Scraps tamed for now and a bit of quilting done

I didn't get as much as I wanted this weekend. I have been trying to get more exercise and it caught up to me Saturday. I was dog tired. I fell asleep twice during the day and still didn't have much energy. Between Saturday and Sunday I did get a bit of quilting done on the t-shirt quilt. These little ones don't take too long. I think it take longer to wind the bobbins and change the thread in the machine than to quilt each of these small pieces.

I laid out my containers of quilting thread since I am going to need a lot of different colors for this quilt.

I went thru the last of the scraps to find any pieces that would be big enough for curved topped pouches. I decided to clean up and straighten up the mountain of stuff I had on the other guest room bed. I didn't take a picture, but believe me it was big jumbled mess! Here it is now - from left to right, tops, zig zag blocks in front and flannel strips for a 4 patch flannel quilt, pieces pulled for a quilt top in front and tote bags piece in back, pieces and batting for curved top pouches, thread bed pieces and fabric, and a bag with two tops I might quilt for someone.

On the other bed I put some of the sorted scraps

The fabric storage room also looks a lot better with just a bit of time spent straightening up. We did get a bit of snow overnight.

Came into work this morning and we had no heat. It was 56 in here. Right now I am using one of the guy's space heaters since he left for the day so maybe I will be able to take off my coat and scarf soon.

Boxy Pouch Tutorial

What you need to cut

Make the handle. Press the interfacing on. Press the handle in half longways. Fold each side in to the center. Topstitch and trim to 11 inches

Press interfacing onto the outside pouch pieces

lay one piece of the lining face up

lay the zipper zipper pull side up and with the zipper pull to the right

Layer on one outisde fabric piece

Line up the lining, zipper, and outside fabric at the right side and pin

Pin all three layers working your way right to left lining up the edges then sew. I use a zipper foot

Flip the pieces right side together. Lay down the other piece of lining and position the zipper to the left.

Layer the other outside piece on top of the zipper to sandwhich the zipper between the lining and the outside fabric

Pin the layers together at the left. I usually don't pin the rest of the layers since I will straighten and align the layers as I go. Sew the layers together

Flip wrong sides together, press the fabric back from the zipper, top stitch

Here you can see the lining is sticking out a bit at the side and bottom. Don't worry about the side, that will be resolved later, but go ahead and trim the bottom.

Layer the right sides together of the outside fabric so that all the bottoms line up. Sew these together with a half inch seam.

Trim off the seam edge just to clean it up then press the seam open

Stich down the seam. I use and fancy zig zag. You just want to make sure the seam is held down flat

Zip up the zipper and flip it back enough so you can match it up with the center of the bottom seam. Place a pin on either side of the zipper to hold everything in place.

Draw a sitching line. Make sure you will catch all the layers in the seam as the lining sometimes grows. You can see here the lining is longer so I need to draw my line further in

Now mark the corners. Put one 1 1/2 inch mark on the sewing line and the other at the edge of the fold. Trace the edge. Do this for both sides.

Stitch between the corner marks. I ususally go over it twice to make it nice and secure. Then you can cut the corners out and trim the excess seam allowance

Do the same thing to the other end, but make sure you leave the zipper part way open

Open the zipper all the way and start mitering the corners at the end where the handle doesn't go. I finger press the seam open, fold the edges together, use a scissors to make sure the fabric isn't tucked the wrong way at the folds, then stitch. I don't surge the edge but you can do what you want.

I do the same thing at the other end, but add the handle in the miter. I center the handle with the seam

Turn it right side out and you're done! Let me know if you have any questions!