Longarm quilting by Knot and Thread

Totes for Many

Have you ever found a pattern that you love so much, you want to make it over & over again? For me, a pattern that falls into this category is the All The Things Tote. It’s designed by Kait at http://www.knotandthreaddesign.com. This pattern comes in three different sizes and all are more generously proportioned than you might imagine. As soon as I made one, all I could do was grab yardage and get to work on more!

Fabric by Fancy That Design House; a hostess gift for Annie

Quilted Panels

Early 2023, I knew without hesitation that I’d be making a LOT of these totes. I could easily straight-line or decorative stitch some quilt sandwiches to then cut into pieces for the bags, but I wanted a little more flair. My intention was to make these for gifts and I thought it would be fun to experiment with different pantographs and fabric combinations. I also wanted to be as efficient with fabric and cost effective as possible when it came to professional longarm quilting. Thankfully, I have made a lot of quilts and have had excellent experiences with two quilters, each of whom helped me in this tote making effort.

The best part, I started early enough to not feel panic at the holidays while creating handmade gifts. Just for reference, I highly recommend the early start! So much more enjoyable.

I turned to Jennifer, www.knottedthread.com who has quilted so many of my projects over the past several years. Every single finish ships back to me in a timely manner and I never doubt it will be perfectly done. These bag panels were no different – so well done. Kait, at Knot and Thread, also quilted panels for me. Some were done with quilt batting, others with Soft and Stable Foam Stabilizer. I generally prefer cotton batting, but one bag in particular needed a little more structure, which was made possible with the soft and stable.

Juki, My Workhorse

I have two sewing machines and one, the Husqvarna Opal, is used entirely for piecing blocks and my Juki TL-2010Q is used for projects that require industrial strength and power to glide through thick layers. They are my studio babies and I can’t imagine sewing without either of them. They each perform so well for what I need and I’m thankful for the flexibility to move around a table to the machine which is best (for me) at different tasks.

The All the Things tote has a few areas/seams that are several layers thick. Think double sided fabric, stabilizer, binding, webbing straps…it’s a lot. My Juki earned its place in the “I can do this because of you” category this past year! While I didn’t attempt the thickest seams with my Husqvarna, I think a slow and steady pace might work with a variety of machines and heavy-duty needles.

The Process and the Finishes

With so much of this being “secret gift” sewing, I thought I would have taken more photos! As I started to write this post, I realized I didn’t have as many process photos as I usually take. It might also be that each bag was made from yardage panels and not pieced blocks. Some I finished with white webbing straps, others were webbing covered in coordinating fabric. The additional benefit is that each panel had a little bit of wiggle room and cut just right, I had some leftover yardage for zipper pouches. I mean, who doesn’t love a quilted zipper pouch?

Rifle Paper and Art Gallery Fabrics; always finished with my personalized labels

The Totes

With this one, I reversed the direction of the end panels so that the interior would face out with a pocket of yellow flowers. I like it!

Perfect for beach days; this one lives in Rhode Island

This directional beach chair fabric, was constructed just a bit differently so that all the chairs were accurately placed. It also makes me think about lazy summer days, toes in the sand, enjoying the surf with family & friends.

My youngest now has two totes, a large & a medium. The first is one of my favorites, complete with shark fabric, but do I have a photo? Not that I’ve found yet! I’ll have to do that. Any time I’m asked to make something by my kids, it’s a prompt, “of course”.

Then there are the maker friends, who share fabric (you know it’s you, Joanne!) or tell me about totes they’d like to have, but likely won’t make. I’m looking at YOU, Alicia. I’m fortunate to have a circle of creative people in my life and the sharing of ideas and handmade gifts is truly a joy. I think often times as makers, we don’t receive handmade gifts because others think we would do it ourselves. I can’t speak for everyone, but even though I sew, quilt, bake, make bread, I’m always excited when I handmade “thing” comes my way. It’s fun & I appreciate the time & effort someone invested into gifting me something from their own creativity and hands.

For a friend who grew up on a flower farm & who shares a love of hydrangea

Pink-ish & patriotic for the friend who serves and protects our country’s freedom

For a friend who patiently waits the arrival of her baby boy; a hospital bag/tote

All The Things

Such a perfect name for a tote that can be designed in numerous fabric combinations, carrying widely different contents, stabilized with a favorite material, quilted with unlimited pantographs or straight lines, pieced block pockets…it is and can be All the Things.

With eleven already under my belt, it still doesn’t feel like I’ve made all the combinations in my mind, so there may be more in 2024!

Happy Sewing!

All photos and written content property of Two Terriers Studio & not to be copied or distributed without written consent of the owner. This is not a sponsored post (although I wish it were!). All comments and collaboration notes are my personal opinion & from my personal experiences.

Let’s talk about a dramatic shift from loving low volume backgrounds to being enamored with blacks, navy and every shade of blue/gray to mimic a night sky. Add in the flowers of a garden and the creatures that visit under the cover of darkness and you’re here, the start of my first Night Garden Quilt.

How does your garden grow?

I was cruising through summer and prepping my holiday gift lists and even getting some projects started, when my IG friend, Elizabeth (@lizzymakes) started sharing pictures of a night garden quilt. It caught my eye immediately, mostly because the dark fabrics were so out of the norm for me, but I really liked what she was doing. I’d zoom in….see more details, finding myself even more intrigued as I studied her quilts. Then she shared the idea of a loosely structured / no deadline sew-along and I jumped right in. Yes, 100%. I went about pulling all the bright colors for flowers and all the darks for backgrounds. I was intent on not buying more fabric, but as you might imagine, that was a short-lived idea. I have a lot of scraps, but this was going to require more dark prints than I had available for the size finish I wanted.

Flowers

First up, flowers. I started with the zinnia blocks, a pattern by Lori Holt. I literally went straight to my scrap bins and pulled everything for the petals, and then built in the other elements of the flowers. I wasn’t really sure how many flowers I’d make or what the formation of the sky might entail or how closely I could replicate all the creatures I’ve seen walk through my yard. But it was ALL swirling in my thoughts. I started to remember other floral block patterns I had purchased and only used once. Could I add those? Yes. It was back to my digital files and scouring the archives to make use of the things I had purchased with other intentions. So much of it came into play for this quilt. Revisiting patterns is a good thing!

I could easily overthink the animals & whether they are night or day visitors, but in the end, I just wanted representation of what I like – stars, crescent moon, bright/lively flowers, flying friends and the all time favorite, the bear. Everything else would be a cherry on top.

Here’s another flower variety, this one a pattern by On Williams Street. More chances for tiny scraps to come to life!

Details

It’s all in the details. While the scrappy-ness of the bigger blocks is typical of my wild-color, improv loving heart, I also like to sneak in little details. At first glance you may not see them. If you’re sitting snuggled under the quilt with time to spare, you might notice. If you know me well, you know why it’s there. That kind of stuff. I like it in my work. The storytelling through images makes me happy.

This little segment has old & new fabric, pieces from pattern testing and even fabric my husband brought home from a business trip in the UK. Nobody else would know, but I do and I like how it all continues to find a way into my quilting.

Is there such thing as “tiring of rifle paper co. rabbits”? I don’t think so.

Foundation Paper Piecing

Foundation Paper Piecing. For me, it’s the love / hate piecing method. I love the accuracy and precision. I loathe the removal of the foundation. I love the tiny bits; it means every scrap has potential. But those papers, there has to be a better, less messy way. It’s a test of patience for me, for sure. However, as much as I take deep breaths and sigh about the mess, I go back for more. Ha!

In all seriousness, I could NOT make this hummingbird without foundation paper piecing. So, tiny pieces of foundation to tear away, it’s ok. I’ll keep doing it to have results like this.

For the past few summers, I’ve planted gardens that are welcoming to butterflies and hummingbirds. They are frequent visitors to our home every single day, so they had to be included in this quilt. As the weather chills and some of the flowers die off, my flying friends aren’t as frequent to the patio. I look forward to seeing them next summer.

There’s a tiny note in this block too. I’m sure you see it; wink. 🙂

Be still my heart; owl….I think you are stunning. This is a pattern by Griffin and the Bear, which made my piecing work so easy. I hear the hooting from the woods…this one needed to be included too. There is such a thrill and a gift to living in a forest.

Speaking of forests….wouldn’t you gnome it? There has to be a gnome.

It’s a wrap

I worked on this daily and from start to finish; add in long distance quilting and photos. It took less than 8 weeks?! I think that’s right. To say I was slightly obsessed would be accurate. I *may” have left my fabric out and purchased more backing for another one. Once I got in a rhythm with these blocks, it just flew by.

This was professionally quilted by Kaitlyn, http://www.knotandthreaddesign.com. It’s fantastic. She’s finished several of my quilts and I’m always pleased with the results. I finally had a chance to meet her this summer; so thankful for my quilt community. I bound it with the same fabric I used for the backing.

See the bear? I see them often; of course one makes an appearance here.

That’s a wrap. I’m a convert. Give me all the dark backgrounds now! Thanks to Elizabeth for the sew-along, Kaitlyn for the quilting, and Cass for indulging me in awesome fabric from Nova Quilts. There were moments along the way I wasn’t sure how my intentions were going to be puzzled together, but it worked. It’s another “I love it” finish for me! Night Garden 2 – I’m coming for you.

-Happy Quilting…enjoy!

All photos and content property of Two Terriers Studio and not to be copied or distributed without written consent of the owner. This is not a sponsored post.

Tag: Longarm quilting by Knot and Thread

All The Things Tote (s)