Sunday Stash #12...and a winner!

 So I was at my LQS and picked up these three half yards in bright, lovely fall colors for a quilt.

 This is the pattern on all of them and they come in a large range of colors and make great blenders to add a bit of interest to any quilt. I have used them before.

And here is the name of the designer and the manufacturer. Look for them in your LQS. Mine keeps them with all the Kona Solids and other background fabrics that are now standards.

 I got them to go with these Kona colors: Coffee, Earth, Orange, Canary Yellow and Lipstick Red.

These are all destined to be this quilt, for my daughter and her new husband. Can't wait to get this one started.
And now, the winner of my Nancy Zeiman book giveaway: number 5, Heather! I will be emailing Heather for her address. Thanks to all who played along. Another note: I am very close to 300 posts and when I get there, there will be a celebratory giveaway! Talk to you soon. Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash.

Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along

So I got this great book for Christmas Modern Bee: 13 Quilts to Make with Friends. I had been perusing all the pages, drooling over the quilts, wondering which ones I could actually make by myself without too much fuss. Then, Lindsay at Craft Buds, whose book it is, posted a Quilt Along with the January quilt which is Mosaic Tiles. The quilt was actually made by Suki Newbold, with the help of her bee mates. This, I thought, is a great place to start. So I did and here, today is my take on the quilt.

 I have to tell you up front, that I am sewing from my stash. I am trying so hard not to buy fabric, although my husband has said I could if it was a very special fabric, or a very important line in quilting world. So far, no purchases for 2014. I had most of a charm pack of Simple Marks Summer, by Malka Dubrawsky. I love the saturated colors of this line and have been trying to come up with a way to use it. I had a couple of yards of City Scenes by Jane Dixon for Andover that I bought to use as a possible backing for a quilt.

I loved how the colors popped against the grey and I loved how the grey was not plain and flat with all the black and white lines. The only thing I didn't have was the red that I wanted for the cross piece. Since I elected to start this project so early, I was able to buy the red, Simple Color, from an earlier line of Malka's. I always get to buy some fabric at the 35% of new year's day anniversary sale at my LQS. So really, I haven't broken my fast since I hadn't started yet at that point.

 I did audition some other reds for this space, but none would do. I decided to make a smaller version of this quilt, since I had less that one full charm pack of the fabric to work with. I ended up making 13 blocks and putting the 13th on the back.

 I used some already cut, extra strips of th City Scenes for the binding. I didn't want to detract from the rest of the quilt.

 I quilted the red cross pieces in straight line 1/2 inch apart, going in the direction of the cross, and turning corners so it started and ended at the edge of the quilt.

 The back is all greys from my stash of leftovers from other projects. There is the 13th block and the rest of the City Scenes.

 Here you can see the quilting. I quilted loops on the rest of the quilt using a lovely reddish orange shade of Auriful.

And here is my label in the bottom corner. I had one warmish day to take pictures outside and I grabbed it, even though the quilt has not been washed yet, so it lacks the crinkly goodness.

One more fun pic before I go. Thanks to Lindsay for putting together a great book. I will definitely be trying some of the other projects in there this year, as I sew my way through my stash.

Magic Mail Monday

Don't you just love alliteration? Not all of this came this morning, but one did, so I decided to post it all.  Lots of lovely eye candy.

 First up is a collection of fat quarters from Andover Fabrics. It is the Feathers from the Sun Print line by Alison Glass.  I won this from the Craft Buds blog giveaway. Isn't it beautiful?

 Part of the prize was also a print by Alison and two patterns, which I elected to get via PDF files. So generous, right?

 Next, I entered a giveaway for these, but ended up ordering them myself.  It is a fat quarter bundle of the beautiful Squared elements collection by Art Gallery fabrics. So soft and pretty!

 And look at this! Don't these two lines look so pretty together? I might have to consider this a bit.

                             One more shot of the gorgeousness. Can't resist.

 Last, but not least is an 11 fat quarter collection from Fabri Quilt.  I won this giveaway back at the end of April. What with Market and shipping delays, I just received it last week. It is called simply Black and White.

This is my favorite print in the group and I already have a plan for these lovely black and white prints, as soon as I finish the 6 quilts I am currently working on.  Thanks so much to Andover and Alison Glass and also to Fabri Quilt. Free fabric makes my day!

Friday Finishes

Well, yes, here I am back again today with not one, but two finishes.  I have wanted to get these done since I got this fabric:

This is Locally Grown by Andover Fabrics.  It is a cute collection of farmyard prints.  The most unusual thing to me was the use of so many different greens. There are 3 different greens in this collection.  Each is cute, but it makes it look like more than one fabric collection. Okay...moving on.

 I wanted to make a market bag for my daughter and one for me, to take to the farmer's market this spring/summer.  I had this idea in my head of how I wanted it to be.  For the first time, I was able to translate that into this.

 She loved the chickens the best, along with the chicks and eggs, so I used those.  I  wanted a flat bottom, outside pockets for phone etc. and handles that go under the bag for added strength.  I was able to do all that.

 It's big and roomy and the lining is a cherry print by Mary Englebrite.  I put a piece of heavy duty Peltex in the bottom, between the lining and the outside fabric to lend a bit of structure to the bottom of the bag.  I had it leftover from the diaper bag I made last year.

 Here you can see the chickens and the pockets from the blue chicks and eggs fabric.  The pocket piece is only on one side and is divided by the handles into 3 smaller pockets.  I don't know if you can see, but I sewed one of the chickens on the back of my label.  Too cute to not use every bit!

 The handles are made from the chicks and eggs fabric as well.  Then I used a bunch of twill ribbon I had been saving off of Moda fat quarter bundles.  I knew it would come in handy eventually.  The handles are just one big loop that goes under the bag and up the sides to make the handles.  This adds strength underneath the bag for heavy produce.  I will be making another one for me very soon.

 Next up, another wide mouth pouch, this time made with the green meadow from Locally Grown  I was originally going to make the market bag from this, but daughter wanted another pouch for knitting projects.  Seems they are handy for that. The lining is a plue from the Sweetwater Noteworthy collection.

 I made a bigger zipper end because this sheep is too cute to cut up.  Love him there on the end.

 And the cute little ring of flowers and kids? I couldn't just leave it bare...so I put her initial in it.

 I did it on my machine with my Bernina stitch regulator.  I had to put a small bit of batting behind it for stability, but it worked.

 All ready for another knitting project.  Have a great weekend!  Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Finish it up Friday!