Schlep Bag

I finished another UFO today. It is a Schlep Bag. These were all the rage a few years ago. I still see variations of them where people have made more squares and call it something else. This is from the original free pattern I found years ago online.   I started this project as something to work on at the retreat I attended in Phoenix last February. I cut big squares and quilted each one differently on my longarm. I thought there was a quilted handle too but I guess that did not get done at the time. The square units were cut to 6 1/2 and sewn together. The bag is a great size for putting a carry along project in or some clothes for the weekend or whatever. I was cleaning up my sewing room and found this with a stack of fabrics and decided instead of putting it somewhere I would just finish it.

 Last night I started a new quick quilt project. These are half square triangles cut from 7" squares. Hopefully I can get this top sewn up sometime next week as I will not have time to sew it together this week. It will make a nice sized lap quilt and I used about 2.75 yards of fabric. So with the backing and binding this should bust about 7 yards of stash.

 When I tried to take a photo of this the top few fabrics flew off and I had to run downstairs and go out into the yard to retrieve them. It is a cloudy afternoon with brooding storm clouds that did dump some rain but not as much as we have gotten in the past few storms.

My First Finish For 2014

My goal this year is to work on my UFO's and finish as many of them as I can. In addition to this I am also working on a series of Improv and modern quilts. The very first finish of the finish for this year is a new project that I just started a few weeks ago! I find that kind of ironic. The thing is that I have been working steadily on my UFO and Improv pile. I kind of got distracted and wanted to work on something new. I had found Bonnie Hunters Scrappy Trip Around The World and thought they looked really beautiful. I figured this might be a good way to use fabric I no longer love. See I had been sorting fabric and came across some I just did not want to look at any more. So I forged ahead and began a new project. I also did a bit of soul searching and realized that I have so many UFOs because I get tired of things and put them aside to begin a new project. After about the first 12 blocks I was getting tired of working with this fabric selection. I did not like it and wanted to do something different. Over on About.com my friend Judy pointed out that she starts a project and does not do anything else till she has it finished. OK I vowed to try to emulate Judy so I pressed on. The quilt was going to be much bigger but it occurred to me I really did not want it on the bed so I stopped at 20 squares, found some blue fabric that would work for a border and called it done. It is a nice topper size for the bed or a great couch throw.

Now for the back story. I did not really have yardage of anything to use on the back so I found some fabric in inherited from my aunt and pieced two large hunks of it with some leftover strips I had cut for the front. I actually love the back and think it is kinda fun.

This is also the first quilt I have quilted on my long arm in 4 years. I have my quilting business back up and running. It is great to be working on the Gammill again! I forgot how much I enjoyed making tops into quilts.