Yet another finish!

This was fun!

I took a class last Sunday at Cali Quilt Co to learn how to create Clam Up bags by Annie. Tayva, the shop’s owner, walked us through the process and I got two done in a 4 hr class! I forgot to take photos during class. There were two fellow Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild members in the class, which made it even more fun!

I don’t take many classes, and if I do, they are either something fairly easy that I just want to jump right in and complete, or, an in-depth, serious class. When it comes to bags, they can be fussy and fiddly, so I wanted to do it in class where I could learn new techniques. I am pretty much a neophyte in the bag making world.

I did like the way Tayva structured the class – she let everyone work at their own pace and just walked around helping each student individually with the step they were working on. I loved that! And wouldn’t you know, I made the same mistake twice. No one believes me, but I am the inept student in class. I usually will sew something backwards or cut something out wrong or some other silly thing.

I did pre-quilt my pieces, which was suggested. Otherwise I would have only completed one bag.

It took me three hours to prepare for class! I went in my fabric storage closet and looked at my cottons to make a selection. Sigh, that was booooooriiiiiing. I have not refreshed my stash in a long time, and it shows. BUT, I do have a fabulous collection of silks!! I looked from the cotton to the silks and thought, why would I make this out of cotton when I have all this silk laying around? So silk it was and these are just beautiful in person.

PSA – I spray basted the layers together. Spray baste on silk can possibly stain it – I forgot that when I used it for this bag. It was the first spray and it spit out in a puddle. I do think this will wash out, I just haven’t tried yet. But do know that spray baste may stain silk.

I learned all kinds of techniques to make the process easier and more accurate. Tayva is going to offer a bag class each month. I may just become a Bag Lady! I admire those who make truly professional looking bags. I hope to make more. I have no idea what I will use these for.

I’ve also been plugging along on my yellow silk piece:

Just today I finally finished the first pass on the grid work. I intend to make two more passes, sashiko style. Or, I may stop at one more pass. My photo is not showing its beauty; I am very pleased with it so far. Do note – I rarely pin baste for several reasons:

– It only holds in one spot as opposed to spray baste or Misty Fuse baste, which holds all across the surface of the quilt.
– Pins are heavy on a large quilt!
– Pins catch on the presser foot.
– I get more tucks with pins than spray or Misty Fuse basting.

In this case I had to pin baste. Why? The grid required water soluble marking. There was no other suitable method. Spray basting might have stained the quilt; I will never use Frixion pens for quilt marking for these reasons and chalk, air soluble and ceramic markers all are too fragile to be still visible after pushing the quilt over and over. Tracing paper would not work for a grid, and those pencils – never met a pencil I liked for quilt marking. Iron-off pens can leave a mark, especially on silk, similar to the Frixion pens. So I had to use the pins, sigh. Not my fav.

I’ve got a few spots left in my Long Beach intro to free motion class, “Yes You CAN Free Motion Quilt!”, class #202. Registration is here. By the way, if you want to learn how to do bubbles like I did on the bag, I’ll be teaching that in the Long Beach class. I do it differently than most…and I like it much better! Hope to see you at the show!

I’ll share at:

Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
and
Finished or Not Friday