Rag Bag

One of my quilting friends had the CUTEST bag along with her the other day (at a quilters' get-together, of course).  Her son bought it for her out-of-state at a craft fair.  It wasn't long before the purse was dumped and all of the quilters in attendance were examining it.  A day later I put together one for myself:

I cut 4 inch squares of coordinated scraps for the outside and 4 inch squares of muslin for the inside.  Squares of cotton batting were cut slightly smaller, then each layered square was sewn with an X across it to keep things together.  All of the squares are sewn together seams side out and the seams are clipped.  Handles were added last, just before stitching lines around the top of the bag to strengthen it.  Then into the washer and dryer.

I was looking for ways to streamline the process, so layered a fat quarter of print fabric, batting, and a fat quarter of muslin, pressed them together and marked a 4 inch grid.  I marked all of the diagonal sewing lines and sewed it as one big piece before cutting up the individual squares.  I just used straight pins at intersections and removed them as I went.

Here's one of the side panels and one of the individual sewn squares.

When I made today's bag, I remembered to add a loop for a button closure.  Here it is finished.

Last, but not least, since it is Wednesday, we had our usual meeting of our Dear Jane sewing group.  It took me over TWO HOURS to make this little block.  It is number 21.