Market Tote

They banned plastic grocery bags in Seattle last year ... we picked up a number of great grocery bags from LL Bean a few years back and John uses those to do the main shopping (yes ... he cooks AND shops ;-).

But I've been wanting a bag for my car to use when I go to all the other stores that no longer offer plastic bags.

Market Tote

I ran across this fabulous tutorial by Bijou Lovely on Pinterest and saved it for a rainy day ...

This weekend I hunted through some fabrics to find something that I wanted to burn through to give it a try.  I picked up a yard of Kona solid when I was at JoAnns yesterday to buy the fusing.

Fully lined Market Tote

It was pretty dang easy ;-).

I am thinking these could make a good hostess gift for some of my Seattle friends!

Hope you had a great weekend ....

Lisa

Dog Lovers Unite!

Do you want to have a chance to do good AND own a beautiful quilt?!?!?

First ... just visiting Kim's blog is a good bit of fun ;-) -- she started with it named "Learning to quilt with a chicken on my knee -- that should give you some ideas!!!  But she's also raffling off a quilt to raise money to help pay the vet bills for dogs in need that are coming in from Rumania and getting treated and homed in England.

Bloomsbury Garden Quilt by Kim

I encourage you to head over and take a look!

Little projects getting done over here ... but now big quilts to share.  We did have a big project that got pulled off this weekend ... an 80th Birthday Party for my dad.

A lot of changes for my parents as they look to sell their home and move into a retirement home ... it's adding stress to their lives, but it was good to get the extended family together for a little celebration ...

The birthday boy ...

Hope everyone had a great weekend and you get a chance to head over and visit Kim.

All the best

Lisa

For Us!

Chevron quilt

My first commission quilt was a chevron quilt.  While I had dabbled briefly with chevrons, here and here ... I had never made a completed quilt of them, and I had only done them with HSTs.

So ... before attempting a commission, I figured I need to try one out on my own.  Off to the stash I went ... and am pleased to share ...

This baby was a freebie ... constructed entirely from the stash ... front and back -- and my first labeled quilt that wasn't a commission!

It will sit in our family room on the green leather sofa or chair that it was made for!

And again, I used both the chevron tutorial from Crazy Mom Quilts and the binding tutorial from Rachel @ Stitched in Color.  Actually, I am not really using Rachel's tutorial any longer ... this is just how I will bind my quilts going forward, and Rachel taught me ;-0.

The back is nothing terribly special ... it is also completely from the stash ...

I love a new, unexpected quilt ... particularly one that really didn't cost anything to make.  The commission quilt was a success ... and so, I think, was this one!

All the best
Lisa