My sister-in-law and I like to spend time together. We live seventy miles apart so we do not get to see each other as often as we would like، however we try to have time together at least monthly. One of our favorite things to do is to visit a quilt store in the city that is located between our homes. My sister-in-law is a very gifted quilter. I have done some quilting، however I am not able to match colors and textures in the skilled way that she does. We go to the quilt store to see what is new for each season as well as to get ideas for quilting projects.
My sister-in-law has a special quilt hanger in her kitchen area. She has made a quilted wall hanging for each season to hang in this space. She also makes quilted hangings and lap covers for others. She does this while she is watching television in the evenings. During the last trip to the quilt store she was looking for an idea for a baby quilt for our niece’s new baby. The quilt store had a wonderful collection of baby quilts to choose from. They had several quilts that were specifically for girls and others that were for boys. Our niece had a baby girl، however she is not the type that goes for the frilly ruffles that were part of most of the baby girl quilts. My sister-in-law chose a nursery rhymes pattern for the material.
While we were at the quilt store I noticed that they had patterns for making bag purses. The bag purses were made from plain canvas material. They were lined with different fabrics and embellished with different geometric pieces of cloth and also beads and ribbons. The handles for the purse were circles of bamboo that were sewn into the purse. You could make the purses in any size. I thought it would be fun to make them as gifts for friends. I thought I would concentrate on making them larger in size with a tropical theme so that they could be used as beach bags. Two of my sisters were planning a trip to Mexico after the holidays so I thought that they could use the bags then.
I also found a great pattern for a Christmas wall hanging at the quilt store. The wall hanging had four separate scenes appliquéd onto a white and blue background. My sister-in-law and I are going to work on cutting out the pieces during our next weekend together. I am sure that we will make another trip to the quilt store soon to see what other treasures we can find.
