A few days ago, I posted a sneak peak for my next quilt, which features an hourglass block. I fell in love with them after seeing the excellent tutorial describing in great detail how to make them on Red Pepper Quilts.
Rita’s method is not quick; in fact, it’s quite labor intensive. But for recovering perfectionists like me, it’s just about a guaranteed method of getting a perfect hourglass shape. (Sounds a lot like what the human body needs, doesn’t it?!)
Needless to say, it may be awhile before you see a finished project, but I can show you the fabrics, at least:
I don’t usually like anything Victorian, but a number of these Civil War reproduction fabrics have almost a modern feel. If there were in today’s bright colors, I think a few of the designs could definitely work. The only one missing is what I plan to use for the back, but I’ll save that for a future post.
In the meantime, since this project is likely to take awhile, I’m also working on designing a new carry-all, or what my mother would have called a reticule. Like many working women — both inside and outside the home — I need something to carry the basics, like lunch, shoes, camera or the leftover items that won’t fit in my purse.
For the past few years, I’ve carried this bag, which is made out of recycled billboards. It got a lot of use, so I can’t complain too much, but there are definitely things I think I can make better.
I don’t know how well you can see this, given that it’s pitch black, but when the women who designed the bag put in pockets, they didn’t include zippers. Of course, that’s easier to sew, which means they don’t have to charge as much, but for me it’s not very practical.
The design I have in my head is similar in some ways to the messenger bag Kati has on her blog, “from the blue chair.” She has an great tutorial for it, too, and what I love is all the pockets she included, along with links to other bloggers’ tutorials for the pesky parts, like installing different types of zippers.
My trouble is I can’t quite decide what fabrics I want to use. Take a look:
If you check out Kati’s post, you’ll see she uses three different fabrics from Joel Dewberry’s collection “Notting Hill.” I love all those patterns together and want to do something equally fab, but in a black/white graphic. (The fabrics are all from Premier Prints: “Gisella,” “Zig Zag” and “Circles.” The large links below are called “Free Hand.”)
Initially, I thought I’d use “Free Hand” for the main body, with a solid black bottom, and use the “Zig Zag” for the pockets and probably the interior. But when I put the fabrics together just now to take a photo for this post, I really liked the combination of the small circles with the chevron and the fun giraffes.
I’ve got time to decide as I have to work most of tomorrow and won’t be able to sew much this weekend. If anyone has any suggestions, please shout them out — I’d love to hear from you!
XOXO,
Sandra
One million stitches ... 