This bag, oh, this bag.  If I could tell you how much I struggled with this silly bag!  You would laugh.  It looks pretty straightforward, but this is the project where I re-did, ripped seams, re-did again, cut, cut again, put in grommets, re-did the grommets, the list goes on…

I definitely wouldn’t recommend this pattern (the Market Bag pattern) to a beginner that’s for sure.  Lots of pieces to cut out and figure where exactly they belong.  My mom picked out this pattern at my other favorite local quilt shop.  I thought it was a cute bag — and it is!  She asked me to make it for her about 2 months ago now, and I just finished it and gave it to her for Christmas. 

I used a black wool corduroy and some other black/white fabric (sorry I have no idea what to call it), and the ties and lining are made from Paula Prass’ Summer Soiree Best Friend in black.  I really like how it came together in the end.  I actually think I might attempt to make another bag following this pattern for myself!  It has lots of great pockets for all sorts of goodies.

Kinda crazy, but at least this year I wasn’t a grump.  My good friend from college had a baby girl today, so I was thrilled to say the least!!!  She was due earlier in the week, but I knew she could hold out until my birthday (ha ha).  What fun and I can’t wait to make the little girl some cute things.

I was folding laundry last night and thought I’d share a few of my favorite things {yes, inspiration from laundry}:

my sweatshirt (which I wear almost everyday in the winter), it’s from one of the radio stations that my brother works for and I love it.  I even love the stains and paint splatters that cover the whole thing.

my swimming t-shirts:  all cut up and ready to make into a t-shirt quilt.  Here’s a little peek into my world: I swam competitively for over 12 years of my life.  Thanks to my mom who took me to all the boring swim meets and bought me all these crazy shirts because I “had” to have them.  And as an added bonus, it’s also how I met my husband, we both swam in college.

my family, of course, and all the laundry they produce!  (I thought I’d spare you the dirty laundry pile shot)

Here’s to 30!

I think this might be one of my most favorite projects yet.  I love the colors and the fabrics and how soft they are!  I made this quilted table runner and set of napkins for my sister-in-law for Christmas (yes, I have a total of 5 sister-in-laws, kinda fun). 

The fabrics were dreamy to work with,  I chose the Etsuko Furuya double gauze Birds in Purple from fabricworm.com and ordered the shot cottons from PurlSoho (I got a yard and half of Lipstick and the same of Apple).  I also had the blue polka dot from Patty Young’s latest Flora & Fauna line (from MaterialGal on Etsy), it just happend to coordinate nicely! 

I used this tutorial over at Sew, Mama, Sew! for the napkins.  I ended up with hardly any leftover fabric, maybe a fat quarter or so from the Furuya fabric left (excited to add it to some clothing item for the girls —  the double gauze is dreamy). 

The best part of this project was that I ripped all my pieces, yes ripped!  I was reading this tutorial before making the table runner and decided I should just go for it since I was running late on time and wanted it straight on the grain without a lot of fuss.  It was awesome!