Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along: Aeroplane Bag

Good Day Folks! 

So happy to be here helping out Lindsay promote her book. I absolutely love it and there are a couple of quilts I can't wait to make!

When I first heard about this I knew it would be fun to make part of the quilt top and turn it into a bag. But what bag? I have a long list of bags I want to make (much to my husbands disgust!) so I thought it would be a good time to try one out. I am absolutely in love with anything SewSweetness so I decided to try out her Aeroplane bag pattern. This is a larger bag perfect for an overnight trip or getaway weekend!!

The next step was deciding on the fabric. Never an easy job. I finally decided on a charm pack of Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie for Moda. Who can resist some cute squirrels and hedgehogs??

The next step was to figure out how many blocks I needed to make for the bag. I got out my trusty graph paper and worked out the numbers. I decided to use the blue background on the top and the green on the bottom. I made them a little bigger so that I wouldn't have too small pieces.  

Once I had the blocks made and assembled I decided to quilt the panel pieces. I wanted a little more thickness so I put a layer of leftover batting between the fabric and the Soft & Stable. The Soft & Stable was cut to the appropriate size and the batting and fabric were a little bigger. 

I recently got this amazing book by Angela Walters 

so I used this opportunity to try something different on the top- which I loved!

Not perfect but definitely fun to try! 

I kept the bottom a little simpler.

I was thinking about turning it into diamonds but I really liked this look.

The bag pattern calls for zippered pockets inside but I had some extra strips of the blocks left over so I used these to make normal pockets on the inside and I partitioned them. 

As you can also see I used some bright yellow for the lining. I love bright colors inside so that you can see what is lurking in your bag!

I also added feet to the bag. Feet are super easy to do- if you can use brads you can use these! I went with silver and used 8 of them. I always use some extra batting- or in this case Soft & Stable when attaching them to make it a little more secure. 

Here's what it looked like on the outside.

Once that was done I finished the bag as directed and it came out great!!

It was super fun trying out a new quilt pattern and a bag pattern! I am super stoked that I got to be apart of this quilt along with Lindsay and wish her the best of luck with her book as well as her new little guy!!

Take care and Sew on!

~Kim

3 more blocks!!

Here are this week's blocks. Be sure to check out the tips from Gina and Kim too!

40

41

42

I have started working again to help us cover costs on the house we are building. It was supposed to be part-time but they are short of help and I ended up working 11 days in a row. Needless to say I was tired. I then had 3 days off so I made 2 bags (to be revealed later) and I finished all of these blocks. If you would like to see them all as well as what my wall looks like with all 100 on them, feel free to check out my Facebook page. 

Take care and happy sewing!!

~K

Books, Books, and more Books!!!

The following is a shameless attempt and encouraging others to buy my friends' books with hope that I will be give one in return!!!

Seriously folks, I must admit that I feel blessed by the quilting friends that I have made over the past 2 years....I can't believe that it has been just 2 years since I made my first bag and started sewing seriously. The friends I have made are amazing!!! Let me tell you what a few of them have going on!!

The first is obviously the most important!! Seriously, she is the lady that got me going. Her pattern was my first bag and I have helped her out whenever I can and she has helped me out immensely!!!

Let me present the lovely and talented Sara Lawson of SewSweetness. 

She has been working very hard and her first (of many I am sure) is coming out soon! You can read all about it here and pre-order it here!!!

There may or may not be something that I sewed in this book too!!

The next young lady is one that I met through the afore-mentioned Sara Lawson when I moved from TX to IN last year. Through her I joined the Indy Modern Quilt Guild. Unfortunately, she then decided to move to Nashville just as I was getting to know her! 

On a side note:When we first became friends on FB I noticed that we had mutual friends and this surprised me, especially because of who they were. I worked as a manager at a restaurant on the West side of Columbus, OH and she was friends with some of my employees because she is originally from that area and went to school with them!! Small world!

Anywho- she has a great book out- sure to be the first of many! She is also in too many magazines and online places to mention!!

Read more on her blog about it here and pre-order it here!!

The third and final person is one that is dear to my heart. He has overcome many challenges in his life and keeps on going. I am currently super jealous of him as he and his beautiful family are going to be spending a year in England drinking tea and eating pastries and talking with a haughty accent!!

His (that's right it's a MAN) name is Thomas Knauer. He is someone that is highly educated and always speaks his mind and I am in awe of him because of this!

He has a book coming out also! Not only are there quilts but it's a book worth reading. His insights are amazing! If really makes you think about why people do what they do and how it impacts the world and those in it.

Please check out his blog and learn more about here! Start from the very beginning people!! That is a very good place to start!! He also has a pattern featured in this book that just came out....

And in a magazine that is at your local stores this month!

OK, that's all for now! 

BTW- all photos were borrowed....yeah that's the word.....from various FB sources and Amazon.

So go buy some books and help these wonderful folks be able to buy more fabric!!!

~K

Just a week late....!

So YES I did miss last week's post on the Tula Blocks but we were in Wisconsin on a short little family trip. I mean when you have this for a pool in a hotel....

Can you blame me for not posting??? And don't even ask me how many times we stopped at Costco for afternoon snacks!!! lol

So last weeks blocks were 16, 17, & 18. This is the 2nd section of the book and it focus's on the rectangles. 

So for 16 we have this one- I am sure its just the picture that looks crooked and not the fabric!

I love the pink and yellow of #17

 And here is #18 in all its wonkiness!! It will all straighten out with the borders...or look worse!

Sara also announced the winner for June! Yeah if that was you!! And you can also see July's prizes to be sure to link up your blocks to the appropriate posts! (Which I need to do too!)

So now we get to this weeks blocks which are 19, 20 & 21.

My #19- love that it is in Spanish and French and pointy fingers!

#20 shares some mustardy goodness!

And #21 is simple but sweet.  

I have been trying to work ahead on these blocks and are making a decent dent in them. I also just finished 3 quilts for the shop I work at so be looking for that post later in the week.....I know its already Wed but its not over yet!

Take care and stay dry!!

~Kim

Blocks 1-3....I'm a little behind!

Blocks 1-3 of the Tula Pink City Sampler are being featured this week. I am still cutting and bagging my blocks. I will be working on them in a week and a half when I travel to the Windy City to hang out with the ever-marvelous Sara Lawson. Hope you can wait until then. I only got a box of 50 snack bags, so I think I will need to swing back by the Dollar Store and get another box!!

Happy Sewing and be sure to keep up and join in on the Sew A Long!!

Christmas Gifts

Now that all the Christmas's are over I can share some of the projects that I made for gifts!

Sara posted this tutorial and I had to make some of these for my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and grandma-in-law (is that what my mother-in-laws mom is??). 

There is another one somewhere but I can't find the other picture! The fabric is all Amy Butler scraps from different projects I had. My sis-in-law love her a good 'tache so I had to applique some on hers!

After seeing the similar blanket that I made for myself, my mother-in-law hinted that she would like one so I got some fabrics I knew she would love and made her one! I love the apple cores!

I had to make my mom a blanket since her dog has taken over hers!

I would have like to quilt it more but time ran short and I had to make due with what I have.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday season!!

~Kim

Tula Pink Pattern Reviews

Hi everyone! I am so glad that Sara asked me to test a quilt pattern for her. I had so much fun doing it. I am Kim from Kim's Krafts. I have been following Sara during the past year and then some and love all that she does. I actually did 2 patterns, one has already been done but I wanted to show you my version too!

The first one I did was the Grand Salon from the book Quilts from the House of Tula Pink! If you don't have this book you must get it! It is amazing and super informative. 

As you can tell from the pictures in the book, this quilt is a make-your-wall- look-pretty quilt and not so much a get-cuddly quilt. It really does look like a wall with pictures hanging on it. The first thing I had to decide was what fabric to use. I had just recently moved to Indianapolis so this was the perfect excuse to go visit Crimson Tate. I had heard soo much about it and fell in love instantly!! I looked around a million times and kept being pulled to some Amy Butler prints. I finally decide on prints from 2 different lines of hers that all went together, along with my favorite color of blue for the background and some brown stripes for the frames. She even had ribbon to match the fabric!!

This is a bag from the shop with a pic of the too cute Heather on it!!

I love how the brown lines aren't perfectly straight!

The only thing I couldn't find to buy was the buttons. I ended up making my own. It was super easy thanks to the kits I found to make them. And I just used scraps from the fabrics I was already using.

I made the buttons in 2 different sizes for variety.

The pattern calls for 1/4 yd of 8 prints for the pictures. I got a half yard of each because I knew they would be fussy cut and I wanted to make sure I could get good pictures from them. How much you need of your fabric depends on the size of your picture that you want to use. I did have some background fabric left over which is fine with me as I will use it to bind. I also had quite a bit of the strips left over from the frames. I might have mis-cut but maybe one shouldn't cut all of them at one time. 

The biggest tip I have when cutting these pieces is STAY ORGANIZED. You will have different sizes of the background and frame pieces and it is very easy to get them mixed up. I clipped the like ones together and the put a note on them so I knew what was what.

Once the cutting was done, it was smooth sailing! Straight stitches with rectangles. This would be a good beginner project as there wasn't a lot that could be messed up. Her diagrams are great and simple to follow. It went together really well and I like the fact that there aren't a lot of seams to line up. It is very forgiving if you happen to have some not-so-straight lines!

I machine stitched the ribbon down with coordinating thread and it was pretty easy. It says not to put the buttons on until after it is quilted but I pinned mine on so that you can see the finished product!

I love how it looks and how the blue pops!!

In the book she has it quilted to look like a wooden wall which I love. 

I am undecided as to how to finish it, but I did get this AB fabric from her Midwest Mod collection on sale so I will definitely be using this for the back with the blue for the binding!

Let me know if you have any questions and hope you like it!!

The 2nd pattern I did was Space Dust. When I heard that this was paper piercing, I HAD to have it. I got hooked on paper piercing during Sara's New York Beauty quilt along. Once again I couldn't decide on the fabric and I was cruising out there on Etsy and fell in love with some (you guessed it!) Amy Butler polka dots.

The pattern called for 22 1/4 yds of fabric and as you can see I used 5. I got a yard of 4 of them and 1.5 yd of the cherry one to cover the rest. I had a little of each left (might have had to re-cut some triangles a couple times). For the background I found some awesome black with shiny silver sprayed across it. I only got 2 yards of the background as I didn't want the full sized quilt but wanted more of a wall hanging. (Thanks for the idea Sara!!) I had enough left to cut the binding for it too!

The week that I did this was the week of premieres on TV so I sewed during the day and cut and de-papered at night. It worked out pretty good for me. 

I already knew how to piece this together but Tula gives an awesome step by step guide and if you have have never done this before please practice with scraps before you dig into the real thing! As for color placement, I can't just be random- I am one of those plan it out people. I printed a blank copy of the pattern, got my sons crayons, and colored away. It took a few different designs to figure out what I wanted and what wouldn't make me go craaazy!

This was the final picture decided on. I think it came together well!

I had this hanging up during my son's birthday party and everyone loved it.

No clue as to how to quilt it! Nothing I can do to it will compare to how Tula had hers sewn....

But maybe one day I will come up with something that will give it a little bit of justice!!

Thanks again Sara for putting this all together and good luck to everyone out there getting their Tula on!!