How many UFOs do you have? I'm too scared to count, so we'll just say...A LOT 😄 Bobbie, of Geeky Bobbin, is hosting UFOvember to inspire us to take control of those unfinished objects and maybe even turn some of them into finished objects. Rather than counting my UFOs, I decided to tackle one of them and get it completely finished. I planned first to finish the two guitar quilts, but I really, really don't want to piece the battings for them, so I ordered batting instead and it didn't arrive in time for this challenge. I had another UFO on my list of 2020 goals, though, so I pulled that out to finish.
I started my Quilter's Planner Bag in the summer of 2018, when the pattern designed by Amy Barickman was in the Quilter's Planner magazine. To really personalize it, I decided to go crazy with free motion quilting on the front and back panels. I got the front one finished pretty quickly, but then the back got set aside so I could work on something with a deadline and then it just never got picked up again. I'd see it sitting in my cupboard now and then, but there was always something else to work on, until Bobbie's challenge gave me a deadline for finishing the bag. It's amazing how motivating a deadline can be!
The outside of the bag is my favourite Northcott blue solid and I quilted it with Aurifil 4140. Luckily I had a partial spool of it, so I didn't have to change colours since nowhere local to me carries Aurifil and I wouldn't have had time to order it once I decided this would be the UFO I'd finish. I used Hobb's Thermore batting. It's super thin, so it didn't add much to the bag, but it did give it some structure and added definition to the quilting.
The front of the bag is done with flow quilting, using some of my favourite motifs, shown above. I thought about doing the same for the back, but wanted to try something different, so I divided the panel into sections. Then I quilted each section with a different motif.
I realized partway through quilting the third section that the front panel and the first two sections of the back were quilted on my Kenmore machine, before I bought the Janome 6700 I'm using now. That means I have two projects that were partly quilted on both machines - this one and my Multiplication quilt, which I was working on when I bought the Janome.
For the sides, the bottom and the strap, I put all the pieces side by side on a piece of the Thermore and quilted them with quick back and forth lines.
I used a grey and blue Moda Grunge fabric for the lining. The lining has interfacing on the back, to give the bag more structure. I didn't have any interfacing, except the dozens of orange peel shapes I cut out back when I made my Divided quilt. I had thought I'd use the interfacing method to make the orange peels, until I realized that the white interfacing would show at the edges. Since the fabrics for the orange peels were all dark, I really didn't want that. I didn't want to throw out the interfacing, either, so it has been sitting ever since, just waiting to be used. I've used a few pieces for other projects, but this was definitely the most I used all at once. Thanks to the combination of Thermore batting and the interfacing, the bag feels nice and sturdy.
It has pockets, too! There's a large pocket and a small one.
Thanks, Bobbie, for the push to get this UFO moved into the finished category 😊 It's so much easier to use now than it was when it was stuck in a cupboard in pieces!
There's plenty of other inspiration coming all month long. Check out what these quilters are doing about their UFO situations:
That is so cool! I love bags, and now you've given me an idea of how to use my free motion practice pieces (the few that I've done LOL).
ReplyDeleteThat's great quilting. I hope you get lots of use from the bag.
ReplyDeleteYour back is fabulous. It just needed a little nudge to move to the front of the line! I inventoried my UFOs, but that's as far as I got.
ReplyDeleteBag, not back!
DeleteDon't hate me, but I can think of only two UFOs left to work on. Coronavirus took care of stay-at-home time, and I caught up on what had been left behind. Now if you ask about WIPs... I'll have to confess to a half-dozen, but I finished three quilts in the past week, so I'm keeping up. Love the quilting on your bag! Interesting that what you call "flow" quilting is what I call graffiti quilting. That bag is a great way to show off your FMQ skills, and you DO have them!
ReplyDelete