Decisions, Decisions...

Sometimes I think the hardest part of the bag process is choosing the fabs, where to put which fab, which thread to quilt with... and making all those choices that will make the bag YOURS!  It's also the most fun.  :)  

I'm currently working on Chrissie's Deeve Bag.  I got hung up with the fab selection.  I thought I had everything chosen to fit what I see as "her", and set it aside to be sure.  I kept looking at the stack-o-fabs, and it just .... wasn't doing it.  I started over yesterday, had great input from Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind (you should have heard the "wooing" in the Studio when I tried to put the "wrong" green with my focus fabric!), my hubby, and the Macon Bag-a-holic (via iPhone pix!).  Thanks to one and all for your input, guidance, and letting me ramble.  Here's what I/we came up with.

Nothing had been sewn at that point, just laid out to get an idea.  I had some other pretty wild things going, but since the paisley is already a bit of a stretch for Chrissie, I thought I'd go a bit more conservative.  If you can call a green/blue/lavender batik with gold crackling through it "conservative".  LOL.

I got the plackets stitched up, the batting cut, and got the outer part of the bag ready to quilt.

That started the next round of decisions - what to quilt it with!  My husband and I had just hit Topeka Friday on a PetsMart mission, and we swung by Fabric Corner.  I'd never been and was mighty pleased with our stop.  All I really wanted was bobbins for the Bernina (how exciting!) but the King Tut thread called to me.  Without really having a plan for it, I picked up a couple spools of "Cairo" -- 

From Bags by KZK

As you can see, my Quality Control Expert, Zim, likes this color.  It comes close to matching his blue eye in this picture, but in reality has more green in it.  I seriously think the King Tut people should come up with "Siberian Blue" - don't you?

It's in contention to be used in Chrissie's Deeve Bag, along with a couple YLIs and an Aurifil:

I'm not sure.  Right now, the Aurifil (lower left hand) is in first place.  I intend to have it all laid out in front of me while I'm on the treadmill this afternoon.  I'm at my most creative when I'm working out.  Or in the shower.  It's drier in the workout room.  :)

That's what's going on here!  Thanks for reading!

KZK

More Quilts From Nancy!

I was able to get my friend Nancy to send more pictures of some of her scrap quilts and I just had to share them with you.  I think they're so wonderful and inspirational!  I'm going to go through them in no particular order whatsoever, since Blogger is giving me fits loading photos.  :)

First up is Cody's Quilt!  Here's the front:

... and here's the back!  

That's so FUN!  Cody is one of Nancy's grandsons.  What a lucky guy!

Nancy made this quilt for his sister Sara:

That's probably the least "scrappy looking" quilt I've seen of Nancy's!  :)

Here's one she initially called "NY Taxi Cabs":

Here's a close-up:

The quilt got to be known as "The Finger Quilt".  Nancy explained that her granddaughter Mikayla was forever hurting one of her fingers when she was younger ~ a break several times and once caught in a car door!  :(  She always sent the quilt home with Mikayla on those occasions to make her feel better!  I'll bet it did - what a great story!!!

This is the Winter Solstice Quilt, a quilt Nancy made for a granddaughter:

She told me, "it is very bright, as she was going to college about 500 miles away and I wanted it to make her happy when she looked at it."  Something tells me it's been very effective!

This is a Rail Fence Quilt:

Nancy made it for her local Sheriff's Department.  The following is another of the 13 quilts she made and donated to the Sheriff's Department - they keep them in the police cars to give to children in crisis they encounter on their calls.

She calls it a "Mile A Minute" quilt.

Next up is one Nancy calls "Chicken Scratch".  

An on-line quilt group we were both in exchanged little 3" 9-patch blocks, and this is how she set hers!  

Oh... I know what you may be thinking.  But YES, I actually DID finish mine!  :)  If you scroll down a few pictures in the post at this link, you can see it thrown over a chair.  

Moving right along, here is a lovely, bright star quilt Nancy made for her great grandson!

Here's a better look:

Remember the quilt I showed you that she made with the red stars?  (Seventh shot down at this link.)  It's the same pattern!  Isn't it amazing what the different color placement can do!?

Nancy, you're a remarkable woman!  Your quilts are spreading warmth and love to so many people - and you're touching so many lives with your generosity!  (She's only kept two of the many quilts she has made for herself!)  Thank you for all you do!  And thanks for letting me share some of your beautiful works!

Thanks for reading!

KZK

Dave's Quilt, Niece #1's Quilt, New Bag Order

Greetings, all!  I haven't really been working on bags lately, unless you count planning things in my head, but I have been busy in the Studio.  

About 10 or more years ago, I had visions of a denim and ticking quilt - bed-sized.   Nine-patches, with the smallest squares being one-inch in size.  What a great idea.  Or not.  I've used a few pieces already as table runners, and another chunk has been in the closet for ... oh, OK, probably the whole 10 years.  Dave needs a new quilt to cover one of the dog beds (he doesn't like the bed unless there's a quilt on it for some reason...) so I thought I'd add some borders to the denim/ticking duo, quilt it and call it his.

I used some of the blue camo I have for borders, some high-loft batting, and another blue camo for the back.  Got it all done and showed it to my Guide Dog for the Color Blind.  

Dave and the new quilt

He liked it.  And... so did his little sister.

Amber and the new quilt

Of course, his brother Zim is the one who has been sleeping on it every night ... and Storm did the first digging on it today (I was highly flattered!)... so it's "Dave's", but he's sharing.

I also finished quilting a quilt for Niece #1 and started getting the binding put on.

Rachel's quilt

I hope to get bags out to her and her sister (Niece #2 ... numbers assigned strictly by birth order!) very soon, too!  And I hope they'll model them for me.  :)

I was contacted by a friend in Texas about a doing a Deeve Bag for her!  How exciting!  She described her style to me as pretty classic, traditional, as she said, "LL Bean/Lands End/Woolrich."  Great description; it told me what I needed to know!  Oh, and she said, "I NEED paisley!"  :)  Got it!  For color preferences, she said in the gold, green, tan/brown/beige areas with perhaps some burgundy.  NOT pink.  'K. 

I put these fabs together and zipped a photo of them off to her:

I know for myself, sometimes I think I want to stay in my color safety zone.  I wouldn't even think of leaving it.... until I see something completely different and BAM!  I love it.  So... in that vein, I also threw in the following picture.  It breaks all of the parameters she set, except for the paisley.  :)

 

Because seriously, you never know.  And I'm happy to report she chose the one at the bottom - modern and kicky, bright and bold, and oh... what's that in there?!  PINK!  :)  But hey, it IS paisley!  I can't WAIT to start working on your bag, Chrissie.  I've been pulling other fabs to audition them as accents.

That's about it for now.  I've got more of Nancy's quilts to post, too!  Look for that soon!

Thanks for reading!

KZK