are a million ways to do your layout so don't feel like you need to do it this way, it is just a help in getting started :)   If you have already done this, feel free to skip down to the cutting directions :)

Start by laying your 12 fat quarters out so you can see all of those pretty fabrics.

Now I like to get an equal balance of tones so I like to separate my fabrics into 3 groups, that each have 4 prints and I separate them by lightest tones, medium tones, and darkest tones.

 Once your tones are separated, its time to look vertical.  Now you are making 4 groups of 3, but once again, I like to keep a dark, medium, and light in each group. Each vertical group of 3 represents a star, so you are moving prints around horizontally until you like each of the 3 groupings.  So for example, I didn't like the 2 pearl bracelets in the grouping 3 so I moved them.  When I did this I got two of the same prints in grouping 4 but liked that.  Just keep shuffling until you like all 4 groupings.

Lastly, you need to decide which fabric in each grouping will be for which part of the Starburst.  The Starburst consists of a Center Star, Star Surround  and Burst Points.  I find it easiest to label each and then take a photo to refer to when I start cutting everything up, if you don't like referring to photos, just write your groupings and fabric assignments down somewhere to refer to :)  For this fabric, I decided that I wanted my dark prints to all be the center star, so they really pop :)  Then I decided, I wanted the 2 medium grey's to be burst points, but I labeled them 1 and 4 so that they would be opposite each other in the quilt layout.  From there, I figured the other 2 burst points could be done in the lights to contrast.  Once you start making a few decisions  the rest just falls into place.  

So, now that you have your decisions all made, you are ready to cut :)  Now, I promise to add some more photos here soon, so if you are nervous about cutting from a chart, just wait a day or 2.  I just didn't want to cut into these fabrics as my intended fabrics are stuck at the post office ;)

EDIT - My fabrics finally arrived and these are my groupings ;)

Oh, and if you are having trouble seeing the chart, just click on it, and it will come up larger ;)

* Sew WOF strips together to create the desired length of sashing.

Cut your fabrics according to the chart above.  Remember to refer to the column of the size quilt you want to make :)   And remember, press your fabric before cutting to aid in accurate cutting.

EDIT - I just found out that the post office managed to send my fabric package back instead of holding onto it.  So I have gone ahead and made some cutting diagrams as I won't have my fabric until later this week.  The blue is the 24" blocks, the pink is the 32" blocks and the green is the 40" blocks.  I hope these help and if you have questions, please don't hesitate to email me!!

Start with cutting the four fat quarters that you have set aside for Burst Points.  From each of the 4 fat quarters cut according to the following diagrams.  With all of your cutting, the leftover scraps can be set aside for a scrappy binding or can but used for another project.

 Now you are ready to cut your four fat quarters that you have decided will be your Star Surround.  From each of the 4 fat quarters cut according to the following diagrams.

And now you can cut your last four fat quarters that will be your Star Centers.  From each of the 4 fat quarters cut according to the following diagrams.

And now, you have simply to cut your background yardage :)  Once again, you will need to refer to column of your size quilt to know what sizes you need to cut.  Be sure you cut the designated quantity for each line.

Once you have finished cutting your 12 fat quarters and your background yardage, Sort your fabrics into piles of similar descriptions. ie, CS for center star,  FG, for flying geese, HST for half square triangle, GC for goose in the corner,  B for background and S for sashing.  This will make it easier as you begin to put the pieces of the block together.  (This is why you wanted to label your groupings earlier, because you will be mixing them all up now :)

And now you are done!!!   Here's my fabrics all cut up :)  This weeks assignment wasn't to hard, right :)   And now the fun part, you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prizes are sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop and a huge thanks goes to them for their support of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks  prize is a Salt Water Charm Pack by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics

So what do you have to do for a chance to win this beautiful Charm Pack??  Simple . . . Just link up your fabrics all cut up at the end of this post :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Monday morning as I will be announcing a winner at the beginning of next weeks post :)

If you don't get your cutting done by next week you can still link it up :) (just not in time for the prize :)    The linky will remain open until the end of the Quilt-A-Long.  So if your out of town, or just had a busy week, no worries!!!  Just link up when you can :)

And Don't forget to add your beautiful cut up fabric to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  I am so excited to see all of your beautiful groupings ;)

So let's get cutting!!!  And if you have questions, don't hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com.  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!