A Sew Together Bag just for me

I decided it was time to make myself a sewing pouch. I've been using a simple one I received in a Mpls Modern quilt guild scrap swap and it's falling to bits. Time for a new one! I've made the Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented (pattern on craftsy) before for a present and wanted to make myself a fancy one. I hauled out the Liberty of London stash and dove in.

The advantage of using Liberty lawn for these pieces is that it's strong but thin, and this pouch can get pretty bulky around the edges. I ironed my interfacing on first to make the slippery lawn easier to cut.

For the inside of the edge pieces I'm using one of my favorite vintage fabrics, this grey floral. It's also fairly thin and goes well with the chintzy florals.

For the exterior of the bag I'm making 3" blocks featuring a mix of current and vintage fabric with Essex linen in Flax. It's so fun to make these tiny blocks! 

Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish this up this weekend.

Shedding

I've been spending my free time slowly sorting through my fabric; pulling out bits to sell or pass on. We are leaving our house for a little while this spring and need to pack everything up。This has brought me to the realization that I have more fabric than I can use and a lot of it is not appealing to me anymore. Couple that with the need for $$, to help with the boy's condition, and it's time for a major fabric sell-off. Working with the mantra 'Someday equals never.' running through my head has helped a lot. So far I've sorted about a twelfth of my stuff. It's pretty slow going but therapeutic(☆_☆)

So, who wants some fabric? Follow @rozina_dee on Instagram for a destash in Mid-February or check here for details on a local Minneapolis sale. 

Fabric crisis! (But not the usual one...)

Do you know that feeling? The one where you feel the neeeeed for some such fabric just because you keep seeing it everywhere on social media? There's all the hype of a new print release, a blog hop, giveaways, lots of amazing quilts and bags, 'famous' bloggers and designers going on and on, etc. Sometimes I get caught up in all of that and buy the fabric and sometimes I wait for it to go on sale and buy it then. But I always buy it. Frequently I look at fabric on my shelves and wonder why I bought that or what it's for. Often I don't even like it. I just get caught up in shopping. 

Which should be unlike me. I have always been anti-consumer culture and never buy new if I can help it. I don't buy new clothes, new furniture, new dishes, new cars. Why is my sewing so different?  Goodness knows there is enough printed cotton on this planet already. So why do I keep obsessively buying more fabric than I can sew or afford?

I'm not sure of the answer and I don't think it's a simple one. It has to do with addiction, and hoarding(actual hoarding tendencies, not just funny coffee mug slogans), and wanting to belong to something. There's more to it too. The real question for me now is 'Can I stop?'. 

The other real question, which is less portant, is 'What the heck do I do with all of this fabric?'. Destash coming to an etsy shop near you...

La Passacaglia Rosette 6:1

I finished my first rosette 6. I think I have to make a number of these partial rosettes so I'm experimenting with color placement.

The cat fabric is from Heather Ross's current line called Tiger Lily. I had to cut up quite a bit to match the pentagons but the cuteness was worth it. Use it or lose it, as they say. I also discovered that Alison Glass's Party Streamers fabric is based on the same size of diamond as the ones in this quilt. Lots of possibilities there!

La passacaglia progress

I decided to use this as a Rosette 4, for those of you familiar with the pattern. For those not familiar---it is a finished piece. Where the stars are missing, it will mesh up with other rosettes. I'm pretty stoked about this one but I'm going to aim for stronger contrast in a few more.

This is the start of my next rosette. I couldn't resist the cute kittens from Heather Ross' Tiger Lily fabric. I'm going to use a grey polka dot for the star points on this one. 

I don't get any scheduled sewing time right now so I do most of this while the baby naps.

Ah La Pas

While it may not look like much these five stitched pentagons are the start of something big. My partner surprised me with Willyne Hammerstein's Millefiore Quilts book for my birthday and I've been aching to start one of her amazing patterns ever since. I'm throwing my hat into the very popular La Passacaglia ring as it is one of the most intricate quilts I've ever seen. I've started by using an English paper piecing method but I may try a few different techniques. The pattern is split up into separate rosettes, known as cogs on Instagram, so there is room for experimentation.

Some of the gals in my quilt guild are taking a stab at this pattern too so we formed a support group where we discuss techniques and share tutorials and helpful hints. We shall see how far we get.

Handstitched.

Lately it seems that all I've got time for is hand sewing. Kind of a paradox to only have time for something that takes so long. It's really more about portability. Having a very easily distracted and mobile 15 month old means no time actually sitting down to sew, but rather doing a bit here and there. 

The photo is my progress on the pattern Daisy Do by Jen Kingwell (http://jenkingwelldesigns.blogspot.com/?m=1 ) from her book Quilt Lovely. I am auditioning the dotty background before I cut all the tiny pieces. I plan to make a small quilt with this as the center and a pieced border, to be ready for the next baby quilt gift request(if that's not cheating...).