Gazillion (noun)

describing the number of threads needing to be buried in a quilt - do you think we could get that added to Wikipedia? Well, they are all buried YESSS so right not now my AQC14 Challenge piece is in the washing machine, to be followed by a gentle cycle in the dryer (I don't trust my line or the birds around with all that white...). Handy girl here even put a new plug onto the end of the cord of the dryer (amongst a little bit of language not suited to be repeated here - but it's done!). This is what the piece looked like before washing:

and it actually has a name now, too: "Uni{que)versal" because our hands and fingers, the basis of our decimal system, are both able to make gestures that are more or less universally understood - peace, thumbs up, agression, pray / beg etc., and they also bear our unique identity in our fingerprint (in the background). Yet to do: One teeny-tiny detail, label, hanging sleeve. I'll have to figure out a way to photograph it well...

Friday night I just felt like I had to start something new lol and I finished it this morning:

I used the pattern I shared with you recently:

Do you recognise the material? It was one of my German Ikea purchases that turned out to be polycotton. Using such a creamy fabric is a risk for a bag that will travel in cargo holds on planes, but I just love how it turned out! The lining is the remainder of the passport stamp print bolt I had adopted more than a year ago for mum's quilt There's a Square in There. I had everything in my stash except the nylon webbing.

I made a few alterations:

- Instead of 1.5 yards feature fabric I had 1 meter of fabric (I didn't measure the width but it was wider than quilting material)

- Instead of 1 yard for trim I used 1 FQ; as a result the trim for the 'flat' magazine pocket is pieced, and the trim above the zip on the pleated pocket is just 1/2" not 1".

- I did not 'get' the instructions for the pleated pocket. I spent a long time on it and I am sure it's still not the way the designer had it. However, I was over it by that time and just used what I had made.

- My local sewing shop did not have 2" wide webbing, so I zig-zagged two lengths of 1" wide webbing together.

- When it was all finished, I didn't like the look of the zig-zagged seams on the inside so I used the remainder of the lining and bound them - it's not the tidiest but it serves the purpose of hiding the seams.

I can't wait to go away now!

Where to next?

- I still have to finish quilting Fireworks.

- My black batting for the Tokyo Subway Map quilt is ready at the Country Yard and the remaining thread has been ordered.

All under control - but then once again Ms. Lottie has mentioned a challenge (think Houston...) which is leading my little brain astray....

Happy Sewing!