Mixed Media Fabric Lap Top Case

So excited to finally be able to share this project with you. It's been completed for a little while but only got delivered this weekend. Recently my niece asked if I would make her a lap top case - "Anything you make I love" ♥ So completely up to me for the design..... First a brainstorm - she absolutely loved my "On a Lark" fabric folder which I made a couple of years ago. 

This made me think that mixed media fabric book covers I've made would also be good inspiration : like this fabric bookwrap 

and I really love the cover I did for a friend's travel journal : Paris Book 

She is moving to Canada to study, so I wanted to theme my colours around NZ Paua shell - turquoise and purples - along with black and white, and I also wanted to use a variety of fabrics including sari ribbon, braid, ribbon, scrim etc. I took the measurements of her device and cut a large rectangle of black batting to make the cover AND a zipped case to hold her charger/earbuds etc. I won't line it, because the black will be nice and soft and I will stitch with variegated thread so even when you see the inside flap, it will look funky. Fun part - beginnings of gatherings ♥

This was my initial play and then I decided the black/white wasn't soft enough. I swapped them out for more creams and grabbed some more batiks. I included some extra meaningful fabrics like music, french language, and swirly sea...

Then I bonded iron-on interfacing to one side of the black batting and laid the fabrics down again before stitching with my signature free-motion swirl in variegated rayon thread on top with plain turquoise rayon on the back

Once stitched, I cut the large rectangle down to make the lap top cover, and the extra small rectangle will become an accessory pouch (earbuds, charger).

The swirly stitching left the edges unfinished - these will fray more with use and I hope she enjoys that. Click on any photo to see it larger

It's truly a mixed media piece. I printed the spots on some of the fabric above with metallic paint. After that initial stitched layer, I added other elements on top

To add the zipper to the accessory pouch I did a bit of a cheat and sewed it to the 2 edges using an ordinary seam (right sides together)

Then I added the edging stitch down each side. It worked just fine.

Then it was time to put the lap top case together. I used the same variegated thread to edge stitch

And I added a line of straight stitching inside the edge to reinforce those seams.

The main challenge was that with such a large button I had to find an alternative to my automatic buttonhole - the instructions HERE were very helpful.

Here are both the case and accessory pouch together

and some lovely close-ups 

I could have happily had this project continue to live on at my house, but I'm pleased to report it's been delivered, the device fits inside 

and she loves it ♥ I hope it accompanies her on many new adventures.

On A Lark

I did 2 quilt classes recently with Karen K Stone - quilter extraordinaire. My first was called "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues" - I shared some of Karen's quilts and the beginnings of my quilt HERE. My second class was called "On a Lark" - this is Karen's sample from the class

"On a Lark" by Karen K. Stone

As you can see it is a riot of colour and fibres - very fun. Since I want to complete my "Wild Women..." quilt as a full size project, I decided to go smaller with this second class. These were my stash gatherings :

And my piece progressed quite quickly on the day:

Adding loads of fibres is great fun. They totally change the look of the piece, and feel lovely to touch as well - I used a variety of sheer and fancy ribbons, wools, and sari ribbon.

I'm not working on a regular shape and you'll see why at the end. Once home, I added many more fibres from my stash and things progressed along. We have just had a long weekend in New Zealand, and I managed to complete this project : 

Some close-ups to show the gorgeous textures

Love the way the sari ribbon frays as shown above. Then I trimmed the piece ready to put it together

Here's the completed fabric folder -  I used the same variegated thread in the top and bobbin, and went around the raw edges and joined seams with a machine satin stitch. Click on the photos to see them larger.

Front view closed

Front open

Back

I could have attached a cord to it and used it as a bag, or I could have gifted it to a friend, but I'm using it as a lovely home for the individual art pages from my Life Book lessons until they are ready to be bound at the end of the year.

Altered Pen Case

For my birthday, I got some lovely Clarins products in a plain white soft case :

I've been enjoying Alisa Burke's lessons in her latest online class, Redefine Creativity, where she encourages you to think about how you can use your creative skills to transform a variety of different surfaces. I've been wanting a pencil case for my black and white pens, so decided to give the white case some pen treatment. 

One side - click on any photo to see it larger

view from the other side

End view

And I decorated the bottom as well :-)

original closure tag

Replaced by butterfly tag closure

Using black pitt pens (they are permanent markers) and a couple of hours in my evening, I now have a very funky and unique pen case :-)

Lunch sack gift bags

Had our Christmas meeting at Rose City Quilters last night.
We had to make a lunch sack gift bag and deliver it ahead of time so a gift could be added and on the night we got our swap. The pattern is here.
Fully lined - love this turquoise/lime colour combination

This is my finished bag - used a button from my grandmother's dress to fasten it.

And this is what I got in return.

Love the spots and especially the heart button closure.

And inside - a gift from the club...with a catch

The catch is that we are encouraged to use this piece of fabric in a challenge for our Annual Quilt Show "Tote and Gloat" on 5th May 2012. You need to use a recognizable piece of the fabric in the challenge - there are a variety of categories. The standard of entrants is always high - see previous winning quilts here. Will have to think about this one.....
We were also very entertained by the committee last night - they did a wonderful rendition of "The 12 days of Christmas" - each stood up wherever they were in the audience to sing their line, and held up whatever they were singing:

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me

12 new thimbles
11 lovely buttons

10 cotton reels 

9 fabric flowers

8 rotary cutters

7 measuring tapes

6 velcro hanging sleeves

5 paper pieced leaves

4 rolls of ribbon

3 library books

2 pairs of scissors

and a brand new sewing machine

They had decorated hats, held up items or attached them to clothing, and my favourite was the '5 paper pieced leaves' by Erilyn

- see details of how she made them here.

The evening finished with some demo's of simple things to make for Christmas, or to help with your quilting creations.

Loving these tree ideas :

Wool wrapped around polystyrene cones and secured with pins.

Simple but really effective.

And this one of fabric scraps is really sweet : make one yourself with instructions from Quilting Arts here.

Happy creating for Christmas.....