Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I know, we're a full week in at this point.  I feel like I'm still playing catch-up.  I have a few end-of-the-year finishes I haven't shared.  We spent the last week of 2024 in Portland, Oregon visiting my brother, his family, and my dad.  We had a great time.   I have a few end-of-the-year finishes I haven't shared. I don't want to post them at once, so I'll just start with the Double Zip Gear bags.  This is a By Annie pattern that I have made before.  I made my brother one in Portland Timbers (soccer team) fabric and gave it to him over the summer.  My niece loved it and wanted to use it when she went to Girl Scout camp, so I decided she needed her own.  My sister-in-law indicated she'd like to have one as well. 

The rainbow axolotls are my favorite; that one is my niece's.  My sister-in-law loves llamas and my friend Kate found this great llama fabric at a quilt shop in the fall; she bought a yard and we split it.  These are all the small size, which I find to be the most useful. 

 

On the Portland trip, one of the highlights was going to Daiso, what my sister-in-law describes as a "Japanese Dollar Store."  Prices went up as high as like $15, but many things were $1.75.  My favorite find: a little case meant for beading that is absolutely perfect for sewing machine feet!  I labeled it when I got home.  I love it!

Now that we've started 2025, are you looking for a new sewing project?  Consider joining the Stay At Home Round Robin!  Abbreviated SAHRR, this is a quilt-along created by Gail of Quilting Gail and hosted by 6 different quilters.  Each week, one of the hosts picks a quilting prompt and you add that element to your quilt.  Your fabric, your design, your size, very few rules!  We'll start on Monday, January 13th.  You can get more details here.

I hope you have a had a great start to 2025!

What's In Your Bag?

This month's Island Batik challenge is my favorite annual challenge: a bag made with a pattern By Annie.  We got to pick out a By Annie pattern as well as fabrics of our choice from the most recent batch of Island Batik collections.  I've loved By Annie patterns since my first bag, made for a 2020 Island Batik challenge.  Since then, I've made a whole lot of By Annie patterns and I love them all!  I chose Totally Trendy Totes II for this year's challenge.  This is one of Annie's older patterns, so I had to get permission from Annie herself to make this one for my Island Batik challenge.  

I made a video showing off the totes and walking through some of the things I did a little differently, as well as showing the features of the tote. 

Totally Trendy Totes has directions for totes in three sizes.  The smallest is actually called Medium, and then there is Large and Extra Large.  I was sent all the supplies needed to make the bags.  If we were making more than one bag, we were encouraged to use multiple fabric collections.  I picked out fabrics from Flower Pot for two of the bags and Daisy May for the third bag.  I picked out Flower Pot fabrics before Jennifer Fulton asked me to participate in the blog hop for her signature line, so I got an extra dose of these beautiful fabrics!

My original plan was to make one bag in each of the three sizes.  I made the medium first, which feels like a pretty standard tote bag size.  Then I made the large in the blue and pink Flower Pot fabrics.  It felt huge!  I didn't think I'd use a bag bigger than the large.  I even had an impromptu family meeting and we decided that the large was plenty big for us, that we wouldn't use something bigger, and that the extra large would probably be too heavy to carry if we filled it.  So instead of making an extra large with my Daisy May fabrics, I made a second large.  I'm very happy with all of them!

 

What they look like full.  They hold a lot!

  Items used in this project were provided to me by Island Batik, By Annie, Schmetz, Aurifil, and Oliso.

 

Annie calls for 3 fabrics for each bag but of course you can use more. There is a slip pocket on each side of the outside. I like my pockets to each be different, so I used additional fabrics for the second pocket on each bag.  For the pink & blue bag, I cut a daisy with my Accuquilt & Daisy die from other Flower Pot fabrics and appliqued it on the pockets.  It's my favorite pocket!   

As I mentioned, this is an older By Annie pattern.  That means it does not have the features that the newer patterns have, meaning no easy-to-print sheet of labels for pieces to cut out and no add-on video for the more difficult steps.  I've gotten spoiled with her newer patterns and the extra features!  She does update a few of her older patterns each year, so Totally Trendy Totes may get an update at some point.

This is honestly one of the most straightforward and easiest of her patterns that I've made.  The only tricky part is the recessed zipper.  While there is no add-on video, Annie did cover her method for a recessed zipper on one of her Live with Annie sessions, now available to view on youtube.  It's the week 39 video and the recessed zipper part starts around minute 46:30.  Her walk-through of the process was really all I needed.  If you want a more in-depth look at making the bag in its entirety, the maker Quilt Passion has a series of videos on the entire construction, but the videos are not in English.  The visual was still nice to have as reassurance.  (I'm pretty sure the videos are in Swedish, though it may be Dutch.  It's a Germanic language but is not German.  My husband was very confused as to why I was watching videos in a language I do not understand!) 

recessed zipper

One thing I like about Annie's patterns is that once you understand her techniques, you can add features from different bags.  Totally Trendy Totes has two external slip pockets, one on each side of the bag.  I wanted to add a zipper to one slip pocket so I would have a more secure option.  Other bags of Annie's feature a zippered pocket, so I used methods from other bags.  I have honestly done it enough I could do it from memory, but I did pull out my Out & About pattern from last year's Island Batik/By Annie challenge and double checked the direction for that front zippered pocket. 

I also added a short strap with a D-ring to the top of the inside of each bag, as a place to hook my keys.  A commercially made bag I have has a similar ring and I have found it really helpful not to have to dig for my keys, so I used Annie methods from other bags for attaching a D ring and made a nice key fob.  I love being able to add touches that make my bags useful for me and how I will use them!

 

The best part of By Annie bags, other than Annie's fantastically thorough directions, is the Soft & Stable.  It helps bags keep their shape.  I use an Elmer's disappearing purple glue stick to adhere the fabric on either side of the Soft & Stable before quilting with Aurifil Thread and Schmetz needles. I feel very fancy when I use my Oliso iron to get the fabric wrinkle-free before layering it on the Soft & Stable.

I am usually so excited to make my By Annie bag that I do that as soon as the boxes that include my supplies arrive!  This year, I really wanted these totes for my family vacation to the beach.  I had the bag fabrics in the washer within 24 hours of my July box arriving and I started on the bag within 28 hours!  I do not usually pre-wash my fabrics for quilts, but I do pre-wash for bags.

I really love my totes and have been using them since I made them in July.  The colors are so bright and fun!  It's a fabulous pattern.  Thanks to Island Batik and By Annie for all the fabric and supplies to make these beautiful bags!

Out and About

Welcome to another Island Batik blog hop, featuring collections that will be making their way to quilt shops near you in the next few weeks & months.  This is a project I look forward to every year: making one of the bags designed by Annie Unrein of By Annie.  I started making her patterns in 2020 when they were first one of the Island Batik Ambassador challenges, and I found that while I struggle with most 3D projects and bag patterns, something about Annie's designs just click for me!

For this challenge, I was given the Limerick collection by Kathy Engle for Raija of Quilter's Treasure Chest.  Limerick is a dazzling collection of purples, teals, and greens.  The pattern I picked out called for 4 fabrics, and we had to choose months ago.  Imagine my surprise when, in addition to the fabric specifically for the bag, I was sent a full half yard bundle of the whole collection!  Because of this, I actually used more than the original 4 fabrics in my bag.  There are 7 fabrics from Limerick, plus the always-available basic Navy in my bag.

Which bag to choose is always the hardest part for me--even harder than picking the fabric!  I had my eye on one of the new patterns Annie released last year, but ended up changing my mind.  My family has a big trip to Universal Orlando planned next month to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and I thought a small backpack would be prefect for that trip.  Annie has several backpacks, and I was most interested in Out and About.  It has a pleasing shape, isn't too big, and has lots of pockets and compartments.  

 Items used in this project were provided to me by Island Batik, By Annie, Schmetz, and Aurifil.

 

inside of the compartment on the front

I was sent a kit that had everything I would need to make Out and About, including Soft and Stable, the foam that makes Annie's bags stand up so well and look professional, mesh for some of the pockets, fold-over elastic, and the hardware for the backpack straps.  And, of course, the beautiful Island Batik fabrics I chose for my bag!

 

inside of main bag

Annie's bags have a lot of steps and take me a fair amount of time.  They aren't difficult so much as time-consuming.  I also highly recommend watching her accompanying add-on videos that go over the difficult steps in a bag.  I find these videos super helpful!

Watching the add-on video for the next-to-last step

This bag has a front compartment.  They way Annie designed it, there is a border on the top of that compartment, just under the zipper.  Since I picked Out and About, I have been thinking about a way to jazz up that pocket, either just the border or the whole front pocket.  I thought about an embroidery design but couldn't find anything I liked, and was also worried about finishing in time.  Ultimately, I got out the daisy die and my accuquilt and cut daisy petals out of my main fabric to make an appliqued flower for the front.  I absolutely love how that turned out!  I used another fabric from Limerick for the daisy center.  

this bag is cat approved

I use a Schmetz top-stitch needle whenever I make one of Annie's bags, and this was no exception.  I had no trouble going through all the layers of this bag--it really helps to go slow!!  I used three different colors of Aurifil thread, and switched thread fairly frequently depending on the fabrics.  The main purple dotted fabric went with Aurifil #2545 Medium Purple, Aurufil #2784 Dark Navy blended beautifully with Island Batik's Navy, and Aurifil #2720 Light Delft Blue worked well with the lighter dotted fabric I chose as the lining.  

I am beyond pleased with my purple Out and About backpack and can't wait to use it on my trip!!!  Two other ambassadors made By Annie bags using fabrics from the Limerick collection today, be sure to visit them:  Maryellen of Mary Mack Made Mine and Leah of Quilted Delights

Bowl Me Over

Back in April or May, I joined a Slow Along with Randi of Randi's Roost to make By Annie's Bowl Me Over.  Bowl Me Over is a fairly large purse.  The Slow Along ended around the 4th of July but I finished in early September and just never got to posting.  I want to start using it as my daily purse and felt like I needed to post it first!

Note: Slow Along is not a typo.  Randi calls her sew alongs Slow Alongs because she runs them at a very relaxed pace, which is great for bags with as many steps as Annie's bags have!

 

All fabrics are Island Batik, and I think there are 6 different fabrics.  The main fabric is one I bought because I love it so much, it's from an older collection called Floral Wonders by Jerry Khiev and I bought it at Sew What & Batiks Etc in Wytheville, VA last summer.  The rest of the fabrics are leftover from various collections I've been sent by Island Batik over the years.  

Buttercup does like to come check on my progress every once in a while!

The inside, all clipped together.

I'm excited to see how I like this as my daily purse!

Travel Essentials

I've recently gotten back into bag-making mode with more By Annie patterns.  I've got a few projects in mind, and even a few started, but the first one I finished is Travel Essentials.  This is designed as a hanging toiletries bag, and I completed mine in time to take it to a cabin in the mountains of Virginia that my dad rents every year, and we always join him for a long weekend.  I loved having Travel Essentials hanging from the towel rod in the bathroom.  Having a hanging strap that folds away into one of the pockets is quite clever, and the bag folds up fairly compactly, given how much it holds.

I have lost the selvage that I set aside that has the name of the fabric but I really, really like it.  The pattern calls for three fabrics but I really didn't have a fabric in my stash that I liked as a lining, so I did some calculations and determined that I had enough to use the same fabric for the inside and outside.  This has the added bonus that I think I'll actually see the inside more, so I can see more of the fabric I really love.  The binding fabric is a Kona solid.  

 

I love Annie's patterns, they are so thorough and the bags always come out so professional looking!  There are a lot of steps, but if you take them one by one, you get through it.  I'm happy with this finish!

Double Zip Gear Bag, Patterns By Annie

Island Batik's ambassador challenge this month is one of my favorites: It's In the Bag with By Annie.  Each of us got to choose one of Annie's fabulous patterns and the beautiful Island Batiks to make it with.  I chose the Double Zip Gear Bag and made all three sizes.  The fabrics are from the Bee Kind collection by Kathy Engle for Swan Amity Studios.  I was sent a bit with absolutely everything I need to make all three double zip gear bags!

 

Annie's patterns all have a page that you can photocopy with little boxes for each piece you cut out, so you know what it is cut out of, the size, and the role it plays in the bag.  Since I was making all three size bags and each would feature a different colored fabric, I photocopied each size onto colored paper that coordinated with the color of the bag.  This helped eliminate mixing up the pieces from the different sized bags.  I made the medium (green) bag first.

 

I quilted each of my three bags with a slightly different quilting pattern, though all used straight lines.  I matched my Aurifil thread to each fabric and used a Schmetz topstitch needle for the entire process. 

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, By Annie, Schmetz, & Aurifil.

 

Annie's bags have a lot of steps but that's part of what I love about them--they are so thorough!  And you end up with very professional looking bags.  Many patterns, including double zip gear bag, have an add-on video that walks you through the more difficult steps of the pattern.   These videos are really helpful.  Annie also has a series of general videos on her website that go over some bag-making basics, like working with zippers and beautiful bindings.

 

I love my completed bags!  They are really useful and have a lot of pockets.  Each bag has two large zippered pockets on the exterior, one made with mesh and one with quilted fabric.  On the inside, there are slip pockets with elastic on both sides, and those can be subdivided into smaller pockets as desired.  I think the medium is the most useful size, though I know I will be happy to have and use all three. And when I'm not using them, they nest together!  

 

While Double Zip Gear Bag is not the easiest of Annie's patterns that I have made, if you follow the instructions and go step by step, you will end up with a beautiful, useful, professional looking bag!

Get on Board with Sewing blog hop

Happy National Sewing Month!  To celebrate, Brenda of Songbird Designs and Melva of Melva Loves Scraps are co-hosting the "Get on Board With Sewing" blog hop to celebrate all forms of sewing.  

 

 

 

Participants were encouraged to complete and share a project that fits the theme, which I am interpreting to be a beach/surf theme.  I had the perfect project in a By Annie bag that I stalled on about 2/3 through the process.  The hop was fantastic motivation to get it finished. 

 

This is the Roll With It pattern, designed to hold either a yoga mat or a beach towel.  I had been wanting to make one for both me and for Fire Monkey, my 8-year-old son.  I started with his.  He's been in a shark phase for a few years now so naturally I had to use shark fabric.  I found a fun and colorful clown fish fabric for the lining.  The binding and handles are Kona Ocean, also appropriate for the theme. 😀 The pattern calls for coordinating fabric on one side to differentiate the two side pockets, but I didn't want just solid blue, so I create an applique shark from the same coloring sheet I used on my Octopus's Garden quilt several years ago.  You can't have too many sharks!  Or so Fire Monkey would say, anyway.

I finished this in time for us to take it to our friends' neighborhood pool to celebrate the end of summer weekend before school started.  I meant to take photos at the pool but I got caught up in the fun and completely forgot!  It worked great, though, and I liked that Fire Monkey could now be responsible for his own towel and other things he might want, like sunglasses or goggles.  I will be making another for me for sure!

For the Get on Board with Sewing hop, we are also encouraged to share how we got started with sewing.  The vast majority of my sewing is quilting, and I got started when I was in college.  We had a Craft Center that was an extracurricular.  I had always done different crafts and like to try different things, so I signed up for a quilting class at the start of my sophomore year.  Well, I fell in love with quilting and while I still dabble in other creative things, quilting is really my passion.  

To celebrate the hop, there is a giveaway!  Enter with the Rafflecopter by September 12th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Be sure to visit all the great bloggers encouraging everyone to Get on Board With Sewing!

Thursday, September 1

Anorina @ Samelia’s Mum

Brenda @ Songbird Designs

Cheree @ The Morning Latte

Denise @ For the Love of Geese

 

Friday, September 2

Karen @  Karen’s Korner  

Nancy @  Grace and Peace Quilting

Sharon & Susan @ Ms P Designs USA

Nina-Marie @  Creations – Quilts, Art, Whatever

 

Monday, September 5

Karrin @  Karrin’s Crazy World

Linda @  Texas Quilt Gal

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood     You Are Here!           

 

Tuesday, September 6

Gail @  Quilting Gail

Joy @ Days Filled with Joy

Melisa @  Pinker ‘n’ Punkin Quilting & Stitching

Carol @ Quilt Schmilt      

 

Wednesday, September 7

Melva @  Melva Loves Scraps

Tammy  @ Tamarinis

Leah @  Quilted Delights

Patricia  @  Faith, Trust & Breast Cancer

Road Trip!

It's hard to believe that summer is essentially over!  I'm still not entirely sure where it went!  Things were very busy at work as we moved into a gorgeous new library and I am the details person at work, so I was very involved with the move and getting ready to open.  But my family did manage to take two short trips.  I had been wanting to make the Road Trip pattern By Annie and I managed to get it done before our July trip to Ohio.

Annie's patterns are very thorough.  There are a lot of steps so they take some time, but the results are always beautiful and totally worth it.  I love this one!  There are a ton of pockets.  My vision was always to load this up with everything Fire Monkey would want for a road trip, both in the car and once we made it to our destination.  It fit everything: friends (stuffed animals), his tablet, books, extra masks.  Our car bingo set was in there too, but I don't think you can see it in the photos. There are also two other Annie bags in this one, a large clam up that holds his cars & trucks, and a pencil case made with firetruck fabric.  

The main fabric is Little Explorers by Sarah Frederking; I bought it at my local quilt shop from their sale room.  I love all the little animals in it!  The binding/coordinating fabric is Kona Enchanted, their color of the year in 2020.  The lining fabric is a fun multi-color print that was leftover backing from my Exploding Heart teacher quilt.

This is a great bag and it fits so much.  It was great for Fire Monkey to have everything right next to him in the car, and then we could just carry into the house we rented when we got to our destination and he had everything there, too.  I know Road Trip will go with us on many future trips!