Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Greatest Challenge

I'm taking on the biggest sewing challenge I've ever done in this next project, the Everything in Its Place Bag by Annie Unrein. However, I'm going to call it the Retreat Organizer.

I bought this class 3 years ago, long before I knew what a quilt even was. But I never watched it, because I was so intimidated, and the finishing kit and supplies are too pricey for me to make one for "practice".

But as I was reading my QuiltCon supply lists, I was quite surprised to see that the piecing classes asked that you bring your own rotary cutter, ruler, mat, etc. And here I thought I just had to show up! So I immediately thought of this organizer pattern, which would be perfect to hold a rotary cutter, some thread, my wonder clips, and even a traveling folding cutting mat. Sure, I could buy one ready made ... but I wanted to pick my own fabric. It was finally time to take on this challenge!

I picked out an amazing piece from the Diving Board collection by Alison Glass for the outside of the bag, and some matching fabric from the same line for the lining and the piping. I'm so excited to make this! Terrified ... but excited. But at least I don't have to work from just a paper pattern, and will have the great Annie Unrein to hold my hand throughout the process ... through Craftsy, naturally. What would I be doing if Craftsy never came into my life?

Unlike everything else I've made, for this project I actually need to quilt the fabric before I do anything else. I loaded a yard onto my longarm and quilted some big swirls and paisleys to complement the fabric. It is really interesting quilting on Soft & Stable, as it's much much thicker than any batting I've ever used, and the texture really stands out.

But quilting it was the easy part. Now the real challenge begins! There are so many things in this project I've never tried before, like mesh, velcro, vinyl, bias binding, piping, and who knows what else. I'm nervous, but I hope it'll turn out well!

***

Linked up with: Quilting & Learning.

7 comments:

  1. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I felt the same way the first time I sewed Soft & Stable, but I really liked the way it made the quilting pop! I'll be cheering you on from my corner of the world and look forward to seeing your progress :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Liz, since you're going to be learning so much, why don't you link-up your post to the Learning QAL for December? I'll be posting it sometime tomorrow. Here's the link http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.ca

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gorgeous fabric! Take a deep breath, and plunge in :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. What beautiful quilting to get your project going!!! Love your fabrics! You can do this!!! I love Craftsy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good luck! I love the fabrics you picked out, the bag will be great.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Liz, thanks for linking up to the Learning QAL. I hope that you'll get a chance to post (and link) about your learning - whether the project is finished or not. Best of luck!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting and for your comments! I try to reply to comments, so if you don't hear from me, check if you're a no-reply blogger. Have a nice day!