I was SEW excited when I got the email from accuquilt to be a part of this blog hop and get the GO! BIG!!
I mean, how cool is THAT!!???
So soon after that THIS huge box showed up at my front door
The GO! big IS big!
I cleared some counter space for it 
I might leave it open most of the time, we’ll see
I also got the Snail Trail BIG die and a bundle of Andover “Downton Abbey” fabrics.
So I put my thinking cap on and came up with an idea….
I wanted to make a quilt BAG or travel bag for my projects when we go on long road trips or to and from Church on Sundays.
I added a bit of my own off white fabrics, but wanted to try to use as much of the Downton abbey fabrics as I could
The snail trail die is a BOB die and cuts out all the pieces with one pass for one block, easy peasy!
I sewed the four patch together and just LOVE how the next triangles have the dog ears cut off, so they fit PERFECTLY!
and the next row had the tips of the triangles cut off on the previous round, so these dog ears were cut at an angle, GENIUS!
and the same with the next round
Here I had two blocks done, one each for the front and back of a bag
Then I cut out pieces for a border and the top and bottom including a flange on the top and sewed them together.
For handles I cut out long strips ( I think they were 4” wide) and 1” strips of batting and ironed them like bias tape, by folding half and creasing, then folding each side into the crease and adding the batting inside one of the flaps and ironing flat
Then pinning and sewing close to the edge on both sides
I also sewed the front and back of the bag together and quilted it on my long arm
I also cut off the bottom of the bag’s corners to have a flat bottom
Then finished up the bag, by adding the handles and adding a lining and trimming the bottom in the same way
I also added pockets to the lining before sewing it together, I KIND OF deliberately made the pockets higher than normal, this way, when I have a quilt in the bag and my sewing pouch, the sewing pouch is easy to reach
The bag looks great all stuffed with a quilt!
and see the sewing pouch?!
I also made a bonus project with leftovers, this mini tumbler quilt using the small tumbler GO! die
Here’s a close up of the quilting, I did a flame sort of design on the outer border, straight lines on the inner border and curves from corner to corner on the tumblers
With the bundle of Downton Abbey fabrics, was a small panel of a few quilt labels, so I embroidered one on my embroidery machine and added to the back.
I then put the quilt on Peanut! he looks thrilled, doesn’t he?
Here’s the rest of the line up of bloggers participating in the blog hop
have a look and get inspired!
Monday Feb. 23rd: Bea Lee –
http://www.beaquilter.com/ – GO! Big Snails Trail – 12” Finished
Tuesday Feb. 24th – Haley Pierson Cox – The Zen of Making –
http://www.thezenofmaking.com/ – GO! Big Circle – 4”, 6”, 7”, 8”
Wednesday Feb. 25th – Lee Monroe –
http://www.maychappell.com/ – GO! Big Double Wedding Ring – 12 ½” Finished
Thursday Feb. 26th – Angela Pingel – Cut To Pieces –
http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/ – GO! Big Churn Dash – 12” Finished
Friday Feb. 27th – Jodi Nelson – Pleasant Home –
http://www.pleasant-home.com/ – GO! Big Square – 10” (9 ½” Finished)
Saturday Feb. 28th – Connie Campbell – Free Motion by the River –
http://www.conniekresin.com/ – GO! Big Snails Trail – 12” Finished
Sunday March 1st – Sherri McConnell – A Quilting Life –
http://www.aquiltinglife.com/ – GO! Big Churn Dash – 12” Finished
Monday March 2nd – Belinda Karls-Nace – Blue Ribbon Designs –
http://blueribbondesigns.blogspot.com/ – GO! Big Square – 10” (9 ½” Finished)
Tuesday March 3rd – Karen Way – Sew Many Ways –
http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/ – GO! Big Double Wedding Ring – 12 ½” Finished
Wednesday March 4th – Elizabeth Evans –
Simple Simon and Co. – http://www.simplesimonandco.com/ – GO! Big Churn Dash – 12” Finished
And thanks again to the people at accuquilt for such a generous gift! I really do appreciate and have had SEW much fun with it already!
If you want to see my monthly GO! Challenges, look here
I want to come to your house and give it a try. Nice quilts by the way.
It definitely does look like you had fun with it and I'm betting that more projects are in the works.
Oh what fun you had using the Go Big! I love what you came up with. I live pretty close to Accuquilt and was able to see them give a demo on the Big Go. It looks so fun and fast and easy!!! Great job.
Great projects Bea and Peanut sure makes a cute model!!
Very very nice tote bag love the pattern..ty for sharing….
wow–beautiful tote bag and I like the bonus quilt you were able to make with the leftovers.
Sweet projects and Bea sure looks happy with the quilt too! QuiltShopGalwww.quiltshopgal.com
A group of us purchased and use the baby go cutter and I love it. So tell me what is it like using the new electric one?
Would have liked to see how you placed your fabric on the GoBig to get the block scrappy…
I saw this cutter at the Houston show. I'm so jealous!!
Great bag and cute mini with the leftovers. Fun, fun.
Love your tote & Mini Tumbler quilt!
Love your projects! Enjoyed the tutorial. Great looking model!
Love your tote! Can you show how you laid the fabric on the die to be able to cut all at one time?
Wow -very nice!
great pieces Bea!! I have the Go Baby and love it…this one is all grown up!!!!
I love the subtle colors you used. I usually go for the bright colors that make a LOUD sstatement but I may investigate using some quieter colors. I just got my GO Cutter so I'll have to pull it out and see what creations come alive. Thanks for lively lesson!
Great bag. I am on the edge trying to decide if I should get the big go or the original go or nothing at all. I see what happens as I read the different blogs.
The Downton colors are so soft–I like! Peanut sure does look thrilled!
It must've felt like Christmas when you opened that BIG box up Bea. How fun. That's great how they've created those dies to cut out the entire block in one run that way. Love your bag. Your dog really looks super thrilled about your adorable little tumbler quilt. My question is just how long did the dog get to lay there all comfy-like with that quilt before your daughter snatched that up for herself. lol
Great time for your "Big" machine to arrive. With all that snow, hibernating in your sewing room beats all! Love your snails trail!
Very nice!
I enjoyed reading your GO! Big blog post – your quilt/travel bag is wonderful…a great use of the fabrics provided. The mini tumbler quilt is fun too!
Nice work
Pretty tote bag. I love the tumbler block. It goes together so easily.Love my accuquilt Go. The big Go looks pretty nifty.