Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I FINALLY finished writing up the pattern for the laptop sleeve/tote bag I’ve made for me and for my friends Char and Sue.

Example instructions

The pattern is for sale from my Etsy store here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27045345 (as is the laptop made for the pics in that pattern: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25830180).

The surprising thing about writing up this pattern was how hard it was! The initial writing was easy, but then I had to test it to make sure it was correct.At that point I realised how many assumptions I had made about the audience’s knowledge, so it was back to the drawing board. Like the presentations I’ve done using code, a pattern has to be absolutely correct — no missing or assumed steps. It was much harder than I expectedand took much longer than I thought it would — and I’m a technical writer who does this sort of stuff for a living!

Someone on the Etsy forums posted a link to this amazing site: http://www.morecloth.com/

You click on a colour strip, then get taken to a page of fabric swatches from various fabric sellers on Etsy. Click on the swatch and go direct to that seller’s page. Nice!

Step 1: Click a color strip

Step 2: Click a swatch

Step 3: View the fabric for sale from the Etsy seller

Wow! Another TWO fabric pieces from my Etsy store got added to an Etsy Treasury — one green, one blue. Thanks, DownHomeDiva and BlueHeronQuilts!

Etsy Treasury

I had a rush of blood to the head a few weeks back (always a dangerous thing!). My fabric and all my crafting stuff has been stacked in big tubs on the floor in the tiny spare bedroom I use for sewing and quilting, and which we use for storing wine, books, pantry items and the like. Then I realised that there was quite a bit of air space I could use… and remembered that we had an old pine shelving unit in storage.

So, on Sunday we got it from the storage unit and put it up on top of an old library catalogue cabinet where my husband stores his archive of music cassette tapes (!). I then spent an hour or so stacking it with my stuff and now I have more floor space which makes the room look less crowded!

Charlene Kingston from Crow Information Design used Twitter to let me know about this New York Times article on preventing memory loss as we age. The article starts off featuring a guy called Bob:

At the age of 78, Bob Branham, a retired computer software developer in Dallas, Tex., took up quilting. It wasn’t his idea, actually. He’d never dreamed of piecing together his own Amish diamond coverlet or rummaging around Jo-Ann Fabrics in search of calico prints. But then he enrolled in a trial sponsored by the National Institute on Aging to assess whether learning a new skill can help preserve cognitive function in old age. By random assignment, he landed in the quilting group.

Read the rest of the article…

Late last year I entered my Dragonfly quilt into a national competition, run by Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It didn’t make the finalists (which were on exhibition at the recent Perth Craft and Quilt Fair), but I was sent a nice letter asking me to send it over to them so they could take a professional photo of it to put into a later issue of the magazine.

Well, they’ve published it! It’s on page 91 of the Annual 2009 issue (Volume 18, No. 2), available in newsagents across Australia right now [June 2009].

Here’s a scan of part of the page with the photo and the write-up I did — the challenge theme was “Fantasy”:

My Dragonfly quilt in APQ Annual 2009 -- page 91

I had a bit of the pink fabric left over after making the binding for the the very pink laptop tote, so I made a couple of luggage tags (with a plastic window for a business card). You’d never miss these if they were on your luggage at the baggage carousel — they are very distinctive! And bright.

I only made two this afternoon and they’re available from my Etsy store if you want a unique, colorful gift or stocking filler (yes, some people — very weirdorganised ones — are buying Christmas gifts now…). I still have a little more of the striped pink fabric left, but not the fabric used for the strap though — that’s all gone now.

And Sue, I won’t let you buy them! You already have pink luggage tags from me, and your obsession with pink stuff is bordering on manic! 😉

Pink luggage tags

My friend Sue in San Diego said she liked my other colourful laptop bag, but there was too much blue and green in it for her, and could I make a pink one. Well, I needed to test the laptop pattern I’ve written a final time (I will be selling it in my Etsy store soon…), so I figured I may as well hunt out some pink fabric from my stash and see what I could do.

I cut it out and got started at yesterday’s craft afternoon, and finished it today after getting the power brick and mouse dimensions from Sue. It’s hard to see in this photo, but there’s lots of wavy pink quilting over the main fabric, and the cross-hatch quilting on the contrast fabric. It’s pink!

Very pink laptop bag

If Sue doesn’t want it, I’ll be selling it in my store. No surprises! Sue *loved* it, so it will be winging it’s way across the Pacific Ocean tomorrow sometime.

My friend Char wanted a gift for her good friend MaryEllen, so she asked if I had any frog fabric and if I could make a tote bag for MaryEllen (who loves frogs). I found some musical frogs at one of the local fabric stores — and Char loved it! She said MaryEllen was into music too, and the fabric was just perfect.

MaryEllen's froggie tote bag --- with bonus luggage tag

I was going to make a tote bag using my laptop bag pattern, but then realised that a better tote bag for MaryEllen’s would be one with a base and with inside pockets. So I found a free pattern on the internet and proceeded to adapt and modify it.

The frog bag ended up having inside pockets on both front and back (the original pattern only had pockets on one side), and a wider base, and different handles, and… well, lots of other modifications!

Tote bag: Inside pockets and base; velcro closures

I had fun making it and adapting the pattern, even though I stuffed up the free motion quilting at one point and had to unpick a big section. I added a bonus luggage tag in the same fabrics (which Char wasn’t expecting) and mailed it off to the US. It arrived yesterday, and both Char and MaryEllen love it. A perfect ‘Thank you’ gift for Char’s good friend MaryEllen!

Close-up of fabric and free motion quilting

When I get some free time, I’ll consider writing up the modified pattern in full and making it available on my Etsy store. But not this week!

I’ve just added a quilted laptop sleeve/tote/bag and matching luggage tags to my Etsy store. They’re bright! 😉

• Tote: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25830180
• Luggage tag: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6695506&section_id=6122839

Some pics: