Making Cycle-Snacking Easier

Strange title, I know, but it's for good reason. My recent finish is a little different than usual. And, of course, there's a story to this...

My son has become very aware of gift-giving in the last few months. It started with Christmas when I wanted him to start thinking about giving to others.  Apparently the message stuck because he is ready to give everyone presents now. Not the message I was totally going for, but we'll work with it.

Fast forward to last weekend. It was my Dad's birthday and we were celebrating on Sunday. My son was adamant we needed to get him a present and I told him we could make something. My Dad enjoys cycling and a while ago I made him a little pouch to hang on his front bar so he'd have easy access to snacks, his cell phone, etc. It was my first try and there were a lot of design flaws. I have been talking about making a new one but hadn't done it yet.

We had our project picked so I asked my son to pick out some colors he thought Granddad would like. He pulled this beauty from my scrap stash. I did a basic quilting just to hold the layers together as I completed the rest of the bag.

One of the design changes was the velcro. Last time I made it horizontal and it only fit one bike. This time I made them vertical so that it would be more adjustable and wouldn't flap in the wind when riding.

I also changed the elastic on the pocket. I lined the pocket with green to try and lighten it up a bit so it's easier to see. I sewed a pocket for the elastic to string thru and pulled tight. I pleated the bottom so it would allow items to sit down IN the pouch.

Finally, I bound the bag with a solid navy. I am really happy with how this one turned out. I tried it on my bike and it seems to work great! I sure hope he likes it. We put a few of his fave snacks in the pouches and wrapped it up. It was a hit! Kudos to my son for making me do this.  It was a totally awesome finish!

I'm linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for NTT and Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish Friday. Feels good to have a finish again. I want to keep that going.

Way More Than There Should Be

I somehow managed to get myself working on several different projects at once. I always prided myself on sticking to one thing at a time when it comes to my quilting projects. I'm not sure when it happened, but I found myself starting new projects when I ran out of materials for the project I was currently on. One thing led to another and... well, now I seem to have more than I can keep track of.

After finally completing my son's bed quilt, I knew what I should work on. I finished this top last year and have all the fabric I need to quilt it. However, after finishing the other twin size I wasn't really feeling like moving right on to another one. I find it very tiring to quilt something this large on my regular machine. It makes me dream of a long arm and I loose energy. I decided it would be better to move on to something else for now.  I'll come back to it though; very soon.

I figured a good distraction would be to make a wall hanging with the Pirate scraps. My kids walls are blank because I'm afraid of them knocking a picture frame on themselves. I thought this might be a good alternative to dress things up while still keeping it safe in the bedrooms. Let the wrestling matches continue...

All I have left to do on this one is quilt it. Hopefully this week I can get this done.

Just to keep things interesting, I started cutting up some fabric I recently purchased at the LQS during their sale. I was really excited and thought it would be quick to put together. No such luck. The "squares" ended up 8" x 8.5" and it took me time to be okay with trimming them down to square. I set them in the periwinkle, which I absolutely love, but realized I didn't have enough. So...to the side it goes until I can get some more.

So, I needed to do something in a small amount of time, you know, before nap time ended, so I pulled out this beautiful set of fabric a friend found for me up north. I saw a quilt at our local quilt show, posted here, and it's my inspiration. I think I'll set the blocks in black and use black in the other blocks. Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

Way too much going on. I am not used to having this many projects at once and it's a little overwhelming. I guess whatever I need to do to get myself back on track.  It's just a matter of time, and hopefully once I have a few smaller projects finished I can feel good about getting some other things going.

Pirates Room Finished

I might be back on track. I cranked it out and I finished my sons Pirates Quilt! He was so excited to have it all set up. He was ready to go to bed an hour early just to hang out in his new bed... so sweet!

I got my inspiration from a pattern I found online made with this set of fabric. When I went back to get more information from the pattern it was gone. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm glad I was able to at least get my ideas before it disappeared.

If you remember, I finished the curtains for his room in November. It was both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. I was reminded every time I saw them that I hadn't finished the quilt yet.

Ha ha, in your face curtains! I have now finished the quilt to match. :) It feels good. The square pictures were actually part of a panel, but I didn't like how it cut out; it wasn't squared up. So, I decided to take a little extra time and frame of the squares.  Totally worth it.  They look so much better.

Of course, for the back I used the leftover fabrics. I don't love this look, but I like the price. I'm happy with how it turned out and think it was a good compliment to the front. My son didn't even notice so no problem.

I did a basic meander for quilting. Keeping it simple, and machine sewed the binding so I could crank it out faster.

So now I have a very small amount of scraps and a big blank wall above his bed. I'm thinking a quick wall hanging might be a good way to use those up. I need to see if I have enough, but it would be nice.

Completing this one helped me move on to another project.  Awesome! I already have the top almost completed. It will be coming soon. Until then, I will basque in the glory of my finish!