Dog Treat Bag Tutorial

Just a quick and easy project for our four footed friends.

From the front:

From the back: 

From the back showing how you can also attach the treat bag to a belt:

Materials:

• Outer fabric – 1 piece at 4 3/4" by 9"
• Lining Fabric – 1 piece at 4 3/4" by 9"
• Loop – 2 pieces at 2" by 4 3/4"
• Fusible Interfacing – 2 pieces at 4 3/4" by 9" and 1 piece at 2" by 4 3/4"
• 1/4" elastic – 1 piece 5" in length
• Large safety pin

Directions:

1.  Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the outer fabric, the lining fabric, and one of the loop rectangles.

2.  Measure 3/4" down from the short side of the lining fabric and mark.  

3.  Baste the elastic in place just below the 3/4" mark.

4.  Place the lining and outer fabrics right sides together.  Use a circular object (I used a spool of ribbon) to round the corners on the side that does not have the elastic attached. 

5.  Cut out the curves.

6.  Sew the two pieces together using a quarter-inch seam.  Leave a three inch opening for turning.

7.  Turn right sides out.  At this point, you could sew the opening closed, but I don’t bother. I press to get a crisp fold and leave it at that since the opening will be sewn closed in a later step. 

8.  We’re now ready to make the loop.  Stack the two pieces wrong sides together.  On one of the pieces, measure a line at 2 3/8" and 3 3/8" in from a short side.  At the 3 3/8" line, mark one-half inch in from the top and bottom.  (Edited to add: I just made another one of these and I used Fast2Fuse to stiffen this little tab.  It worked great – I wish I had done it in these original directions.  I used a single layer cut 2" by 4 1/2" and placed a quarter inch shy of the bottom edge to make it easy to attach to the treat bag in a later step.)

9.  Fold the two pieces back at the 3 3/8" line and trim from the 1/2" marks to the outer edges of the  2 3/8" line.

10.  Open back up and satin stitch along the two long sides.  Tip: As always when satin stitching off the edge of a fabric, I find using an Overlock foot (a #2 for my 1530 Bernina)  makes for a cleaner edge.

11.  Draw a line 4 1/4" down from the curved edge side on the outer fabric.

12.  Center the loop and overlap a quarter-inch past the line.  Sew 1/4" in from the top edge.

13.  Fold the loop up and press to get a clean edge.  Fold back at the indent so the raw edge is tucked down in.  Top stitch along the bottom edge.  Sew a line 1 1/4" down from the top edge.

14.  Measure 3" up from the bottom edge of the bag (the side with sharp corners) and fold, lining sides together.  Starting at a bottom edge, top stitch the entire edge of the bag.

That’s it.  You’re done.  Simply slip in the safety pin and you can either pin the bag to your clothing or attach it to a belt.

You can also create some variations.

For one, if you use seriously gooey dog treats, you can add iron on vinyl to the lining fabric.  If you do so, be really careful that you never apply the iron directly to the vinyl.

For two, you could use a Velcro closure instead of the elastic.  I usually try to avoid Velcro whenever I can.  (I really hate that incredibly loud Rrrr-i-i-ip sound).  For those less easily annoyed, you could just add a bit of Velcro closure.  Like this:

Wyatt says, “Très chic.  Let’s promenade!”

Bags Little and Big

Here’s some of the most recent additions to the carry along pile.  Here’s the bag I started with Joan in Indiana – that bottom fabric is one she picked up in Africa.  So gorgeous!  The pattern is the Mail Sack from Pink Chalk Studio.

I decided that having a couple pretty little bags to cart the small stuff to and from quilt class would be a nice addition (instead of using gallon sized freezer bags), so I made up a couple using a free online tutorial from Pink Penguin:

And another little Snap Happy bag just because they are the most convenient thing ever (just the thing for when all I want to cart along with me is reading classes and a driver’s license).  The black is linen and it’s really very lovely:

And here’s a truly lousy photo but, just to say, the reproduction version of the star in a star wall quilt is in process.

So, that’s it on pictures for the moment. More coming soon.  Hope those of you on this side of the hemisphere are enjoying lovely summer weather (and those on the winter side, hoping it’s not too cold!)

More Wee Quilts

I’ve received a couple of photos from quilters who finished the quilts they started in the workshop I taught in Indiana.  This first one comes from Claire Alexander.  You can visit her website and her blog. 

I love how she set the pieced foundation on point.  And with the color placement she choose and the way the setting triangles match the fabric in the foundation, she created a bouquet of flowers.  I have to admit, I never saw flowers when I looked at that pattern design – I sure do now!  What a pretty effect.

And this one comes from Mary.  I love the Amish style and the soft colors she used – this just makes my heart sigh. 

Aren’t they lovely?  I’m looking forward to seeing more of the finished quilts.

Home Again

Well, I had a great time in Indiana.  The ladies of the quilt guild were wonderfully warm and welcoming.  And I most definitely should have taken a photo of the buffet table loaded with potluck.   One look at all the scrumptious food and you know you are in the heartland!  I didn’t get any photos of the lecture but look at some of the beautiful work in progress that was done at the workshop.

 

In between the lecture and the workshop I stayed with a friend.  Joan has a long arm machine and helped me do up a quilt that’s been sitting on my shelf for years (and years).   Here’s Joan setting it up for me:

And here I am, Terrie Sandelin, Long Armer Extraordinaire: 

Fortunately, Joan really is extraordinaire and rescued me when I managed to knock the laser out of line.  She got it right back on track.  And my husband is so pleased because this is his quilt.  Now all I need to do is make pillowcases.  Well, and binding.  (Yuck).  Aside: Jeff saw this picture of me at the long arm machine and said, “We don’t have enough space for one of those.”  Clearly, he felt a pre-emptive strike was the better path of wisdom!

Joan is a bundle of energy so we also started up a couple of bags as well.  I’ll have photos up as soon as I get mine finished.  Joan does a lot of work in Africa and she had a beautiful collection of African fabrics that she let me draw from for my bag.  Aren’t quilters just lovely?

It was a wonderful visit followed by the sweetest piece of luck on the way home.  I was originally scheduled to arrive in Denver via a connecting flight in Las Vegas.  When I got to the airport, the very (very) nice woman at check-in told me that a direct flight to Denver had been delayed and would I want to switch over to that flight instead – it was leaving in forty minutes.  Let’s see.  A connecting flight via Vegas that wouldn’t have me arrive in Denver until 11 (actually that was the original time, since another connecting flight was late it was going to be hours later) or a direct flight that would get me home at 7?  Really, I could have kissed her. 

And then, in Denver to meet Jeff who told me he had a bottle of wine cooling in the fridge at home.  Ahhh!  Good to visit.  Good to be home.

Swaps and More Swaps

I’ve been lucky enough to receive some wonderful quilts in swaps that I haven’t posted photos of yet.  Time to get those puppies up!  So, here’s the quilt I received from the wonderful mamacjt.  Isn’t this gorgeous?  I love, love, love this quilt!

And then there was the S.T.U.D. swap where the challenge was to make a quilt without any squares or rectangles.  How incredible is this?

I can’t believe quiltedoma came up with such a creative interpretation of the idea!  Amazing.  I love how each puzzle piece also has it’s own quilting motif, as you can see here:

And using beads to join the sections?  Well, it knocked me out. 

And, not finished yet, there was also the MiniQT Chinese Coins quilt.  This one from bahamadawn.  Another really creative interpretation of the swap challenge, she called this one “Scattered Paint Chips.”  It goes beautifully in my office!  I just love those bright pure colors.  And, well, cutting up the paint chip card and taping wee pieces to my wall is exactly what I do.  This just made me smile.

Aren’t the swaps wonderful?  I just love how they push me to make quilts I wouldn’t have made otherwise, and in return I receive quilts that I definitely wouldn’t have made.  I love that I get this diversity of mini quilts! 

And, of course, I’m still making some blocks for swaps as well.  So here are my contribution for May’s Bee Obsessed blocks:

 

And the May Bee Pieceful blocks.  The twelve inch block

and the nine and six inch blocks.  Hmmm, the actual color is somewhere in-between the too dark one above and the too bright ones below. 

And, one last photo for the road, the tesselating pinwheel table runner.  I do love those pinwheels!

Next week I am off to lecture and give a workshop at the Common Threads Quilt Guild in Lafayette, Indiana.  I am so looking forward to it.  As someone who spends a goodly amount of time teaching introductory literature classes (and composition classes – even worse) to not-always-highly-motivated college students, I must say, teaching quilters is pure joy!