The second quilt guild that I belong to, Fort Collins Modern Quilt Guild (FCMQG), had a secret santa swap. I pulled Jody's name out of the hat and wasn't too sure what to make at first. Then I figured that every one could always use another bag to hold things. I've been wanting to make one of Elizabeth Hartman's Perfect Zip Bags for a long time so it seemed the right time to try one out. I bought the PDF pattern and saw that I didn't need to print anything out because I was going to make the large rectangle bag. Woo-whoo! I also decided to try out the Quilt-as-you-go QAYG technique. Elizabeth has a quick tutorial on QAYG for bag making here. The trick is to cut the utility cloth/duck/etc 1/2" shorter than the pattern. When you layer on the fabrics for QAYG make the top piece that 1/2" longer. After you have stitched everything then fold that 1/2" down to create a nice finished edge to stitch next to the zipper without the added bulk of the cotton duck.
After pulling out lots of fabrics I just went to town. Here's the front and back pieces after stitching them down. Do you see the grey fabric on the bottom? I didn't plan it but when I sewed the bag together that became the flat bottom section of the bag. Next time I'll have to make them bigger if I want them to show.
I then cut out the lining fabric and made a pocket on one side. Next time I'll place the pocket lower than 1 1/2" from the top edge for this size bag. Also it helps to double check the measurements of the lining pieces. Turns out that they need to be a tad shorter than the exterior pieces.
I had no problems sewing the bag together. Next time I'll remember to notch the seam allowances at the base of the zipper. Also my lining was getting stuck in the zipper and that's because I forgot to make the lining a tad shorter. My mistake was not keeping the laptop in the sewing studio so that I could refer to it as I sewed the bag. Since I had already sewed up the side of the lining I didn't want to go back in and shorten the lining. Instead I ran a line of running stitch with Cosmo embroidery floss along the zipper to catch both the exterior and lining pieces.
Overall I'd say that my first time at sewing this bag went very well. Elizabeth's pattern is very well written with lots of great pictures. I'd whole-heartedly recommend it to you. I can't wait to try out another bag when I have a bit of free project time.
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In other news, we had some crazy weather days a couple weeks ago. It snowed just as Steve was about to go to the airport for a business trip. Luckily he decided to change his mind and reschedule the trip. He may have made it out that day but on the day he would have flown home lots of flights across the country were cancelled. We only had 6" of snow but the wind made huge snow drifts. The next day we tried to shovel the driveway but after 15 minutes realized that we only had made it a third of the way so we went inside. It was a stay at home work day. When the wind died down in the afternoon we tried again. But all the work we had done earlier was re-filled with snow by the wind. So once again after 15 minutes we were done in. This time we noticed that our landlord was coming down the road with a borrowed tractor and plow. Yay! He cleared the driveway in just 5 minutes! I went inside and tried to warm my hands up in hot water. My gloves just weren't good enough for the 6 below zero temperature. Don't worry, I bought artic safe gloves just a few days later and haven't had that problem again.
The dogs really didn't like the below zero temps and did the world's fastest potty breaks. Then they'd pull the leash trying to beat me back inside the house. We all cuddled indoors and were very happy when the temps got to the 30s a few days later. Last week they finally got up to the high 40s and all was good again. I'm constantly told by people who've lived in Cheyenne for more than 30 years that this is highly unusual weather. Hmm, seems like I've heard that story before back in the Spring when we had those crazy snowstorms. I'm beginning to wonder if we brought the bad weather with us.
Also, I'm very, very glad that Steve bought me a tow hook and tow strap to keep in my car because I got stuck the other week just trying to turn onto our side road. I tried to shovel the car out but it wasn't going anywhere. Steve was able to put the hook/strap on my car and just pulled me out with the Yukon. Yay! After that I decided to keep the car in the garage until someone plowed a part of our private road. I wish that the homeowners would get together and regrade the road so that we have side ditches for the snow to pile up in.
Other than that we survived the storm but are very glad to have the sunshine now.