Green Living Market Bag - the perfect quick gift

I went to a great Farmer's Market last weekend with a friend.  When I got there she said "do you need a bag?  I brought a bunch."  Except, that she had the recycled shopping bags from the grocery store.  So when I got home, I immediately got to work making this for her.  It is, in my opinion, the PERFECT shopping bag, and a perfect gift.  It's the Green Living Market Bag, by BariJ.  You can get the pattern from her directly.  It sews up in about 1 1/2 hours (including the cutting), and it looks like a million bucks with your farmer's market haul sticking out of the top.

I actually had these fabrics out on my table for another project, and knew they would look great for this bag.  I didn't think to try to get the diamonds to go perfectly up the center of the handles, which is why they're off a bit, but they're close enough for me!

I got to use a bit of vintage ribbon from my stash...

And here's the best part...it folds up and the ribbon wraps around and it looks like a gift when you hand it to someone.

This pattern was designed by my dear friend Bari Ackerman, of BariJ.  She currently designs fabric lines for Art Gallery Fabrics and writes THE BEST patterns.

What is your favorite sewn gift to give?

Ally's Tumbler Lap Quilt - long time UFO

I.am.finally.done.  I have so many UFOs.  This was one of the quilts that I took to my aunt to long-arm quilt for me.  I got all of the red, white and black fat quarters during a shop hop...dear lord...was it THREE summers ago??  This was the first quilt I cut using my Accuquilt GO cutter and then the pieces just sat and sat.

My daughter LOVES to have a quilt on her lap while she watches TV, and she had actually forgotten that I was making this for her.  She's very happy with the finished product.

She was willing to pose for a few shots. Gotta love that summer, unbrushed hair look.

The back is some Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush that I just love.  I have a ton of red fabric, and it is amazing how broad the spectrum of red can be.  This was the perfect color for the back.

The binding is some of the first fabric I ever bought...years and years ago from Jona Giammalva's Fabritopia.  It's Mary Englebreit bowls of cherries.

I found out about two friends having babies in the last week, so needless to say the next two quilts you'll see will be baby quilts.  One boy and one girl.  Wondering if I should do the same quilt in different colors?  Likely I'll just use it as an excuse to buy more fabric.  Which I do not need.

Last Two Mystery Designer BOM Blocks!

What seems like LONG after a year ago, I finally finished my last two blocks for the 2012 Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer BOM quilt.  It was actually June 25 when I finished the first block last year.

What I liked most about this block was the HST made from one triangle, and the other side having a split triangle.  They were fun to make. ("County Fair" by Julie Comstock for CosmoCricket)

I'm not sure if Fat Quarter Shop saved this block for last on purpose, but MY GOD were there tiny pieces in the pinwheels in the corners!  ("April Showers" by Sweetwater)  The whole thing all assembled is only 3 1/2" across.  The toughest part was sewing them together with the really thick centers from all of the layers.  I hesitated trimming because there was so little fabric to begin with.

I've got a bunch of other projects to finish and two baby quilts to make before I can do all of the filler pieces to this quilt.  I think this will be my winter opus this year.