Another Oak Park Bag!

These bags are addictive!  I finished my second Oak Park Bag and have started on a third!  Number 2 is done in black and white fabrics.  I have quite a collection of them and this was a great way to use some of them.  I changed the the pattern to make this one two inches wider.  The pattern was easy to adapt for this.  Notice the red button?  That's because...................

The inside is red!  I even patched the pocket.  I love this bag!

Oak Park Bag

Look what I made! 

Simone of the Quilting and Stitchery Diary selected me in her give away.  I choose the Oak Park Bag pattern as my prize!  Boy!  Am I ever glad I did!  It is a fantastic pattern by Stephanie of Loft Creations,  so easy to follow and everything fit together exactly.  The hardest part was finding the rings for the handles.  I made mine in some fall colours from my stash.   The name Oak Park made me think of trees and fall.  It soon will be fall.  In fact, it looks like fall outside today - overcast with showers.  Tonight the temperature will go down to 14C, so it will be cooler.  Great for sleeping!

I had to take the photo inside, but I think the colours are pretty close to the real thing.

Journal Quilt

If you stopped by to see my Pets on Quilts Show, please scroll down to yesterday's post or click here.  And if you can, please leave a comment.  Mimi loves to hear from everyone, especially when they say nice things about her.  Like that she is cute, for example.  Oh Mimi!  You're so vain!

Nothing has been happening on the quilting front these days.  I got my sewing machine back, but it is still giving me some problems.  Sometimes it doesn't pick up the bottom thread and then the seam just opens up and falls apart.  But I did make this little Journal Quilt.  It measures a mere 8in. by 11in.  I used it to try out my machine, so don't look too closely.

This quilt is based on the book of Calendar Quilts by Kim Shaefer.  I don't have the book yet, but I loved her little quilt for June.  So I sort of did my own interpretation of it.  It feels more like a journal quilt for July or August.

And here is another mystery vine that grew in my garden beside the pumpkin vine.  I think the squirrels are responsible for this one too.  But that's okay.  I love this blue morning glory.  This is the first bud to open.

Cats on my Quilts

 

Sew Cal Gal is having a 2011, Pets on Quilts Show.  I'm joining in.  My fur babies always help me when I am quilting.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  How else would I know if my quilts are soft and warm and perfect?  Felix loves everything I make.  He just can't get enough of my quilting.  See how eager he is?

Mimi on the other hand is very fussy.  But she loves bright colours.  She is especially helpful when I put my blocks on the floor.  Then she rolls in them and moves them about as she pleases.  The layouts usually look better when she has had her say, than if I just lay them out myself.  Oh, yeah.  I almost forgot.  She also loves to play 'catch my tail' when she is busy helping.  It seems to help her artistic concentration.  Thanks Mimi and Felix!

Gardening

I spend a couple of hours in my garden this morning.  I decided to go out while it was still cool.  There was a bit of a breeze, but it was not as cool as I thought it would be.  I harvested my pumpkins, pulled some weeds, trimmed some plants and tied up a few that were falling over. 

I still have some beans to pick. The hot weather seemed to have stopped the flowers from forming, but over the past week it was a bit cooler and now I have beans again!

I also have to tackle my tomatoes, especially the little grape ones.  They have grown very large and are falling over.  I have some red ones and some really tasty yellow ones. 

But they will have to wait until later.  It is getting too hot out there.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is:  I have found a home for my 'Goodnight Moon' quilt!  My neighbour across the street from me has become a grandmother, so I decided to give her new grandson this quilt.  I started it a long time ago and just sewed the label on this morning.  I hope she (and he) likes it.  I may have posted it before.  The pattern was created by a quilting friend who belongs to our guild.  Such talent!

And now for the bad news.  My machine is going back to the shop for service.  It's not the same shop that I took it to the last few times.  This is a new place.  I talked to one of the salespeople there yesterday.  (Also a quilty friend who belongs to our guild)  She told me that the repair guy there has had a lot of experience with Bernina, so I hope he can fix it.  All I am able to sew right now is straight stitching - forward and back.  None of the special stitches work.  I can't even do simple zigzag to machine applique some blocks I have been working on.  This is so frustrating!  I think I am going to get a lot of reading done this weekend.

Progress Report

We had some really hot weather this summer, which brought my quilting to a virtual stand still.  But yesterday it rained - not much and not enough.  But that brought the temperature down a bit and I was able to sleep last night. 

I had a chance to visit some quilty friends yesterday and I was inspired by them.  Hurray for friends!   I had been working (sort of) on this hexagon I Spy quilt.  I still have a few more rows to do.  The hexies below the flimsy are fabric that was given to me recently.  The two on the left were from Connie (no blog) who gave me these when we met at her house yesterday.  The white one with the dog came from Nynke, the Dutch Purple Rabbit.  She sent me a package with some remnants she didn't need any more.  Thank you Nynke, you're the best!  I love other people's scraps!  I right away made a few more hexies.

There was also some red fabric in Nynke's stash.  Right away I made some blades for the Dresden Plate quilt I started recently.  This is to be my 'goto' quilt.  Whenever I don't know what to work on I will do a few blades.  They are English paper pieced.  I am kind of hung up on that method at the moment.

And last, but certainly not least, is my Wannabe Quilt.  I made this small section, from the purple down, in order to square the quilt off.  I had a lot of trouble doing that.  It seemed as if I was making it crooked.  It has sort of become a UFO over the past few months.  But I feel excited again!  Inspired by the energy of my friends!  I only have three more of these triangle sections to do.  And now that I can see a pattern, I am set to go.