Thanks to Instagram, in July I realized that the deadline for the Riley Blake fabric challenge that I had signed up for through the Modern Quilt Guild, was rapidly approaching. I had received 6 fat eighths in the Cottage Garden fabric line. When I had first received them in the spring, I laid them out and spent an hour or two sketching and trying to think what to do with them. The stipulation of the contest was that you had to make something quilted, and also something you’d never made before. Well, then summer happened, and I forgot all about the challenge. While in the midst of Sew Together bag fever, I realized I could make a “mini” Sew Together bag and meet the requirements of the challenge. I wasn’t concerned with trying to win, but did want to participate since I had signed up for free fabric. Some of the work I had seen on Instagram had been truly amazing!

The Mini version was very appealing to me because I felt like I would never use all 3 pockets in the full-size version. The Mini version has only 2 pockets. I decided that I would piece the main section of the bag since I had seen so many cute examples of this on Instagram. I spent a lot of time working up my “pattern” and then got to fussy-cutting: a first for me! Soon I had 6 perfectly cut birds. Despite this being my 3rd bag, I still had to reference the quiltalong tutorial frequently. Still, this bag came together much more quickly and I spent a day on it. Top-stitching? still difficult. The method for making the end tabs is not very clear in the pattern or the tutorial, but I made do. I was very happy with the finished product. However, it was apparent that this mini version was too small to carry things like scissors and a rotary cutter. But the mini version would be ideal for other purposes like traveling and as a makeup bag. If only there was a pattern for a 2-pocket, full-size Sew Together bag. I’d be all over that! This would also increase the area in the middle which would be ideal.

I also got my sewing space reorganized after re-arranging some bedroom furniture. Now I have a much larger space, although I did lose my window. 😦