I really liked the looks of the Serenity Shoulder Bag, and wanted something new to demonstrate at our last shop hop. We didn’t have any leaf fabric like that shown on the cover, so I looked around the store and found this beautiful Jinny Beyer floral. (981533)

The morning of the demo I layered up Texture Magic, my favorite batting, put my fabric on top, and put it on my Handi Quilter frame. I chose a cone of Isacord thread that blends with the fabric, and in no time I had stitched around the flowers and the leaves, with denser stitching in the background.

On the left is what it looked like on the back when I finished, and on the right is what it looked like on the front.

When I started steaming it, with Shop Hoppers gathered at the demo table, our jaws dropped! Wow! What a beautiful textured fabric it created!

I traced an interesting shape on the back to make my flap piece and finished up the bag. I used the un-textured floral for the outside back pocket, so you can see the “before” and “after” state of the fabric.

The body of the bag is a Tonga Batik, 979546.

Try it! You’ll love it!

(To find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)

I mentioned the Holiday Paintstik Wallhanging (45607)when it first came in. Now I have my finished sample to show you! We have the fabric pack, too, with the beautiful Ultra Sateen. (58622)

Several tools and techniques helped me with this.

I used my 2” Line Stencil (21925) and Ultimate Quilt Pounce (89934) to put in my quilting guide lines. (Chalk these as lightly as possible. I did them darker so they would show up better in my photos.)

My favorite ruler (45153) helped me in placing the lines ½” from the border, and then ½” from what would become the edge of the quilt (marked with purple painter’s tape).

I used my mechanical fabric pencil to sketch in a few holly leaves at each corner just to help me be sure to get the corners right. (I put the Quilter’s 3-Way Sandboard (43336) under the quilt top to make marking easier.)

The continuous line holly leaf design came from the Pocket Guide to Freehanding (16395), something I use a lot! I echo quilted the individual designs. This is what it looks like on the back.

I did my binding with the Perfect Binding DVD (33483) technique I talked about in my previous blog entry.

To find the item on our web page, hold down the Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!