AMANDA'S BASKETS: QUILTED BAG MY OWN WAY...

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

QUILTED BAG MY OWN WAY...

We had a ton of rain today...I had to take someone to drop their car off at the garage and the windshield wipers in my truck had a hard time keeping up it was raining that hard.

Today, I wanted to try to make a bag with quilting. Instead of going to the internet, I decided to try and figure it out myself. I began with two fabrics and cut out two (one of each color) pieces 11" by 26", two (again one of each color) pieces 2" by 46" and four pieces (two of each color) 9" by 5".

Sew the two long pieces (2" by 46"), right sides together with 5/8 inch seam on both edges.. After sewing, turn and iron the long piece. Then top stitch 1/4 inch from the edge on both edges and cut in half. These are the handles.

Next take the 9" by 5", one piece of each color, right sides together. Sew around the perimeter leaving about two inches to turn after trimming the corners and then iron. Sew two of these and put aside until needed for pockets.

Now take one of the large pieces of fabric and layer with a piece of batting leaving one inch on all sides.

Add the yellow piece of fabric, wrong sides sandwiching the batting. You can see how the batting fit here...

Next put one of the 9" by 5" finished pieces where desired on the front side of the large piece and sew one line from top to bottom to bottom attaching the pocket.

Then take one side of the small piece and folded it over to the other side.

Sew several more straight lines an inch apart from top to bottom. On the last line put the pocket back in the original position and catch it with the sewn line. Repeat on the other side and this is what it will look like. Finally sew across the bottom of the pocket only.

Fold in half with outside (purple) on the inside. Double fold the edges so no unfinished edge is showing and pin. (Note: This will strengthen the edges.

Sew the fold twice.

Fold the top down with a double fold to hide the unfinished edges. Tuck the handles under to conceal unfinished edge. Pin and sew at the bottom of the fold with 1/4" inch seam. (Note: The sides are very thick so sew slowly.) Sew around one more time 1/4" from the top, again catching the handles.

Finally take the remaining 9" by 5" finished pocket and fold it lengthwise leaving about an inch at the top and sew up the sides. Then sew the top on the inside of the bag between the straps.

And that's it. A finished quilted bag.

For the first time sewing this, I think I did a good job. And the batting and double folded side seams give the bag a lot of strength.

That's all for tonight...

Keep safe and stay well...

Talk with you tomorrow...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?