Vermillion Teacup & By The Bay SAL Bag

Back in the day, I just could not get my fill of Donna Vermillion designs.  I loved changing colors a billion times within a small space, doing loads of fractional stitches and adding just the right back-stitching to make a really realistic piece.  I still love the look and I still kind of enjoy stitching like that, but it now it just tires me out so fast!   The World of Charity Stitching is doing  a quilt with a teacup theme. Many of the members signed up to do one of the Vermillion teacups in Donna's current free series.  I knew if I chose one, it had to be a really colorful one.. 50 shades of white weren't going to cut it with me anymore.  So I did the poppies.  By the time I hit that third flower and final leaf, I was really ready to stop.  It isn't even that big, but it seemed like it took forever.  I must say, though,  I do love the results and I haven't tired of that part one bit!

And speaking of charity stitching, I'd like to say how happy I am about my contributions to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI).  I have made nine mini-quilts over the last year.  Three sold fairly quickly.  The remaining quilts languished on the sale page forever.  I stopped making them since I didn't want to burden the organization with quilts they couldn't sell.  In October, the group took about 2100 quilts to the Houston quilt show and sold about 1600 of them between Wednesday and Sunday earning about $75,000 for the cause.  I'm proud to say that all six of my remaining quilts sold as part of that effort!   You can see all of my quilts and how much they earned here.  This is such a great grass roots organization.  All the income from selling these quilts goes to fund research.  And  this group finds the worthy research projects.  They don't just pass the money onto some large organization.   I'm inspired to make more now!


I also finally finished the Autumn By The Bay Mystery SAL, just a bit late.  At least it's still autumn!
I decided to make this into a little cross-body sling bag.   It turned out pretty well, so this one will be a holiday gift.  I make these a little different every time, never quite finding the perfect way to do it.  This one mostly follows the Lazy Girl Runaround Bag pattern.  I add some iron-on interfacing to all the pieces to give it a little more heft.  I also leave really long tails on the straps inside the bag,  Then I sew those down by hand over the side seam allowances.  So no raw edges show inside on the sides.. only on the top and bottom seams that aren't so visible anyway.  Plus the straps are much more secure.  I think I really like this technique the best.  I've done another method that has no exposed seams in the lining. but it doesn't leave me a way to do those straps like this, so I think I prefer this method.  I think it's pretty cute and eye-catching.  Quite a conversation starter in the grocery store lines!