Mystery Quilt Block

My friend, rescued this Blue & White Quilt top and finished it with backing.
No one at Zion Mennonite knows the name of this block.
So I'm throwing it out there.

 It's a square with little triangles attached in this pattern.
This is all hand-pieced. I love all the scrapiness and irregularities.

My friend did all the hand quilting on the finished quilt.

Do you know the name of this block?

I leave you with seriously orange cupcakes. For my birthday boy. It's his last year at Oregon State University (OSU). He's finishing up his Pharmacist residency.

The cupcakes are orange and the frosting is orange. Definitely Beaver colors.

Zion Mennonite Quilt Workshop 2017

Lots of photos below of this years Zion Mennonite Quilters Workshop. 

45 years!
A long-time friend made the above quilts. She likes hand quilting and working in miniature.

She used her vintage Singer sewing machine. quilts,  and doll for the above display.

 I just love applique quilts.
Below are a couple of close-ups of this quilt. Hand-stitched all the way.

 One of my friends, holding forth. The Zion Mennonite Church maintains an amazing array of quilting library templates and books, which you can check out.

 I also adore these postage stamp quilts. Many of the pieces are one inch. Scraps used from feed sacks or clothing articles. In my dreams, I would find the patience to piece all these teeny blocks into something larger.

 I couldn't tell if this one was from a pattern. It combined raw-edge applique with embroidery elements to create a whimsical baby-sized quilt. Love all the scrapiness.

 And, of course, some red work, along with teeny, tiny,  patchwork.

Many of the pieces of this pinwheel quilt are quite tiny as well.
It is hand-quilted and embellished with embroidery

My big fat finger and how big those pieces really are.

 This quilt was all curves and needle-turned applique. Tiny curved pieces on the bias that want to twist and stretch. Truly artistic.

Also hand-quilted with embroidery embellishment.

Wall hanging size

Cute puppy.

 Love this log cabin design

I tried to cull these photos and succeeded somewhat. I hope you enjoyed looking at them.
I'm not much of a quilter, but I do appreciate fine handwork.

These quilts aren't sent out to a long arm quilter, they are nearly all hand quilted, often in a group setting.

Some of the quilts on display go back to when Oregon was settled. Some are from the Aurora colony.


Last years blog post is here.

Project Snap Bags

Another bit of sewing I did this weekend. A couple of snap bags. I haven't made snap bags in forever. A look via my blog search bar (web page - not available on mobile devices) reveals it was spring of 2014.
I was always fond of the dinosaur snap bag that I made for my nephew.


I was trolling the net looking for a project to make (for a certain purpose coming up) and I came across these mesh zippered bags on the Sew4Home website. They used mesh and fold over elastic and were cute... then I read the first comment and made these snap bags instead of a zipper installation

This is a plastic mesh screen I bought at the now defunct RCT fabrics for a pet carrying duffle bag. Which I have yet to make. But I have all the supplies.

I changed up the tutorial to finish my top dfferently. Plus, I didn't have any colored elastic (?). I also only had a smidge of fold-over elastic (FOE) and finished the second with grosgrain ribbon folded in half instead.

These are 8" wide x 7.5" high. The mesh is opaque. You can kinda see what's inside.

Anyhoo - you want to know about the snap - don't you? It's an old tape measure cut into pieces.
When you bend it, it makes a snap sound.

My tape is about one inch shorter than the width. Up there at the top, I inserted the tape and made a pocket to keep it in place. When you open the bag, it SNAPS open. And closes back up. Ingenuous? They are. I just love the snap. There's a video below - turn your volume way up.

I'm a fidgeter. I just love opening and closing these bags repetitively - just to hear snap!

Back of project bag.

Miniature Irises - a month later than last year. Not as warm.

My construction notes for later: 8" wide. Cut mesh 12.5" long, fabric 2.75" wide. Thin batting, and sf-101 on two of the fabric pieces.

Hapai Tote

 This is a largish tote that I sewed this weekend. Santa was pretty good to me this year - this Hapai Tote was offered as a kit from CloBird Designs. It arrived in January and didn't sit around too long.

It's designed by Jessica Curzan of SewDaKine in Hawaii. This is who I order my cork fabric from.

For this tote kit, I opened it up and was rather dismayed to find it was all taupe. The cork, the lining, the main fabric were all shades of nothingness. I almost started sewing it with the burgundy thread in my sewing machine but decided to sew it as a normal person who never deviates and always has matching thread in the sewing machine. (It was screamin'difficult for only ten minutes)

 I liked how Jessica designed this. She also runs  a Production Sewing group on Facebook. Keep the shapes simple, cut multiples at a time, sew each section, then move on to the next. Already things I'm interested in. Jessica puts it out there in a fun, productive way. She is earning a living (plus) sewing bags. A goal to emulate.

 Once I was finished, it was still beige, and the rainy day was so not helping on the camera lighting.  I added a Hawaiian zipper charm and then hung it up to ignore for a couple of hours.
 
 I decided it needed a giant tassel.
 
I still have Kyle's turquoise tassel that she sent me. It was the right size but not quite right, color wise. I rummaged around and found a burgundy vinyl and quickly made a tassel that *helps*.

I love how the pattern designer added a recessed zipper to this bag. It keeps things from toppling out. This bag is made with firmer materials like cork and canvas but it still likes to collapse a bit.

Her directions are for the intermediate sewist. There were a couple of directions that a beginner would need help deciphering.

It's big enough to throw a couple of beach towels in. It's also washable. Yes, that cork is washable. It's a renewable resource, backed onto a stabilizer fabric. It doesn't fray, making this easy to execute.

I'm still staring at it and knowing it will pop over to the etsy shop to be sold to someone who appreciates it more.

It's way too big for  me. Perfect for a beach tote - size wise - but the colors don't make me happy. I might do some more work on it - maybe some hand-stitching in a burgundy color to match the tassel.