First, the bad news: I sliced a good-sized hunk out of my finger with the (nice, sharp) rotary cutter. When I couldn’t get the bleeding stopped after an hour, I went to Urgent Care. A nice Physician Assistant there got it all fixed up.
Quilting with 9 fingers is a challenge 😉 Another learning experience…
In better news, I made Lora Douglas’s Roxie bag this week, and it is as cute as expected! This project is part of Quilted Adventure, an online retreat I’m taking part in throughout 2016. As always, I learned several things from making this bag. And unlike the learning experience mentioned above, this was fun:
Roxie Bag, Designed by Lora Douglas
Lora’s instructions requested foam batting, a product I had never heard of! Luckily, my “local” quilt shop had it. It did give the bag really nice structure without making it stiff, and I probably will use foam batting for future bags. A nice find!
I purchased the hardware for the bag from Lora’s Etsy shop, I had no idea a flex frame could be so sturdy. Most bags I’ve seen were made with lengths of metal measuring tape as the closure. That works just fine (if your husband isn’t very vigilant about his tools) but the closure isn’t very tight. The flex frame that came with the kit holds that bag closed with certainty! And unlike the measuring tape closure, this one can hold itself open when needed.
Roxie Bag with the top snapped open
Lora’s instructions also called for glue-basting the binding, which I had never done. It actually worked great! I’ll probably do that again.
If you’re interested in the year-long Quilted Adventure, all classes are online for the whole year, so you can sign up any time. Just use the link above to go to Lora’s site and click the button in her margin. If your main interest is the bag rather than the whole retreat, she’ll release the single pattern some time in 2017.
So the good learning experiences certainly outweighed the bad this week!
Zippy Quilts 
Oh no! I did the left middle finger about 5 years ago. How awful for you. Stitches? I hope it heals easily and quickly.
Nothing left to stitch–I sliced a piece right off. Had to go to Urgent Care to get the bleeding stopped since we didn’t have a way to cauterize it (ouch!) at work. Healing fine now!
Oh, owie, MJ! Hope it heals fast — and glad there was an urgent care close by!
It seems to be doing fine, thanks!
I love the bag! How clever!
Thanks!
I love the bag, thank you for sharing it with us. And sorry about your finger.
Thanks for visiting!
Love the bag. Thanks for the links. Maybe you need a first aid kit as well
Good point! Every quilt studio needs a first aid kit 🙂
Thanks for the link for the bag! You did a wonderful job making it. Sorry about your finger! Hope it heals quickly without any problems!
It’s doing fine now, thanks. Could have been worse–no tendon, bone, or major nerve/vessel involved!
Glad your finger is on the mend, so scary, and that’s a nice bag!
Thanks! Good to hear from you!
Eek! How awful. Hope you’re on the mend quickly. In quilting, you need every digit you’ve got.
Healing pretty well 😊. Need all my brains, too, so at least it was only my finger…