Carbo Brain

Sunday was supposed to be my fun day. After a lecture, workshop, 2 days of hanging with Henry, getting ready for Passover and prepping lots of the food, I needed a day of fun. This fat quarter assortment, called Prisma Elements, was sitting in my studio calling my name.

The pieces were too small for the initial project that I was thinking about, so I thought it would be fun to make a ditty bag with a drawstring closure. I started out with a bang, appliqueing the Curvalicious strips, adding the circles and quilting it all, using Annies Soft and Stable. It's an interfacing that really adds body. The bag can stand on its own.

Then my plans went awry. I blame it on my brain that was overloaded with carbs from the Passover Sedar and the leftover goodies. I swear, my brain was in a fog. I wish I had taken photos of all my mistakes. And it wasn't just once.

My first effort resulted in an elongated basket shape. I was so confident with the second effort that I cut out squares of the main body to make gussets. HUGE MISTAKE!! My third effort resulted in the adorable ditty bag.

Don't look too close or you will see where the squares that I cut out for the gussets, are patched in. I didn't have to share that, but I believe in truth in advertising. Sometimes people think that I dream something up and just make it. I wish that were so. Sometimes the project goes together effortlessly and other times it's just an enormous amount of trial and error. The ditty bag was the latter.

I tried out a new foot for blanket stitching the appliqué curves, a #23, from Bernina. It's called the appliqué foot.

 

I was a little skeptical when I first put it on. The foot I usually use, #20, is open across the front, allowing for a clear view of the stitching area. This new foot has clear plastic across the opening. It's also short, which is different. What sold me on this foot was this little mark to line up with the appliqué. It worked perfectly.

So now that I have worked out the details, another ditty bag is on my to do list. Hopefully I will have learned from past mistakes!

 

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