Supertote in Black & White Fabric


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)



Back to Basics HST Baby Quilt Finish

Sometimes back to basics is just perfect.  In this case, I wanted to make a baby quilt for friends in Japan.  Baby quilts are so fun to work on since they are small.  It is seems like a more manageable project.

I've had this robot print for a few years.  I used it as the backing and as the color inspiration for the half-square triangles.  I pulled a bunch of blues from my stash along with a single red robot print.  I just couldn't leave the red robots out..... 
I started working on this quilt at the Sewtopia Retreat.  (which as I'm writing this, realized I never blogged about... I'll have to fix that!) I thought HSTs would be perfect for a retreat where I'd spend more time talking and socializing than actually sewing.  It was a good task, but I still couldn't understand why I decided to make these HSTs so small!  I think there are 130 squared up to about 4" unfinished.
Even with the pain of all those HSTs, there's a reason why I chose this look.  It's the simple beauty of all those triangles.  I just love it!

Quilt Stats.
Name: Back to Basics HST Baby Quilt
Size: 35" x 45.50"
Fabric:  Misc stash fabric with Kona White
Piecing:  Me
Quilting: LAQ Beany of Quilty PleasuresMe - Loopy "L"s

Sunny Sampler Quilt in American Quilter Magazine

It's finally time to unveil my Sunny Sampler quilt!  You can find this quilt in the January 2015 Issue of American Quilter magazine.  Not only is this quilt in the issue..... it's ON the issue too.... as in ON THE COVER!!!!!!!!
I am on cloud nine.  Seriously!  I can't tell you how honored I am to have this quilt appearing front and center.  I took tons of photos for the magazine and this is the coolest with the vintage truck modeling the quilt.  Most of these shots were taken at a local berry farm (Mitchells') and the owners were kind enough to let me use the truck and farm as a backdrop for the quilt.
With all the block of the month quilts I love working on, some of you may have noticed I'm becoming a bit of a sampler nerd.  This quilt, Sunny Sampler, follows that theme.  I designed this quilt to showcase the traditional Sunshine block from the Ladies' Art Company in 1897.  The three blocks used in this quilt are all variations based on that Sunshine block.  It makes for a fun mini sampler using 3 quilt block patterns to make 9 total blocks for the quilt.
I enjoyed working with solids for Sunny Sampler.  These solids are American Made Brand cotton solids for Clothworks.  

Below is a close up of the custom quilting I designed along with Kathy Balmert.  She quilted the motifs to relay three different ideas of sunshine radiating within each of the three similar blocks.  In the sashing, there is a wishbone pattern.
If you need a little sunshine to chase away those grey days of winter, consider this Sunny Sampler quilt.  Guaranteed to cheer you up!
Quilt Stats.
Size: 62" x 62"
Design: Sampler of the Sunshine block variations by Me
Fabric:  American Made Brand cotton solids for Clothworks
Piecing:  Me
Quilting: Kathy Balmert