Boun Natale!

Blessings to one and all this Holiday Season!

Nina & Santa, 1964

Esmeralda Quilt

Is this not a bright and happy quilt? I started putting this quilt together a few months ago using Amy Butler's Jade Heirloom fabric from her Lark collection as my inspiration. I created several large sized blocks and then kinda sorta forgot about it. I pulled it back out a few days ago and decided to finish it up and I'm so glad I did. It was such fun gathering all the different colors of fabric, melon, tangerine, jade, red, blue and then randomly arranging them around my inspiration fabric into this snappy quilt.                                                                                                          

I had not decided on a binding until after I finished quilting it. With all of the red and green it  had a Christmas-y tone to it, which was definitely not intended! I tried many different colors of binding (orange, purple, gray) and then once I held up the pink geometric print by Dear Stella the whole quilt POPPED and any suggestion of Christmas was replaced with FUN & SASSY! Yeah!

Most of these fabrics are from my precious scrap collection and are now out of print.  I think my favorite prints have to be the Kaffe Fassett Brokade Floral prints. I have several yards of each the jade and red and use them very sparingly but luckily had some good sized scraps so I did not need to cut into any yardage.

The back is large patchwork using Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet, some Tina Givens and Bella Solid in Aqua. Measures 57" x 43". 

Perfect as a large quilt for the crib, as a coverlet for a twin bed or thrown over the couch for an elegant lap quilt.

It's in the SHOP and ready to ship!

Cyber Monday

 Oh, how I LOVE fabric deliveries! Cyber Monday was vedy, vedy good to me. I ordered all of these lovelies from Quilt Home with their awesome Cyber Monday sale...be still my heart! Lets see...we have some Anna Maria Horner Dowry & True Colors, Three (3!) Parson Gray World Tour charm packs and some Amy Butler Belle. I can hardly stand it!

Just the other day my husband was trying to think of any commitments lined up for this weekend and in my mind I was thinking (praying, wishing) please say NOTHING, please say NOTHING. I just wanted a weekend where he could sit on the couch, watch football and drink beer and I could sew, sew, sew with no time constraints. I think my wish came true! Maybe I'll even get some Christmas shopping done, just maybe. We'll see.

Lavish Linen Totes

Here is my newest bag the Lavish Linen Tote, and it's a BIG one! I wanted to make a very sturdy bag and the new designer linens that have appeared lately were the perfect choice. I started with Anna Maria Horner's Field Study linen for these first bags but have Valori Wells and Tina Givens linen bags in the works as well. My funky fabric combos appeal to my quirkiness but I also feel it adds a unique quality since these bags are One of a Kind, as most of my items tend to be.

Coral Cat Linen Tote

Plum Cat Linen Tote

Prism of Plumes Linen Tote

 Created with Field Study Linen, other quilting cottons by Anna Maria Horner. Two large interior pockets (8.5 x 10) and a magnetic snap closure. Interior lining and straps made with heavy cotton canvas. Exterior fabric interfaced for extra durability. Measures a generous 21" wide x 19" tall, with a 34" strap. Roomy enough to use as a very stylish diaper bag, book bag, overnight bag or just a lavish everyday carry-all! It's BIG!

 They're in the shop and ready to ship...go take a look!!

Blue Arabesque

Blue Arabesque Quilt, 62" x 72"

 I'm starting to cut into many of my coveted fabrics lately and I must say, it's waaay more fun using them rather than just letting them sit on a self. Amy Butler uses lots of dark blues and brilliant greens in her designs and I wanted to mix them up and create a deeply colored, dreamy quilt. As I get more quilts under my belt I like to go as big as I can when I'm feeling it. I barely had enough of some of these fabrics and had to raid my scraps for any small bits to make sure everything was Amy Butler and just the right blues and greens.

 I veered only with the Kona Ash for the border and backing and then of course, I used Parson Gray Curious Nature for the binding, quite fitting I think. I am pretty particular about my batting and only use cotton Warm and White. I quilted this on my home machine (Baby Lock, Jane), as I do all of my quilts, in my standard meandering design. I've gotten pretty good at it and so I stick with what I know.

I made various sized blocks and arranged them randomly to give the quilt a casual, carefree impression. 

 Once finished the quilt reminded me of Blue Arabesque tiles I hope to someday have in my Mediterranean kitchen with double ovens, a butcher block island and a farm house sink...someday!

 Measures 62" x 72", large enough to use as a coverlet for a king sized bed or a cozy couch quilt for two! Oh, how I would love to keep this quilt but we have too many quilts at this point so in the shop it goes...