Free Motion Mavericks - Week 317 - Lavender Bags

 

Really useful when you need to keep the moths at bay, but surprisingly time consuming to make.  

After making a load of laundry bags last spring, I thought I could run off a couple of dozen lavender bags in no time.  I had forgotten that tiny items take longer because they are fiddly, and that I needed to make a separate sachet of lavender to put into each one.  I have plenty of dried lavender that I collected from our own bushes the summer before last.  The dried flower heads have been kept firmly sealed in a plastic bag, so they have retained a powerful scent.  I used muslin for the sachets, and put a couple of tablespoons of lavender and a few dried bay leaves into each one.  The scent filled the room, and never has a sewing job made me sneeze so much.  Fortunately, it wasn't the actual scent that made me sneeze, but the dust from the loose flowers, which is no longer a problem now that they are wrapped up in two layers of cloth.

For the bags I used a piece of fine cotton lawn that I bought in Liverpool about 40 years ago.  Finally I have found the ideal use for it!  For drawstrings I used little lengths of multicoloured ribbon that  were tied round bundles of fact quarters.  It was very satisfying using up odds and ends, and also a relief to be able to ward off the moths.  I have a beautiful winter coat that I rarely wear (living in one of the warmest parts of the country has its drawbacks) and I would hate to pull it out of the wardrobe and find it had been nibbled.

Here goes for Week 317:-

Many thanks to Nancy for linking up last time with her indigo circles quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

 

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland, Brazil and Sweden have taken part.  The 

first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.