Monday, August 20, 2012

Paper Pieced Snack Bag

 Practically Paper Piecing

At the beginning of July, I wrote that one of my quilting plans for the month was to finally try paper piecing.  Bethany from Make Me a Quilt commented on my post that she was interested in trying it as well and we decided to make a pact!  Less than a week later, we both had paper pieced our first block!  

A few weeks later and a few paper pieced projects later, I was talking to Kristy who was organizing this paper piecing blog hop and I was very excited to join in on the fun (clearly, I'm a fan of blog hops!)  Actually, Kristy's tutorial for the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop was about paper piecing - that post plus seeing all the fun blocks she has created also inspired me to try it!



As I wrote last week, my daughters and I are in the midst of crazy back to school sewing.  One of the items on their list was a snack bag and so my middle daughter and I searched the web to find a fun paper pieced pattern to use.  One of the first we came upon was this juice glass block on Sew Mama Sew from Ayumi of Pink Penguin.  My daughter loved this block and wanted to use it (even though she never even brings juice with her snack!?!)  I also decided to add in the companion sprout block by Penny of sewtakeahike.  



For the reverse side, I really wanted to paper piece the word "snack."  I looked around the web for a pattern to use but since I needed a specific size, I decided to try to make my own.  I'm happy I tried it - it actually wasn't nearly as complicated as I had thought and I was able to make the letters the exact size I wanted them.  Once the girls are back to school, I'll write something up about how I made the letters but for now here is a pic:



The "S" needs some work and I didn't intend for the "C" to be so much larger than the rest of the letters but overall I'm happy with it.  And, more importantly, the recipient LOVES it!

To make the snack bag, I basically followed the same process I use for my quilted totes which you can find here.  But I wanted to make the opening a little smaller so after I was finished with the bag, I sewed up the top between the sides and the handles.  Oh, and can you tell that purple was a requested color???  Unfortunately, I didn't have any purple thread but I did have a very pretty blue Aurifil that I used for quilting the snack side.


The girls usually just make a knot with the handles to close the middle opening so I just left it like that.

There have been lots of great posts along the Practically Paper Pieced Blog Hop - I very much recommend visiting some or all!  The hop runs for the month of August and culminates with a link party from August 29-31 with lots of great prizes.  Visit Kristy's blog for all the information.  And here is this week's schedule:

20 Fiona from Finding Fifth  
21 Beth from Plum and June
22 Megan from Jaffa quilts
23 Juliet from Tartan Kiwi
24 Katy from The Littlest Thistle
25 Sat Tracey from the Peony Teacup


And if you are also a fan of blog hops OR if you are a new blogger OR if you like fabric giveaways, click here for more information on all of that (and a current giveaway!)

28 comments:

  1. This looks so fantastic Beth!! Both sides are awesome - I bet your daughter was absolutely thrilled. Love the fabrics you used too!

    Well done on trying out your own paper pieced letters too - they look great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I absolutely love the way this turned out, Beth. I've been wanting to try those patterns from the Sew, Mama, Sew posts ever since they came out. I've got to make these!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great snack bag! I keep on saying it, but I really need to start designing my own paper pieced blocks- maybe letters and words are a good place to start?!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is a great snack bag - well done Beth! And there won't be anyone else with the same one at school - bonus!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's a lovely little bag! I'm getting the itch to make my own now!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is gorgeous! Love all the happy scrappy happening there!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great bag! She'll never misplace this at school! What a lucky girl.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cute bag! You did a good job of combining the different elements. It 's nice that you are involving your girls in your sewing projects.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You did amazing on the letters! I can't even trace letters on paper half the time myself! ha!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh it's great Beth and get you rocking the Paper piecing and making your own patterns :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow Beth! You did such an awesome job! I can't wait to hear about how you did the letters. I have wanted to try letters but I haven't found the right project yet. I bet your daughter loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Super cute! YOu did a great job with the paper piecing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. wow, that turned out so adorable!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Such a fun bag! I'm sure she'll be the envy of her friends =D

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is fab! I especially love the way you've pieced the letters :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. This bag turned out great; it will be the hit of the lunchroom. I like the pieced letters. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, wow, Beth - this looks awesome! I only just saw this today, I've been crazy, ridiculous busy. The letters look great - look how far we've come!! :D I love all the different fabrics you used, it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Such a fun looking snack bag! You've done a fantastic job with those pieced letters too.

    ReplyDelete
  19. How cute is that??!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I SO need to try paper piecing after seeing this! Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This snack bag looks like the perfect fit for little hands.

    Deborah
    homemakerhoney @gmail .com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Fabulous bag!! I love that you're working with your kids to make them what they want :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for the great article! A perfect way to use orphaned blocks, and you've given me courage to try free piecing letters.

    ReplyDelete
  24. This is so cute! I love how you incorporated the juice & sprout block on to the bag! The free pieced letters are so fun!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting!