Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts scrap madness is absolutely inspiring. I look at her work and think "Wow! Now if only I could do that with my scraps!". Amanda's projects had me up at night. I wanted my own scrappy bag (market style) for hauling my stuff when I teach.

Here's take 1. Somehow, in my mind, it's kind of....meh. I think I'm too close to my scraps. i.e. I know exactly what quilt/project each scrap comes from - and I have a hard time separating it from that previous use. To me, it ends up looking too hodge podge. And not enough cute scrappy. Does this ever happen to you? I want so much to see past its previous use...

This is my trial run. It's a mash up of things I like in market bags. I wanted a scrappy gusset, so the sides and bottom are one long continuous scrappy piece. I like the form of the bag - just not my darn scraps!

There will be another. Maybe with a jelly roll. Does that defeat the purpose?

Welcome to my stop on the Black & White Blog Hop! Today I am featuring a project I made with this sophisticated line by Jennifer Sampou for Robert Kaufman. I met Jennifer at Fall Market last year. She has such a great eye for design. The Black & White collection is so stylish and classy. It applies to not only quilts, but garments, bags, home dec, etc. Just check out the other projects on the hop.... you'll see! (Schedule at the end of this post)

Warning. This post is photo dense for me. You'll be rewarded with a giveaway if you make it to the end. I don't normally post this many pics. My oldest son (8) did this photo shoot for me on a glorious winter Sunday morning. The snow just started falling as we were taking the shots. He took some awesome shots. Tell me I don't have mother's bias. :) Anyway, the lighting and the setting were perfect.... I was dressed up with hair done from church.... and my 8 year old son knocked the photo shoot out of the park. Plus this bag is sweet. I'm actually a teeeeeny bit concerned people will think it was store-bought.

I decided to make Noodlehead's Supertote. If you've never tried one of her patterns, you should give it a go. I'm always impressed with how polished these bags end up. It's in the details I think.

In the Black & White collection, there are 3 prints with an ombre effect that change tone across the width of the fabric along with the black checks. I chose this print that has a gold tone to it as the main fabric of my bag. For the gusset, I chose one of the coordinating Studio Stash Yarn Dyes. Love. It.

And to really class it up, I added black vegan leather accents on the straps, cording along the front pocket, and zipper pulls. The vegan leather can be found at Girl Charlee.

I really love the way this bag turned out. I struggled a bit with the vegan leather, but I was able to understand better how to work with the fabric after a trial run on the straps. Note to self: don't try to line vegan leather with quilting cotton. The leather accents coordinate so well with the Black & White collection. I can think of more things I want to try with both!

The bag has a recessed zipper. This was the first time I have tried this. It actually lays very nicely and looks superb with the yarn dye. To me it seemed that using dark fabric could hide some flaws that you might notice on colored fabric. Always a plus.

I used the feather print for the interior pockets. I love this fabric, but it's hard to see here.

Ok, so here they are.... the perhaps unnecessary shots that I love...

There are lots of fun activities going on with this Blog Hop. Be sure to enter Jennifer's BIG giveaway - for the FQ stack of Black & White's whole collection. Enter by Feb. 8 on her blog. There are other giveaways going on on Instagram and at every stop on the hop. So be sure to follow along! Enter my giveaway below...

If you would like a chance to win this FQ pack, enter the giveaway below. (Giveaway ends Monday, February 2, 2015 at 11:59pm)

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