My new bag and a Winner!

I have been wanting to make myself a new bag for quite some time.  I was waiting to find the right pattern.  I didn't know exactly what I wanted, but I knew that I would know it if I saw it.  You know what I mean, right?  Well I was perusing my blogs one evening and I found it!

"It" is the Chelsea bag by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co.  Look at this and you will see what I mean.

 The front of the bag has a big, deep pocket that is made of a large piece of fabric that you make into a honeycomb type of design.  I know it sounds complicated, but it's not.  The directions are clear and, best of all, there are lots of illustrations.

 And in the main body of the bag, look at all this room!  This little bit of stuff filled my old bag!  And there are 3 good sized pockets inside too!

 The back of my bag shows off this Denyse Schmidt print that I love, and was wondering what to do with.  The green dot pocket fabric is from Connecting Threads and the lining is Aboriginal Dots by Kaffe Fasset.  The pocket I found in my stash.  I bought it eons ago.  Turns out the selvedge was still intact and it was Pieces From My Heart by Sandy Gervais.  When I bought that, I had no idea who she was.  Cool, huh?

One more shot from the front.  Thanks Vanessa, for such a great bag pattern.  I have a feeling I will be making more of these.

And now, since you've read all this way...the winner of my selvedge giveaway is number 3, Angie.  I will be sending her an email.  Thanks to those who entered.  It was only 4 people, but I know not everyone wants selvedges.  Now I will start saving them up again for the future.
Have a great evening.

Baby Quilts

I finished up the first two of what I'm sure will be many quilts for baby B.  I have discovered I love making baby quilts because they are so fast and easy to quilt and bind on the machine.  It's almost instant gratification.

 The fist is the Jack and Jenny quilt.  I fell in love with these little donkeys in Wellies from Laurie Wisbrun, available here.  I love her stuff and this one, I thought was great for a boy in this colorway.  It also comes in other colorways as well, like pink.  I have been wanting to try a zigzag pattern and Crazy Mom Quilts did an easy tutorial that doesn't use HSTs.  L-O-V-E it!!  I quilted in the ditch on the blue/grey side, using Bottom Line thread in the bobbin.

 This is the other side of the quilt.  The little Wellies and the Raindrop print in green and a yellow print from Connecting threads that I just love for its brightness.  Bound the edges in the green which works well on both sides, since the donkeys are wearing green and yellow Wellies.

 You can see the zigzag quilting from side A doesn't hinder the design on side B.  Side B was just a serendipitous happening with stripes that didn't work out for Side A.  I love it when that happens.

 Here is a closer look at the Jacks and Jennys marching up hill and down.  So cute!!

 The second quilt is one I saw on Diary of a Quilter blog.  It was made for market, from Children at Play fabrics.  I had trouble downloading the free pattern for the paper airplane, so I drew my own.  I love how this turned out.  This picture doesn't show the embroidered line that indicates the flight path of the airplane.  I added it after this was taken.  But I love this fabric line so much.

The back is some leftover fabric from curtains I did for V's room when they moved out last year.  It is an alphabet print by Sandy Gervais for Moda, called Lollipop, an older line I think.  The pictures were taken on my picnic table, my new favorite spot.  Now I just need to figure out how to keep my shadow out of the shot. Ha!  See you soon.