2 Dancing Diamonds Gem Bags

I had a custom order to make 2 Gem Bags, one with green accents and one with blue accents, but the patchwork was to include other bright colors. So I chose to use batik fabric for the bags exteriors. The green one is made with all batik fabric and the blue I used a commercial fabric for the lining, straps and sides as this blue looked the best with the bag.

I made some modifications to the bags. The noticeable change I made is that I added strap connectors with metal hardware and normal straps and also added strap ends and rivets for extra strength for the straps and connectors. The pattern inserted grommets and then made a long narrow strap that threaded through the grommets and was tied with a knot to keep the straps in place. Well that not only looked less than desirable to me, but one good yank of the strap and I could see the straps popping out of the grommets and damaging the bag. I think what I did looks so much better and will function better too.

Another change I made you cannot see, but I added a heavyweight stabilizer on the bottom of the bag, inserted between the lining and exterior and then I quilted the entire bag, which keeps the bottom stabilizer in place. I also added additional interfacing on the lining piece too. I used fusible fleece rather than foam too. It has the same look and stands up like foam does, but without the squishy feel of foam. Some people love foam, others don't. I like some of the properties of foam, but I prefer fusible fleece with added interfacing to achieve a similar structure and costs less too. There are other more costly materials to use for structure such as Decovil light and heavy, but it's the most costly to use.

I also curved the bottom of the side pieces instead of sewing darts there. I thought it would be easier to do and it was. 

I am really pleased with how these bags turned out. I will be delivering them to the woman who ordered them later today.

Front of the Gem Bag with green accent.

Side view with rounded bottom for sides. As you can see in the upper left, I ran out of this green batik print so added a piece of the green lining fabric there to make up for it. I like that look, especially for straps.

It's a big roomy bag inside. The bag exterior and lining are quilted all together and then the sides and binding is sewn to cover up all the raw edges.

The back side of the bag.

The blue accent bag.

Side view.

Back side of the bag.

Inside the roomy bag.

Side by side the green & blue versions.

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Denim Quilt for Project Linus

The denim rectangles were already cut and donated, so I added the red gingham, plaid, or stripe fabric and backed this quilt in red flannel to be soft. Wow this quilt is heavy! I measured it when I turned it in, but forgot to write down the size. I think it was somewhere around 44" x 50 or 60"? For a teenager.

It was a wrestle to quilt because of the weight, so NO more denim quilts! Making small denim purses, yes, but not quilts. It hurt my shoulders! I won't make really large bags anymore if I have to wrestle with them. I am trying to listen to my body and say no if it causes me any physical stress. Otherwise, I will out of commission for sewing! And I can't have that!!!

I photographed this one with a dusting of snow on the ground (and it got on the quilt too).

Donated this quilt to Project Linus and I hope maybe a teenage boy received it.

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Sew Powerful Purse #16 (for 2023)

We had a heavy dusting of snow, so here is my 16th purse for this year that I have completed. Made with fabric I recently got (scroll to end to see the fabric). 

Choose to Shine is also the name of this fabric line from Benartex Fabric, designed by Cherry Guidry.

Back side. I like this fabric too, which was donated to me. I had a small piece of this fabric that was enough to make this purse. Also have a different colorway of this print, so one more purse can be made using that.

Closer look at the flap shows that I added some crystals all around the circle, a couple of appliqué embroidered flowers & a handmade label with 2 crystals too.

Lining fabric donated to me by Brenda M.

I got just a tiny bit more than a yard of this sweet fabric (below) to use for making the purse flaps of more Sew Powerful Purses. (I didn't want to have any cut down the center so it was a bit more than a yard). Some have short positive quotes on them and the others are pretty flowers. I love them all. A few are repeated quotes and flowers. I got 30 total rectangles, which will become 30 purses. So only 29 more of these to turn into purses. I love the colors in these too!

They call this a panel (24" x WOF), but it is printed like this all across the bolt, so you can buy any amount. There is a lot of pretty coordinating fabrics to go with this fabric that I saw on the Benartex website (I only saw this fabric at the store I got it from).

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Sew Powerful Purse #15 (for 2023)

Another Happy Scrappy Flappy that I made to donate to Sew Powerful. The body of the purse is an African print fabric that was donated to me by a woman who purchased it in Texas (she lives in Texas). So that fabric came from Africa, travelled to Texas, then travelled to New Mexico and will be travelling to Georgia, along with 14 other purses I made to attend the Atlanta Quilt Show in March at the Sew Powerful Booth there. Then it will travel to Renton, WA before boarding a ship to come full circle and will eventually find a home back in Zambia, Africa where one girl will receive this purse. If only that fabric could talk! I was sent a lot of this fabric, so you will be seeing other purses that I will use it in eventually too.

Scrappy Flappy is always Happy!!!

This is the back side with a slip pocket and it's the African print fabric.

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Sew Powerful Purse #14 (for 2023)

Here is another Happy Scrappy Flappy I made to donate to Sew Powerful. I sewed the buttons on making flowers as I stitched them with embroidery floss. 

I added a slip pocket to the back.

Buttons sewn on with embroidery floss and made into flowers.

More flowers made sewing buttons on.

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Blue String Quilt with Appliqué Snowman

Another Project Linus quilt to donate. This is scrappy blue strings with an appliqué snowman. Thanks to Joan of Moosestash Quilting for the appliqué snowman. I needed a large snowman and Joan's was a great size as she made it for an outdoor flag. Check it out and at Moosestash Quilting or the entire Snowman Flag tutorial on the Therm-o-web Blog here.

For a cozy quilt, I backed it with flannel.

The snowman's scarf is flannel.

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Flannel Squares Quilt for Project Linus

I made this all flannel quilt to donate to Project Linus. The flannel squares on the front were already precut and were donated fabric, so I figured this would be a quick sew and it was. 

I used flannel for the backing too, so this is a soft cuddly quilt. I liked the bee print, so that was the focal fabric and I added the brown and orange squares as a border.

I sewed 3 fabrics together to create the backing fabric.

Cute bees.

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Sew Powerful Purse #13 (for 2023)

Peace baby! Flower Power & Love! I made this a Hippie Dippy Flappy, lol! Channeling my inner Hippie I guess. Made by upcycling some denim jeans and adding the appliqué motifs to the flap. And the back side has another fun surprise too!

Peace & Love Hippie Style Flap. Isn't it Far Out?

And what goes with the front appliqué? A Kombi VW Hippie Van of course! I appliquéd the van onto a denim and made it into a slip pocket for the back of the purse. Pretty Groovy looking.

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Sew Powerful Purse #12 (for 2023)

Back with another Happy Scrappy Flappy. This time it's in purples! 

I sewed the 5 little buttons on the angled strip by making little flowers in the buttons.

Not enough of this fabric to add a back pocket on this purse.

This fabric with the jewels on it was donated to me. It was a hard fabric to use unless I fussy cut the jewels to use on something, so thought it would make a good lining instead. I have made other linings using this fabric. The jewels had several colors on the fabric, but for this lining I cut the red and the pink jewels. 

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