Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Grocery Bag Holder and a GIVEAWAY

Hello to all! Today we have a little show n' tell, a reminder, a question and finally, a giveaway.

Show 'n Tell

I've been getting into the low volume scraps again and used Jeni's tutorial at In Color Order to make a Grocery Bag Holder.

GroceryBagHolder5

I made the larger size and that sucker can hold some bags, it's great.

Projects like these (which don't take a lot of wear and tear) are ideal opportunities to use up some batting scraps, so I pieced together a few offcuts.

GroceryBagHolder1

Initially I was going to use a zigzag stitch to join the pieces (which I have done before), but went for using fusible interfacing instead. It was very quick and very easy. (I also find zigzag can give you a bit of a wavy finish, which isn't so great.)

I just squared up my batting offcuts after giving them a light press:

GroceryBagHolder3

Then I butted the edges together and used some 3 inch wide strips of interfacing to join them together.

GroceryBagHolder2
*Bonus - as well as using up batting offcuts, you can also use up interfacing offcuts.

I actually used two different types of cotton batting (because they fit the project better) but I wouldn't recommend this generally - I'd only piece the same types of batting offcuts together.

Once it was all ironed down I basted my quilt sandwich as normal, but I faced the fusible toward the quilt back so it wouldn't show through the lighter coloured patchwork.  Quilt as normal, no problemo.

GroceryBagHolder4
Some pretty 3/4 inch twill tape to hang it up with

A Reminder

It's do or die time. Google Reader dies on 1 July, so all the doing is in your camp! Don't forget to continue your subscription either via email (see upper right) or through another feed aggregator such as Bloglovin' (see buttons right/below) or Feedly (put www.bonjourquilts.com in the add content box).

Follow on Bloglovin

A Question

I'd like to try some Foundation Paper Piecing but don't know where to start. Do any of you have any good recommendations for learning this technique?

A Giveaway. Yay!

I've just turned in a project for the Australian quilting magazine Down Under Quilts. Thanks to them, I have a copy of the latest issue to give away. Open to everyone, everywhere, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I'll pull a name out of the hat at the end of the week.

And yes, if you leave me a Foundation Paper Piecing tip you will absolutely get a second entry.
If you let me know you've subscribed, you'll get a third (just leave each as a separate comment).
I reward helpfulness!

Hope you're all having a great week so far, if not - make it one!

41 comments:

Needle little Balance said...

Ok, where to start:
#1: Giveaway, yay!

#2: I learned foundation paper piecing here:
http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/?p=1156
(A very very good tutorial and there are more FPP blocks in this sampler)

#3: I don´t need to follow because you are in my blogroll (Iknow- blogrolls are sooo 2011 but I love mine)

Greetings from Austria to Australia!

Needle little Balance said...

I forgot
# 4 Really nice grocery bag holder and thanks for the tip to use interfacing to join pieces of batting together, I always disliked that I could feel the zigzag where the battings met.

Nilya said...

Lovely roll!!!

Nilya said...

Maybe this helps:
http://thelittlestthistlecraftshop.blogspot.de/2012/02/foundation-paper-piecing-for-terrified_27.html

Anonymous said...

Love the grocery bag holder! I'm using Feedly, and you're already in it because I migrated all of my feeds from Google Reader. It has officially switched over to the Feedly Cloud, so I'm good to go. As for foundation piecing, I prefer using a freezer paper method because I can reuse the foundations as many as ten times. No ripping for me! A friend and I both wrote Skill Builder posts about this - here's mine, with freezer paper: http://piecemealquilts.com/2012/01/28/skill-builder-series-part-14a-foundation-piecing/ And here's hers with regular paper foundations: http://greycatquilts.com/2012/10/22/skill-builders-series-foundation-piecing/

Sharon E said...

The fabric is awesome! Nicely done. thanks for a chance at the give away.

Kimberly Paradiso said...

Hi Kirsty, I've been following you for several months now, and migrated my feed to Bloglovin recently. I found you while doing an image search for chevron quilt ideas and just loved your mod chevron quilt! Looking forward to making one one of these days, I'm still pretty new at quilting and learning new techniques. I am soooo happy you posted about your grocery bag holder and how you pieced the batting together! Thank you, thank you! I've been wondering how to use up all the batting and interfacing scraps I have, plus, I just ran into the problem of not having a big enough piece of batting for a quilt but having all these scraps! Do you ever use this method in a quilt? The bag holder is the best lookin one I've seen to boot! For paper piecing, I certainly haven't ventured there yet, I recently discovered Cath at wombatquilts.com

Gill said...

Great grocery bag holder!
Thanks!

Gill said...

I'm now following via Bloglovin'

Gill said...

I haven't done much paper piecing either but I've found a small stitch helps when you come to ripping the paper off!

barbara woods said...

great looking bag holder , got you on bloglovin

Susan said...

Thanks for the giveaway- Kirsty @ Quiet Play has some good stuff on her blog related to foundation paper piecing. Good luck with your endeavours- you'll love it!

Susan said...

Your grocery bag holder is fabulous! Another great idea I'll need to try!

Susan said...

And I am now a Blog lovin' follower! (Not that I like receiving their notifications so late! Ugh!)

Kirsten said...

Love your grocery bag holder - I really need to make one of these!

Kathryn said...

I've converted everything over to Bloglovin, but will really miss Reader. Great bag holder. I'll put in on my list. I just finished a paper piecing block for a charity quilt our guild is making. I must say, I hate it. So much wasted fabric, having to pull out the paper. I can't see doing it again, so good luck to you.

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

Gorgeous bag holder - I really need to make one of these because I have a whole cupboard full of plastic bags and every time I open it, some fly out!

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

I LOVE foundation paper piecing. Yes, it is time consuming, and yes it uses a bunch more fabric than you would otherwise, but it lets you do much more precise piecing than would otherwise be achievable. Of course it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's a technique that every quilter should try once. I second the Fresh Lemons Quilts tutorial recommended above as a great starting point. I have also done the Craftsy class on Quick Strip Paper Piecing, which shows a method to speed up the process, and thought it was really good.

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

I follow your blog on Bloglovin.

MissieP said...

Love giveaways..I've just been tryin out paper piecing myself..so not much advise other than watch lots of tutorials.

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

Hi Kimberley, thanks for dropping by (and popping me in your feeder).
I've heard of plenty of people using pieced batting in quilts - especially king sized, which is bigger than many batting sizes. I think you'd only want to join two or three pieces for a quilt, just so you don't have too much interfacing there affecting the feel/drape. Another thing is if you are using a lot of white fabric, sometimes the white interfacing will show through (a bit like how you shouldn't wear a white bra under a white shirt, you should stick with skin coloured) so you'd want to try and have the interfacing in a darker area of fabric, or even easier put it facing the back of the quilt (assuming it's not white). Just do a bit of test laying fabric over the unfused interfacing and batting.
I also like to make sure there is enough quilting to support the join when using patched batting in quilt. I do a lot of straight line quilting, so I make sure I have lines going perpendicular to the join just to give that little bit of extra security. Something like hand-tying I wouldn't recommend when using patched batting. A stiple would be great.

Thanks for the heads-up about wombat quilts, I will be sure to check it out. K x

blandina said...

Congratulations for your submission to te quilting magazine. You will go far!
I love your bag holder, maybe I got inspired and will make one fr myself.

Salley said...

Great bag holder! At the Syd Quilt and Craft Show I saw an info session with Floriani. They have a product "Stitch and Wash - Non Fusible" and recommend it for foundation piecing. You dont have to pull out itty bits of paper after the stitching. Leave it in and it will wash away. A supplier is www.carolynkonigdesigns.com (in Victoria) She sells small amounts of Floriani products...you dont want to have to buy a massive roll just to get a feel for it! Good luck. I personally have always used greaseproof lunch wrap (trace the design with a pencil) because I am ancient and started quilting long before fancy products were invented!

Salley said...

Great bag holder! At the Syd Quilt and Craft Show I saw an info session with Floriani. They have a product "Stitch and Wash - Non Fusible" and recommend it for foundation piecing. You dont have to pull out itty bits of paper after the stitching. Leave it in and it will wash away. A supplier is www.carolynkonigdesigns.com (in Victoria) She sells small amounts of Floriani products...you dont want to have to buy a massive roll just to get a feel for it! Good luck. I personally have always used greaseproof lunch wrap (trace the design with a pencil) because I am ancient and started quilting long before fancy products were invented!

Betty said...

OMG! Lots of possibilities to win this magazine = GREAT
Thanks!

Betty said...

I've already seen it mentioned, but the first person I thought of when you mention paper piecing is Katy from Scotland:
http://thelittlestthistlecraftshop.blogspot.nl/p/foundation-paper-piecing-for-terrified.html
She's crazy, loves to laugh too and very talented (in talking too LOL)

Betty said...

I follow you via Bloglovin
Yeah!

Camilla said...

This isn't exactly a tip I found various tutorials online, but my tip is make sure you're not stingy like me and use a bigger piece of fabric for each piece than you think you need-so annoying to unpick coz it doesn't quite cover the area and seam allowance.

trudys_person said...

I've been following you on Google Reader for a while, so thanks for the reminder to switch to another platform! And thank you for the giveaway!

Unknown said...

Great pattern, thanks for sharing!

Jan Baker said...

I would love go see what kind of quilts they are into. Put me in for the magazine. Thanks

Cheryl said...

Congrats! and great bag holder

Cheryl said...

I subscribe to your wonderful blog

Cheryl said...

My favorite piece of advice for paper piecing is to go slow and not start when you are tired. If you are tired you will make mistakes and there is nothing worse than having to pick out all of those little stitches. Oh, and also use big pieces of fabric, when you try to use ones that look like they will just about fit, they never do and then you have to rip it out and redo.

Valerie said...

Sonja is the absolute QUEEN of paper piecing, check out her tutorials: http://artisania.wordpress.com/

Katy Cameron said...

Oh I totally need to make one of those bag thingies, I seem to be getting overrun with the things o.O

Congrats on the mag feature :o)

Katy Cameron said...

I have a couple of PP series on my blog that might help, but shoot me a question if you need to :o)

Katy Cameron said...

Oh and I'm still stalking you through GFC, since I use my blogger dashboard to read, sorry!

Lauren said...

I've been meaning to make a new grocery bag holder for some time now and your post is just the inspiration I needed.

Lauren said...

Just subscribed to your feed.

Kimberly Paradiso said...

Thanks so much for the info and advice! I really appreciate it and will definitely keep that in mind for the future! Happy sewing! :)

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