Bendy Bags and Sweet Pea Pod sets

A couple of years ago Lazy Girl Designs came out with the Bendy Bag pattern. I made and enjoyed it though frankly felt it was a little wasteful because in making it you cut out and wasted a couple of large hunks of fabric which goes against the grain of most fabric connoisseurs (hoarders) like myself!

Then more recently, (and brilliantly) Wah Lah!: Sweetpea Pods pattern was born, which uses the exact pieces you were cutting and throwing out of the Bendy bag pattern! Perfect! Now you can make adorable and coordinated little sets with NO waste! 

Notice the mix and match zippers? In the Sweetpea Pod pattern she teaches you how to swap out the zipper heads for a more fun and funky product! You can make one set with 2 zippers, one extra zipper head, 1/4 fusible fleece and 1/2 yd of fabric! If you want to play with some zipper colors Atkinson made that possible too:

Now you can buy extra zipper heads to mix and match!

They even use the extra zipper length in the bag:

Bendy Bags: Perfect for storing CD's, make up, school supplies, a sewing kit, phone, and accessories.

Sweetpea Pods: Great for storing Wonder Clips, loose change, make-up, candy, bobbins, beads, and more!

These make great gift sets!

Great rainy day project too! Quick to make and take!

Pattern Review " Girly Bubble Romper" by Little Lizard King

Jody made an adorable little romper this week out of some of our cotton lawn fabrics. For those who are unfamiliar with cotton lawn:

Lawn cloth or lawn is a plain weave textile, originally of linen but now chiefly cotton. Lawn is designed using fine, high count yarns, which results in a silky, untextured feel. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

 Jody feels the lawn fabric is a great choice for summer wear in Houston heat, very light. It is advisable to sew with a smaller needle size like a 75 or 80 (topstitch). If your machine gets hungry and tries to eat the lightweight lawn use a single hole needle plate in your machine throat. A little leader fabric (scrap) folded up and loaded in just ahead of your project fabric can also be used to fend off the machine munchies.

With the fabric scraps Jody was able to fashion a little hair accessory!

 The romper pattern is "super duper easy" in Jody's rating, only 2 pattern pieces. Brilliant pattern tip: Instead of cutting your pattern pieces out, trace them onto Pattern EZ or tracing paper so that you can use them repeatedly in different sizes without sacrificing a copy of your pattern! Especially helpful with children's clothing since the little munchkins grow so darn fast!

 Tips for pattern success: Here is the one we all know and summarily ignore: Read the pattern instructions before starting. Ummm this may save you a lot of time-- like the inordinate amount of time it took Jody to find the shoulder tie instructions, which are on page 7 she says! :-)

The big intimidating part of this pattern is the elastic around the leg holes- no problem: the pattern doesn't even use a casing- it is just stitched on with a zig-zag stitch, couldn't be quicker. If you have a serger a rolled hem around those leg holes would look great-- maybe in a contrasting thread??? 

Wouldn't that be cute?

So who is ready to try making some baby clothes????
Thank you Jody for the adorable sample!

Touring Baltimore

Patsy teaches a course on handwork applique in the Baltimore Album quilt style. Her work is absolutely gorgeous and so, as you will see, is the work of her student's!

 Morning group.

 

Afternoon group. 

I mean really! Will you look at those TINY, PERFECTLY ROUND Grapes????? Amazing. 

Great work ladies, I can't wait to see these quilts in the local shows!

Quilty Fun Progress

Here are some shots of the Quilty Fun Class from Thurday. 

They are really coming along! 

Some of them are even all the way out to the border stage! 

Apples! 

Sherry is peeking at us from behind her coffee mugs!

Paula is all set for the outer border.

A busy week!

So far this week we have a had a fun 'Meet and Greet" event hosted by the Tri-County Quilt Guild held at the shop, and a fun Sweatshirt class but that's only the beginning because the

Greater Houston Shop Hop Starts tomorrow!! 

It will be from Wednesday March 30- Saturday April 2! 

Participants receive a free original pattern at each shop and if they complete and turn in their passports before the end of the hop they are eligible for thousands of dollars in prizes! 

It's going to be a lot of fun. Click here for more information!

We hope to see everyone shop hopping over the next few days!

Beginner 9 Patch

Beginner 9 Patch is taught by Patsy Mosby at the shop. It meets multiple times and walks a new quilter through the whole process of making a quilt! We have seen this pattern done many, many times over the years and it always amazes me how it is simple, can be done is all different colors, and it always looks great! These were the most recent 9 patch graduate quilts!

These ladies did a great job! 

Keep on Quilting!

Desert Sky Graduates

These folks are on their last day for the "Desert Sky" class taught by Carolyn. They have learned paper piecing and curved piecing, and have these beautiful blocks arranged for final placements in their quilts. 

Looks like fun!  

 Mr. Dixon is ready to complete this quilt. Yup he is a quilter ladies!

Connie's blocks look great in the earth tones. 

She has a foot injury so she couldn't stand for the photo but her quilt looks great! 

 Val is arranging her blocks in a colorwash blending from blue to green. 

The effect is really stunning!

Solvi's earth tones with pops of red and gold really shine.

Congratulations everyone!