Last week I worked with a medley of fabrics that I eventually refereed to as my Mexican Fiesta collection. The first item I made was a table runner/wall hanging. I wanted to include all the fabulous fabric in the collection and could not find a pattern where that would be possible. I was going though a magazine and found an interesting looking quilt that was somewhat scrappy looking but could see how I could change the size of the block and how I could work into it all of the fabrics. While I was making the runner I was thinking about all the different baskets and bowls I could make out of this lively grouping of fabrics. I started out with a very large bowl. I loved the interplay of the colors and it reminded me of a pinata.
Several years ago I made a scrappy quilt top out of 60 degree triangles. The quilt was called "Sailing" and featured large sail boats floating on a sea of 60 degree triangles. I ended up with a boat load of these 60 degree triangles ((they were sewn in pairs) which have been cooling their heels down in my basement. I was leafing though a catalog recently and saw a table runner based on 60 degree triangles. OOH, I thought, there's something I can make out of that boat load of scraps!
Sometimes you just run into fabric that you know is going to go with a lot of other fabric you have in your stash and sure enough it did! I don't remember when I purchased this fabric with the swirls but I pulled it out of my stash recently and cut a couple of aprons out of it and combined it with a couple of other fabrics to make some stunning aprons which I will sew up at a later date. I had this piece left over that was aprox. 14" wide and 30" long. Just looking at the fabric I could tell it was going to make a STUNNING fabric bowl. The narrow stripes that one uses to wrap around the clothesline to make the bowl has to have some give to them to wrap properly and unfortunately there was only 14" left from the width of the fabric once the apron was cut out of it. Also, to get the full effect of the changes in the color of the swirls I wanted to cut them in the proper direction. If I had not discovered the joys of glue (see blog entry http://www.newenglandfiberarts.com/node/163) The 14" strips probably would not have been long enough to bother with. But with the use of glue there is so much less waste do to not having to over wrap when you add a new strip. I decided to go ahead with using the shorter strips.
You know a project hasn't gone well when the best part of it is that you are done. I really love making things...and for the most part, especially when I am learning something new, I enjoy it. I never expect things to go perfectly, especially if it is my first couple of times making something but this last project has me shaking my head and saying I am so DONE making market totes! Also, I have made several of these bag, I should know what I am doing, RIGHT? I blogged about making this particular tote using this fabric back in September. http://www.newenglandfiberarts.com/node/145 I remember at the time being pleased that I had enough of all the fabrics to make a second bag at a later date. This was going to save me not having to buy more fabric but also time since the bag had been designed as to what fabric was going to go where
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Last week I worked with a medley of fabrics that I eventually refereed to as my Mexican Fiesta collection. The first item I made was a table runner/wall hanging. I wanted to include all the fabulous fabric in the collection and could not find a pattern where that would be possible. I was going though a magazine and found an interesting looking quilt that was somewhat scrappy looking but could see how I could change the size of the block and how I could work into it all of the fabrics. While I was making the runner I was thinking about all the different baskets and bowls I could make out of this lively grouping of fabrics. I started out with a very large bowl. I loved the interplay of the colors and it reminded me of a pinata. 
Several years ago I made a scrappy quilt top out of 60 degree triangles. The quilt was called "Sailing" and featured large sail boats floating on a sea of 60 degree triangles. I ended up with a boat load of these 60 degree triangles ((they were sewn in pairs) which have been cooling their heels down in my basement. I was leafing though a catalog recently and saw a table runner based on 60 degree triangles. OOH, I thought, there's something I can make out of that boat load of scraps! 
Sometimes you just run into fabric that you know is going to go with a lot of other fabric you have in your stash and sure enough it did! I don't remember when I purchased this fabric with the swirls but I pulled it out of my stash recently and cut a couple of aprons out of it and combined it with a couple of other fabrics to make some stunning aprons which I will sew up at a later date. I had this piece left over that was aprox. 14" wide and 30" long. Just looking at the fabric I could tell it was going to make a STUNNING fabric bowl. The narrow stripes that one uses to wrap around the clothesline to make the bowl has to have some give to them to wrap properly and unfortunately there was only 14" left from the width of the fabric once the apron was cut out of it. Also, to get the full effect of the changes in the color of the swirls I wanted to cut them in the proper direction. If I had not discovered the joys of glue (see blog entry 
You know a project hasn't gone well when the best part of it is that you are done. I really love making things...and for the most part, especially when I am learning something new, I enjoy it. I never expect things to go perfectly, especially if it is my first couple of times making something but this last project has me shaking my head and saying I am so DONE making market totes! Also, I have made several of these bag, I should know what I am doing, RIGHT? I blogged about making this particular tote using this fabric back in September.