this is a test

when I started talking about adding some additional embellishment to the "feathers" on the hat, the DH suggested I should do a test run first

after some mumbling, I decided he was probably right about that, so I pulled out some of the scrap pieces and worked up this little sample

I like it!

so now it's on to the actual quilt top and adding many, many rows of stitching to all those "feather shafts"

and the colors show up pretty well over that patterned fabric which was something I wasn't so sure about


when my friend from California was here she was telling me about organizing her bias binding scraps

like me, she cuts her own bias and she always cuts more than the project requires -- under the theory that it's better to have left overs than to run out with only 3 inches of a quilt left to bind (GRRRRR!)

I admit, I had a gallon zip top bag full of assorted bias scraps (and that's probably not even all of them, because until now I had no system whatsoever for them)

each piece of bias has been pressed then rolled around a TP tube and pinned

neat - very neat!
the handbag and its lining are all cut

and out of the scrap at the top curve I had big enough pieces to make a smaller bag to tuck inside to keep little things from getting lost

time to take all these pieces to the sewing machine and get them stitched together

and I'm still considering using some more of those wood beads my mother gave me for the strap

lots of projects slowly coming together!