A Matching Game and Carry Case

Over the last two months, I've hardly sat at the sewing machine. One thing I have done, though, is to finally finish one of my WIPs.

My Grandson, Oli, came to stay for the first time at the beginning of April, and two projects that I have on the go for him weren't finished in time for me to give to him during his stay. It's certainly time to put that right before he's too old to use them!

A MATCHING GAME + CARRY CASE

I bought the fabric for this first project when I visited Phoenix, AZ, in 2014; before Oli was even born, I shared my trip in this blog post.

I intended to make an alphabet book with the letters - in fact, I bought 3 complete sets of the alphabet so I could make 3 books, one for Oli and two to sell, but when I set about making the books

 in 2015 I changed my mind and decided to use the 3 alphabet sets to make a matching game and carry case.

This is a pic I took as I started making the alphabet set - piles of letters, backing fabric and batting.

To make the matching game mat, I used my No Bind Quilt Tute - this was the first tute I ever wrote for my blog five years ago, and the matching cards are made using my Fabric Coasters Tute.

 

With those completed, I set about making the carry case using ByAnnie's Soft and Stable.



I made front and back panels featuring Oli's name and his Dad's, my son Jack's initials, JAK.



What a horror story; my Bernina 440QE kept skipping stitches (something it had never done before). It was my first time using Soft and Stable, and I tried every combination of tension, foot pressure, etc but couldn't get it to stop, and I really wasn't happy with the skipped stitches. Feeling pretty fed up with it, I set the project aside.

As 2016 came around, I thought about the project again and given that I'd bought a Juki TL2010 since my last attempt at sewing the case, I thought I'd give it a go-to see it would be happier stitching through Soft and Stable. The answer is 'yes'. So I progressed to finishing attaching fabric to both sides of the front and back and making the sides. Then I got distracted again.

I bought my Juki machines online from SewVacDirect via Amazon (affiliate links).

   

So now it's April 2017, and, as I mentioned at the start of this saga, my grandson, Oli, came to stay with me, and this is him in Times Square with Mum and Dad.

When they left, I knew I had to get cracking and finish this project once and for all.



These are the zippers I always use (affiliate link).

I added handles and serged the sides to the front and back panels.

I used Ed Emberley Picture Pie Alphabet fabric from Cloud9 Fabrics for one inside panel,

and I used more alphabet letters to spell out Pet Fun for the second inside panel.

I don't think it took me an hour to get it finished - what on earth had I been waiting for!!!

Once it was finished, I went a bit overboard in taking pics.

Can you believe this is the edited down collection?

And there are even more!!!

 

Then I took it to our May 'Show + Tell' at the NYC Metro Modern Quilters Guild, and I don't think I've ever been so delighted to be able to show something off; just look at my face.

Super thrilled to have this ready to give to Oli; I'm not going to mail it to him, I'm seeing his Dad in a few weeks at my daughter Flicky's graduation ceremony in St Andrew's, Scotland, so I'll hand it over then.

I've been working on this matching game and carry case project for almost 3 years; it's been never-ending - you probably feel the same way reading this long post!!! Crazy to think in the end, it really only took a couple of days' work.

  

What projects are you procrastinating over? Have you used Soft and Stable? How did you find working with it?  

Share your stories in the comments; we all love to hear them.

A MATCHING GAME + CARRY CASE

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