Quilted Sewing Bag

I love quick projects.  And I love it even more when it's something I can make good use out of.  I have been looking for a few days for a cute quilted bag that I can use for my hand sewing supplies.  I am going out of town for a few weeks and I really wanted to bring some sewing with me to work on while on the plane.  I spotted this pattern online and knew it was perfect.  Its called Pick- a-Pocket Purse.  You have to sign up for the site but its free and worth it.  They have tons of cute free patterns.  In fact I found a pattern there to make goody bags as favors for our wedding in a few weeks.  (but that's going to be a future post)  Here is the bag I made.

You can't tell from my picture but the spaces in between the sides and in between the handles are all pockets.  Great for scissors and other small items.  

This was for me for personal use so I decided to be lazy and not change my thread color in my machine.  I probably should have and I will for future bags.  I also changed a few things they they did not do in the free pattern.  The inner layer is not tacked down.  It bothered me a little.  So I stitched around the top to hold it down and then did a few hand stitches inside to keep it down.  It floated around a bit but its better now.  It also seemed like the liner was a bit too big as it was really baggy on the interior of the bag.  So next time I make one I might make it a bit shorter than the pattern calls for.  I am also going to pick up some sort of clasp this weekend to keep it closed when I am not sewing.  I think this bag took me about 2-3 hours total to do.  Not sure exactly because I did it while cooking dinner and doing laundry.  The life of a busy mom.  

My family loved it and I have had several requests for some more to use as lunch totes.  I think for those I am going to get some insul-brite to use to keep things a bit colder.  My eight year old daughter has been bugging me to learn how to sew so I am going to have her help me make them.  I think it would be a good project for her.  That's how easy this bag was!

I love batiks!!

Look at these gorgeous strips I cut a few weeks ago.  They are from a fat quarter bundle I purchased from Fabric.com.  Actually my wonderful fiance bought them for me.  Here they are!

I ordered this bundle from Fabric.com.  I just went on the site to link directly to this product and it looks like they might be sold out.  :(  It is from the Hoffman Bali line and they are handpainted batiks.  I don't usually spend this kind of money on fat quarters but they are the prettiest set of fabrics I have ever seen.  And they are so incredibly soft.  

I can't wait to show you what I made with this set of fabrics.  But its for a gift and I don't want the recipient to see so I haven't taken any pictures yet.  I'll upload them in a few weeks!

My little secret...sshhh!

For years I was a single mom.  And even still I can't afford to buy the huge expensive sewing machines that most quilter's love.  I do all my piecing and machine quilting on a brother sewing machine that was bought at Wal-Mart.  I think it was $125 dollars new.  And to be honest I never have problems with it.  Its a good little machine.  Yes, I would love to buy a nicer one but right now its not in the cards.

 I would also love to say I buy I buy all my fabric at my local quilting shop.  But seriously, who can afford $12/yard for fabric.  Not I.  I spend my time shopping online to cut my costs practically in half.  I ventured in to my LQS the other day to kill sometime before I had to pick up the kids from their after school activities.  I loved, loved, loved wandering around the store looking at all the wonderful fabrics and patterns.  I really wish I could I could do more to support their presence in our community.  But as a young adult I can't.  Quilting is a bit of an expensive hobby to get into.  And its generally known as being a hobby enjoyed by a generation that is older.  And honestly I can see why.

So where do you buy your fabrics?  Here are some of the sites I love for great deals.

www.thousandsofbolts.com

www.fabric.com

www.ebay.com

http://www.hancocks-paducah.com/

www.connectingthreads.com

I love the clearance and sale sections most of all.  I generally try to buy last season's fabrics or lines of fabrics that have been out for awhile.  I am also lucky enough to live 30 mins away from a salvage surplus store that has the most amazing fabric department.  I don't always know the name brand of the fabric I am buying but it has never disappointed me.  I picked up 10 fat quarters the other day for my blue Dear Jane quilt at 75 cents each.  They must have about 500 bolts of fabric there.  I will have to take some pictures next time I go.  

So let's share where we go to get our deals.  How do we pursue our love of quilting on a budget?

My favorite quilt to date so far

I did this quilt about five years ago.  It was the most fun quilt I have done so far.  It is entirely paper pieced.  In fact, this is the quilt I learned paper piecing for.  I got the pattern from the site Quilter's Cache.  It is one of their free blocks named Pinwheel #3.  Here it is: Pinwheel #3.  I wish I had gotten a close up of the machine quilting.  It is quilted with purple metallic thread in a swirly design with stars scattered about.  I machine quilted it myself on my home sewing machine.  I made this as a gift for my son's grandmother.  She has done a lot for me over the years.  I choose purple because it is her favorite color.  One of these days I am going to make another one for me.  :)