And a Matching Bag!

First, I have to apologize for the quality of the picture. It seems my camera and I are not getting along. I failed to check my "during production shot" so you totally missed out on that part of this project.

Here is the finished bag. I used a few of the "extra" four-patch blocks I had left over, put them together into a 16" x 16" block, cut what remained of the focus fabric to match, then used some of the blue to make the straps.

The front, back and both sides are quilted with wonderful free form flowers sewn in red thread. I used a lighter batting to cut down on bulk. The straps go all the way around the bottom (the bottom is three layers of fabric without batting) to support the not-substantial weight of a quilt.

As you can see, it fits very nicely into the bag so she can carry it with her on the train back home.

It also occurred to me that this would be a great knitting bag. That's right, quilt-errific and can hold your yarn and needles. I think it would really be better with some inside pockets. I'll have to keep that in mind for my next "quilt transportation unit" is needed.

Finally..... A Project!

Yes! That's right, I have found the fabric, the sewing machine, thread, scissors, etc. and the motivation to create something.

(This post was intended to arrive yesterday, but blogger was refusing to upload pictures. Sorry for the delay.)

My Aunt came to visit me for a week or so. She quickly realized that we are wicked boring. It was easy to convince her that she really needed to make a lap quilt to commemorate the trip and to keep her busy. That took us to the local Ben Franklin for supplies. We found the perfect fabric to pull my stash into some semblance of order. Stash-busting is fun. Besides, it means I get to buy more fabric.

I broke out my Electronic Quilt software and came up with something I figured she'd like. After playing with color we went looking for the fabric. Before the move, I knew where everything was. Now.... well, I think the whole first day was just finding all the quilting fabric and the batting. We ended up changing the color choices a little to meet the stash, but I think it will work out fine.

I have wanted to do a quilt with a big center block and several borders for a while. I made sure to take pictures of each step so you could see it grow. I suppose I could have broken it up into several posts, building suspense. I just didn't have the time. With Auntie's help I worked through the whole top on Sunday.

Each round, I used the focus fabric and chose fabrics that were contained in the focus fabric to create the four-patch borders, separated by solid borders.

There was a horrible cutting accident when I put the border on the center block. I cut to actual size of the yellow strip and had to add another one to make up the difference. I think it came out okay anyway.

Round and round we went until we hit 44" x 44". Then came time for the batting and backing. Since I'd gone over the size of your standard fabric width, I had to piece together the back.

Also, because I wanted to keep Auntie involved, I picked a fluffy batting so we could use the tie technique to hold it all together. (You'll have to wait for the finished product picture.) I added the binding, helped with the ties and we were almost done.

Of course, now I need to make something for her to carry it in to get it back home. Wouldn't want her to try to tote along a lap quilt on the train without a bag. Wish me luck. I'll have that one posted later today (assuming blogger lets me post pictures, that is).

Comments for this post are strongly encouraged. Please, let us know what you think!

Also, because I liked how the multiple borders thing worked out (thank you Electric Quilt!) I think I'm going to try it again. Maybe I can work through my scrap bag a little.

Neighbors

I started work on Tuesday. I wanted to show you some of the neighbors we have there. Having left the city for the country, it's nice to see wildlife (and not so wild life) again.

We have a nice fence and some friendly black Angus that follow our every move if we go outside. Something about humans means food to them. They are curious, but cowardly.


Just outside the door to the building, we have some bats that have taken up residence. Cute little furry fellas.

Let's not forget the hares that live under nearly every building there. The rabbits are very tame. They have been there so long they just don't fear humans. Makes me wonder if the cattle are smarter in that respect. We also have mice, but I don't have pictures of them. I also don't have pictures of the rattlesnakes I have yet to see. I've heard all about them, though.

On the drive in, we saw a pair of foxes along with their litter of what looked to be five kits. They were rolling about in one of the many grain fields on the ride in.

437 Line Items

The movers came on Monday to fill the house with boxes and boxes and boxes. We checked off 437 line items. Everything appears to be here. As usual, we are amazed at what movers will pack. I know, they don't know it's a silly thing to pack. If you didn't want them to pack it, you would have thrown it away before they got there. I'm really glad I got that little plastic pack with the napkin and the fork, I don't know what I would have done without it.

The dogs were traumatized by the whole affair. They were sequestered in the back yard until the movers were gone. We learned in RI that the best plan is to keep them out of the way. Good news, the movers were done by 2pm and everyone could come back in and sniff around. They were mostly so tired from all the barking that they just wanted to take a nap.

We put together a couple rooms, including the kitchen and the Kid's bedroom. We made ours good enough to keep us from tripping in the middle of the night. We will be at this unpacking thing for awhile yet. I just hope it doesn't take 3 years.

For an update on US2, here is a picture of a piece of it they HAVE paved. I understand that every time it starts raining, they give up. The mud that is the main street is impressive. The rumors say it will be done sometime this year. I have no idea if it will happen, but I'm hoping.

Today I have the Montana Weird Stuff picture. I'll try to include these as I go along. The watch phrase is "We do things a little differently in Montana." I don't know if it's true, but I like it anyway.


This is a picture of some of the available seating at a local fast food place. They serve real hamburgers, foot-long hot-dogs and greasy fries that are wonderful. I wasn't quite sure what we would do if these were the only available seats. I hope I don't have to find out.