One Weekend, Three Weekenders

Sigh. Another Mayne Island Retreat has come and gone. Last weekend I spent four days with five lovely women in the comfort of Rebecca's gorgeous home (and sunlit sewing room). Before retreat there was a flurry of emailing, pattern prepping, cookie & lasagne baking and just a little bit of running around gathering supplies for the Weekender Bag.

At first I resisted. My plan was always to make one for my trip to the Fat Quarterly Retreat in London in July. I mean, that's months away! I've got heaps of time! Fat quarters of Denyse Schmidt homedec-weight fabric had been purchased on de-stash long ago and sat piled for this project. Eventually I caved and started THE CUTTING.  You know that I narrowly survived making Amy's Blossom Bag a couple of years ago....you may also recall I said it was unlikely I'd ever make one of her bag patterns again. I'm glad I sucked it up and gave it a whirl. It is a stunning piece of luggage. Yes, I made luggage! Bonus: it's ready four months in advance of my trip!

Side 1

Side 2

Because it was made from fat quarters, there are different prints all over the place and a few unexpected seams (in top and bottom panels), but I really like the combination of prints. The lining is a voile I picked up super cheap at JoAnn Fabrics and an interior zip pocket is lined with Aviary II woodgrain in yellow.  I was so thankful for Diana's recent Pink Chalk Fabric post that showed straps made with hardware. It solved my problem of finding enough length in a fat quarter to make all of the strap required without 10 seams! 

Much has been written about this bag and between the 3 of us that made it, we'd read many blog posts and gathered great advice. Like using 6 bag feet to protect the bottom.

Many people on Instagram asked me if this "was worth it". Absolutely, of course it is! Any gorgeous project takes lots of time and effort. I may not ever make another Weekender (that piping was a major effort), but I am very happy with this one.  As you can see by my label on the inside, it's no "quickie"...

My lining is a bit floppy - I still have to do some handstitching to secure the corners

Here are our fabulous bags together!

Dianne's gorgeous poppies in the middle, Jo Ann's on the right (check her fussy cutting!)

Lest you think we were chained to the machines all weekend, here's a look at some of my favourite  tree bark in the whole wide world, taken from an oceanview train near the house.

Arbutus

In addition to the bag, I also had plenty of time to work on some more scrap blocks for my second "Scrap Vomit" quilt (the first one is a top awaiting basting). All in all, an amazing weekend retreat of friends, food and sewing!

Treatin' me right

I really enjoy good customer service. I think most of us do. When I order fabric online, I expect it to arrive nicely folded and safely packaged. Anything more than that is gravy, really. So I was rather tickled when my recent order from Marmalade Fabrics arrived with a hand-written note of appreciation, all tied up with a pretty marmalade bow!

Wanna see what was inside that carefully folded and taped tissue paper?

Mmmmmm. Outside Oslo home-dec weight by the talented Jessica Jones. I've been waiting for the right slightly heavier-than-quilting-weight fabric to come along for my 2-4-1 Tote pattern by Anna (Noodlehead). I prefer to make all of my bags with home-dec fabric on the outside. I find it is more fade-resistant than quilting weight cotton and the extra body looks nice on a bag, as well as holding the shape.

When Cindy posted about this gorgeous fabric a couple of weeks ago, I clicked through to the Marmalade Fabric link without passing go (well, I may have left a comment on Cindy's post that said something like "I'm heading right there to buy my own NOW!). See? That's blog sponsorship working for ya, Marmalade!

If anyone has a few spare hours hanging about this weekend, send them my way, will you? I really want to make up this bag!!

Hello Mr. Dewberry

There were several projects on the roster to prepare for Grandma and Grandpa's current visit. One was to recover this tired old thing.

I purchased this sprung chair at a garage sale for $5 about 18 years ago, I think. B & I were in our first rented apartment together after university. It was covered in a tattered emerald green boucle fabric. I spray painted the legs, removed the wooden arms and used the original cover as a pattern to cut a new one. This Navajo-inspired fabric (above) was used for it's second recovering. Our first couch was upholstered with that fabric and I bought some extra to do the chair so they'd match. The fabric was a big disappointment. It did not wear well and faded terribly, as you can see (ok, this is 15 years old, so maybe I'm being a little too judgemental). Needless to say, the couch is long gone!

It was time for an update - especially since this chair sits in the corner of our playroom, my parent's temporary bedroom when they visit! I bought a new staple gun, a package of upholstery tacks and set aside a Sunday afternoon.

Hello Mr. Dewberry!

Joel Dewberry's Ginseng home-dec weight fabric which I got for a song during a Sew Mama Sew sale last fall.

I layered some new batting on top of the old stuff. I've always loved this chair - I think mostly for it's lines. The back and underneath still need a dust cover, but as long as it is tucked into the corner, no one needs to know!