WiP - Buildin' some Skills!

There wasn't tonnes of time spent at the machine this week, but I did make some time to take on this month's block for Pile O Fabric's Skill Builder 2014 - Machine Stitches. And these stitches are tiny! Yikes! There are numerous strips that are 1 inch, 1.5 inches, and even 1.75 inches. So I delved into the wild and crazy world of starching!
The starching did make it easier to cut the fabrics. They felt a little stiffer (no shock there) and things just seemed more exact. When it came time to piece, it also helped with exactitude! I don't know if I'm sold yet, but I'll continue for the Skill Builder at least!
Here's the first slice of these (not wonky) asterisk blocks.

And finished and trimmed up. They're just 3.5 inches square! Once I put them all together, I discovered that I had been a little too scant on my quarter inch seam allowance. Instead of being 18.5 inches in length, it was more like 19.5. Oh, improv piecing, how I miss you!

I got so caught up in the making the other two series of stitches that I forgot to take pictures. Oops! I did remember to snap a pic of the finished block. I upload these to the closed Course Platform to earn points... I even get feedback from the instructor. Cool, huh?

 

I feel good about having my block all done and am already looking forward to the next lesson - quilting this bad boy!

After all that precise piecing, I felt the urge to make something a little more free form! Enter this little tutorial for a boxy bag I pinned last week. I've loved these fabrics ever since I used them for a quiltie for Little Cousin S.

I over-ordered (that's what I get for following the pattern) and had enough to make an entire other baby quilt during this summer's HST frenzy!

I decided to use some of my new Glimma fabric as the lining. What's the point of buying fabric if you're not going to use it?

The tutorial calls for a standard quilt sandwich, but I opted to make a pieced exterior. I also went for a bigger sandwich - 9 by 11 inches instead of 8 by 10. And I decided to use QAYG! Talk about mixing it up!

Sometimes not planning has its downfalls. I quilted myself into a corner and ended up having three big strips along one side to cover the desired area. Oh well.

Another change I made to the tutorial was to add caps on the ends of the zippers. I first discovered them in this iPad case tutorial from Fresh Lemons and have found them to be an easy way to have a tidy zipper ends.

 Now it's starting to look like something...well, maybe.

This is probably my favourite part of making bags. Those little rows of stitches that make boxed corners. The original tutorial doesn't give a measurement for where to put the blue line, but I went for 1 inch.

 And here it is!

Cute, huh? I think I'll make my linings a little more exciting on future bags. I have some awfully fun hedgehog fabric hanging out it the stash! It was such a quick little thing to whip up. Make as many as you want in whatever size makes you happy - I'm going for a bigger one next time!

As per usual on a Wednesday, I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced and testing out the link up at the (Canadian!) Needle and Thread Network.

J