Cat bags and Octopi bags are coming soon!!!!

Hey there folks!!!

What do you know? I am typing a blog post. How wild. It is rather dusty around here. It has been so long since I have posted that the entire platform seems to have changed. Oh well onward and upward, right?

So, how has Covid19 been treating you? I hope you are doing well and are healthy and happy and have found some good things to keep your mind and body busy.

For those of you who have been long time followers, HI!!!!! I miss you all so much! For the newbies HI!!!! I am so happy to meet you. From 2006 to about 2013 I made bags. Camp Follower Bags. That was my gig. I made bags out of peoples uniforms and they were pretty cool if I do say so myself. I hear from folks every so often about how they still carry their bag after x amount of years and that they still love them. Those tales make me so happy.

Well, during this pandemic I have found myself going back to what I know. I have been making bags again. I have made some rather large and complicated ones and I have made some smaller ones that are absolutely charming. I  have been able to focus long enough to knock out a bag here or there and it is the little victories that have made me feel like I am getting things done. It makes me feel rooted. I first started sewing to feel like I had some control while my husband was deployed. I obviously need to feel some control again now that it seems like the world has turned itself inside out.

Well, I have quite a few ready to go onto their new homes. I have about 40 zipper bags of varying complexity and detail. Every single bag is a one of a kind. You will be the only human on the planet with that particular bag. Each one is a piece of art in its own right.

I know there has been alot of excitement and questions about when they will be available. Soon!!! I took so many pictures over the past couple days, but I need to edit them and upload each individual listing. as well as measure each bag so you will know what you are getting. 

The cats above are going to be available. They are so cute. I think there are 12 cat bags, maybe more? I painted all the ones above with fabric dye, washed and set the dye then used my long arm to do some free hand thread sketching of some cute little cat faces and quilted the backgrouds. The bags are quilted all the way through and with the exception of 2 bags all have metal zippers. 

My daughter Emma and I coolaborated on several bags. She painted pieces that I quilted and then I made them into bags. Notably the Octopus bags which I have not yet photographed. Yikes! I need to do that tomorrow I hope. Needless to say they are awesome and I kinda want to keep them all, but that is stupid, also She will be getting the money from the sale of her bags. College isn't free, and she wanted a creative job. I hear you kiddo. Me too!

I also made a TON of these Trixie Zipper bags. I cant tell you how much I love the design and individuality of these bags. If you sew, and have not made one yet, stop everything and go buy the pattern from  Sewing Illustration and make a couple. I have had alot of fun during this pandemic making these bags out of little quilts and samples I have made over the years. Seriously they are so satisfyling and her zipper technique is kinda brilliant.

I hope you enjoied a bit behind the scenes here on the Curtis homefront. I am sewing like crazy. Still quilting everyday and dabbling in painting. If you have not signed up for my newletter please do. That is where the first announcement will go as to when the bags will be available in my shop. you can sign up over on the right hand sidebar or right as you open my blog a really annoying popup pops up. I swear I will never bombard you with spammy emails or nonsense. I don't have time for that.

*Also I can't find spellcheck on the new platform. I am going to go re-read this post. Hopefully it wont look like it was written by a bot. If it is filled with typos, sorry. Do not feel like you need to let me know.

I am so happy you came here to ready my blog. I miss you guys! Let me know in comments if you would be interested in a Zoom class on how to make your own cat bag?

xoxo

Tia

Quilting with curved rulers to make secondary designs

Make Protective Fabric Face masks with your Long Arm quilting machine.

Use your digital quilting machine to stitch out protective face masks. The digital pattern I designed is for use with the pleated Deaconess.com mask. It has reinforced 1/2 inch gaps in each of the four corners to insert either elastic or Cotton ties depending on availability and preference.



You can find my FREE digital patter HERE



Please let me know if you have any questions.

Studio Apron Tips with Tia Curtis

"A Lesson on Improv Curves" quilt pattern

Hi There!

I know it has been ages since I wrote an actual blog post. I like the idea of blogging, but finding the time is another story.

I showed up here today to tell you about my newest pattern. I have been playing with improv curved blocks for several years and I finally have it down to a fun technique that I can almost do blindfolded. 

This pattern is written like one of my classes. It is full of color pictures of step by step instructions to make both simple and complicated blocks. I love making curves so very much. Please give this pattern a look if you feel like it might be a technique you would like to add to your quilt making tool box.

I'm excited to present this pattern to you in PDF form on my website. And happily enough I am also running a Studio Sale to celebrate the reboot of my website shop. You can get 20% off orders of $25 or more, so you can pick up some lovely fabric and a pattern or two. Use coupon code STUDIOSALE at checkout.

I made the cover quilt with Wonder fabric by Katie Larson and PBStudios solids. I love this collection so much. The large scale prints are perfect for simple curves and the solids make such great companions.

I made this version with the Harriet companion prints that go with Carolyn Friedlander's recent collection. I love how calm this version is compared to the one above.

Now, this version was one of my first dabbles into curved piecing. I made these quilt blocks from the small inside curve out to the lager curves. I also cut my pieced curves in half and inserted narrow stripe strips before finally nestling the curves into their silver backgrounds.

This version had both large curves and small curves. I felt it needed more, so I inserted charcoal crosses.

This last version was made a couple days before the first time I taught this quilt at my LQS. I felt I needed at least one more sample. I wanted to work on a rather chaotic layout so after trimming up all the blocks I shoved them into a paper bag and sewed them together as I took them out of the bag. It made for really making a fun layout. 

I loaded the quilt up onto my Gammill long arm initially intending to quilt it very simply with an edge to edge design, but I lost control and filled the quilt up with custom quilting. My husband decided it should be named "Cruising Altitude" because it kinda looks like farm land when seen from above. These fabrics are almost all hand dyed by me from a dying jag I had a couple years ago. I like how soft and faded the quilt it. The back is a Silver Cotton Sateen that makes the quilt have such a lovely soft feel. This is the last thing I am going to say about the quilt before signing off. I used Bamboo batting from Winline. The batting is so soft and wonderful. I have wanted to add a good Bamboo batting to the battings I offer clients for some time. This one is just perfect. It is thick enough show off pretty quilting, but the drape is elegant.

Happy Quilting Folks!!!

Tia