Apr 11, 2017

And then I made a wallet

I actually made 2 wallets but the first one was really ... overboard. I broke my walking foot on it. It's fixable, but also regularly rebreakable.

Both wallets are made on the Slimline Wallet pattern. Six card slots aren't enough for me, so I added a second unit to the design.

Wallet #1 had the increased bulk of RFID-blocking fabric in the card panels. For the record, I don't think I needed that technology in my fabric but I bought it on impulse and thought I should use it before I forgot was it was. It also had leather from my old couch as its exterior and that added even more bulk. I had trouble getting the stitches to behave and I don't think my machine (a good Janome 8900) would like to do the top-stitching to finish that wallet off.


Super cute Riley Blake fabrics, though, right?

So then I cut the fabric for wallet #2 and didn't use linen on the outside, but instead pieced a 9-patch of 2 kinds of stripes. On the inside, I have three colours of reverse dots.



This is the extra card slot unit:


It's a pretty quick pattern, especially the second time you make it.



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Apr 9, 2017

Kinda famous

I went to a workshop led by Maureen Wood on a Judy Neimeyer pattern called Broken Daisy. The pattern gives you templates and instructions for 4 placemats but I didn't bring enough of the gray fabric for 4, so I cut the templates in class for 2. I pulled my fabric months in advance, and forgot that I didn't have enough when I packed it up to go to the workshop.  

I was thinking I may or may not make the other 2. Maureen told me to keep the template pieces so I could do 2 more later (good idea!!). I was thinking of all the placemats my mum had ever made me and that I didn't have space for any more ... I thought the pattern would make a great tote bag and I had just brought home some waxed canvas so that idea bloomed.

I thought that I could make 2 totes with one placemat each, so I drew up a pattern and then got to putting them together.

I quilted the placemats on warm & natural batting with Aurifil 50wt in 2600 dove gray. I love that colour so much that I also bought it in 28wt and I used that to quilt the back panels. It's just a little bit more obvious. One of the backs got a wonky spiralling square and one got a big circlish spiral surrounded by little spirals.





I posted these pictures on the Quiltworx Facebook group and I'm feeling kinda famous. Over 150 people have liked, loved or wowed the post, and 6 have shared it. I've never seen that kind of reaction to anything I've posted ever.

Crazy, right? I mean, I'm no Kardashian, but still.

I'm signed up for the next possible date of a retreat with Maureen and I'll do a full-size quilt pattern then. I love how the patterns are so organized and logical so I don't find the idea of many templates, many papers and many bags daunting. It's going to be rad.



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