Finishing Binge

I've been on a finishing binge of late... just got another one done this morning... the binding was done as of last night but the label was only half on... I finished it up today. It is a king sized log cabin made of 4 1/4" blocks. Started in 2008, all from scraps I had around from previous projects.

It sat in a cabinet for 7 years waiting for the perfect border. I agonized for a long time over piecing or appliqueing a house border, and then sort of backburnered the entire project and forgot about it. Then this year, the theme of the Row by Row Challenge was 'Home Sweet Home' and LO!, one of the fabrics for the line was a house row print. It was perfect, and I bought some... Just enough it turns out, as I didn't have a lot left over. 

 Glad to have this one done, as it's for my own bed, for use as our 'winter quilt'... Time to wash and put the summer quilt away and get this one on the bed!

Two views of the quilt:  'A Barn Raising: My Life in Quilts'

Old Skills, New Methods

I used to be a whiz at setting zippers... in clothes.  I could do any kind of zipper - normal or invisible, single or double placket... and I was good (and fast) at it!  But that was 40 years ago when I used to make clothes!

So when I bought this pattern for a 'Bionic Gear Bag,' I dreaded putting in these 5 zippers, but figured I'd remember it all, like riding a bike... you get on it and it all comes back to you - the balance, the coordinated movements between pedaling, steering and keeping your balance.

I was surprised... no, call it SHOCK, when I read the instructions in the pattern (didn't even bother with the ones that came with the zippers, saving them to read only in the event that the pattern instructions made no sense to me.  Luckily, they did and it was EASY... zipper FEET have even changed (probably mostly because of movable needles)...

I feel, alas, that my old skill with zippers will have to remain an artifact of days gone by.   I'm rather proud that the Bionic Gear Bag is done, and the zippers (and the bag in general) came out perfect.

This is the bag all zipped up and closed, followed by a picture of the bag opened up showing all the interior pockets and zippers... SO much storage space in such a tiny bag!... and I love the little 'shelf' in front when it's open... I keep my pin cushion there, and use it to store things like binding clips when I'm sewing binding (my other current project).