FRIDAY FINISH

I think I've "finished" this runner 3 times but now it's really finished. Here it is all stitched and "finished".

Then I decided it needed some surface stitching.  Here it is all embroidered and "finished."  Much better!

And I thought it needed a bit of big stitch quilting around the center.  So here it is quilted and "finished."  And now - it's REALLY finished.

Then I moved on to bags.  I agreed to do a demo at my guild meeting on putting a zipper in a bag.

Of course - with a zipper comes a little bling.  I do forget sometimes that not all quilters have a garment sewing background.  Zippers scare people?  Really?

Putting a zipper in a bag is SO easy when you do it with 2 flat pieces of fabric. Much easier than inserting one into a garment.

I made a few bags and pieces of bags (which are now whole) for the demo.  Now I have bags, lots of bags.  And a good start on Christmas presents.  I spent a month getting this ready for my meeting demo and dontcha know - just when I thought I had perfected my technique ... here comes a designer tutorial, all copywrited and cute.  Check out Terry Atkinson's Sweet Zip if you want to know how to do the zipper.  But don't limit yourself to HER measurements ... play around and have fun making bags!

AND ... go check out AmyLouWho's Sew"nTell Friday for even more inspiration!