When I first saw April Rhodes first fabric collection (Arizona) for Art Gallery Fabrics I of course fell in love.  I love geometric prints and the colors were right up my alley.  I feel really lucky to be able to sew with them.  I knew the colors would pair well with denim so they had to become Super Totes!

I loved making these two Super Totes.  I love the opportunity to incorporate many fabrics into one tote. It’s pure joy seeing something like this come together over the course of a few days. I had forgotten what a fun sew they are.

These are headed to quilt market for April’s booth. I can’t wait to see all the other samples being made.

Pattern: Super Tote (by me!) available as a PDF here, and check out some of the shops you might find the paper version.

Fabric: Arizona by April Rhodes for Art Gallery Fabrics – Limited Edition, denim from Hancock Fabrics used right and wrong sides
Zippers: Zipit on Etsy
Magnetic Snaps: Being Bags on Etsy

And now for the giveaway!  I was sent a fat quarter bundle to give away!  Woot!

To enter the fat quarter fabric bundle giveaway:

• one winner will be chosen
• Just leave a comment! It would be fun to hear if you have any fun plans for the summer!  One entry per person.  Please leave your email address in your comment. You can leave it in a format like this if you wish: anna [at] gmail [dot] com, it’s up to you though, if you have your email listed in your blogger profile, that works too!.
• Open to US entries only please!
• Giveaway ends Sunday, May 4th at 10pm (central time).

If you want to check out the rest of the wonderful folks who are joining in:

I was lucky enough to sew up a few cute little items in Rae‘s newest collection for Cloud 9 fabrics: Lotus Pond.  I had to stop myself from drooling when Rae first showed a few sneak peeks at the prints. These beauties are scheduled to arrive at quilt shops at the end of May.  I know my girls went crazy over them, trying to hoard every little scrap. So I’m almost sure I’ll find myself doing the same when they come out.

Oh, and I’ve been using my V and Co. Aurifil sampler pack in 28wt for topstitching when I want the stitches to really stand out.  I love it.

First, I loved making these!  So much fun.  It was so so difficult to pick out fabrics so I finally committed to these two combos.  My sister-in-law is gathering items for her mom-group silent auction event and I happily agreed to make a Divided Basket.  I figured it would be perfect, since they’re really great for anything you’d want to store.  And I figured if I was making one, I might as well make two!

Again, I used the Pellon Craft-fuse 809 for the exterior pieces in place of my favorite SF101.  The craft-fuse gives it a nice crispness that I think holds up better to everyday abuse when the basket is sewn with mostly quilting cottons.  One of my first baskets that mocked up, I had sewn with just home dec fabric and fusible fleece. It basically turns into a pile of mush when the kids start tossing it around, so you definitely need the extra something in there.  In the pattern, my recommended SF101/fusible fleece/home dec weight fabric is very durable, too though.

I had the Diawobo elephants stashed away forever and the new Art Gallery Leah Duncan print just jumped off the shelf ready to be used.

What else can I say?  It’s a great gift giving project.  Pretty quick to make and really fun to use.

Pattern: Divided Basket Pattern
Fabrics: Meadow by Leah Duncan for Art Gallery Fabrics/lining is Botanics by Carolyn Friedlander, lightweight denim from Hancock Fabrics, and Tiny Elephants by Diawabo/lining Stars are by Moda.