The entire quilt is sashed in a 4″ kona white, and I love the way it made the colors pop!  The binding was a vibrant orange that was used as some of the orange squares in the quilt.

The back was lots of my favorite Amy Butler Mist, Kona white, and the pattern piece (please forgive, I don’t know who made it – any ideas?) that was speckled all over the front.

For the quilting, this was my first foray into machine free motion quilting.  I’m really thrilled with how it came out.  I used a really vivid orange variegated thread by “signatures”.  I loved how non-linty it was.  I was so hesitant at first to do a bright thread for the quilting, thinking it would detract from the quilt itself, but it did so much to tie it all together – I’m so glad I took the risk.

Once it was all quilted, I washed it to get that crinkly goodness.  Everyone seemed really smitten with the quilt; the little girl across the street, Sarah, that watches our dogs for us offered to give it a home if Lainey didn’t want it 

My friend, Jennifer W., has the nickname of “BFF”.  Since I have about 400 friends named Jennifer, the concept of nicknames was so that when I am talking to Matt about one, it was clear which one I was referring to.  I think we were joking one day about being BFF’s, and that we should get matching necklaces, etc, and BFF just stuck.  BFF is a huge Georgia fan.  Probably the biggest one I know of.  (which is good.. cause I don’t want too many of them around, and I happen to really like her)     So I saw this fabric, and thought it would be perfect for her to use as a purse. 

I started with an Amy Butler bag – the Swing Bag (see below).  It turned out great!  But.. I’m a sucker for the boxed edges.  I just love the fuller look it gives the bags, and I’m not one that’s much for pointy edges.  You’ll never see me wearing those high heels or boots that have a point that sticks out 3 feet past the toe.  I would certainly break both ankles.  Not good.  Instead, I wear the stubby toe shoes, like mary janes!  Hence.. my bags have the same look

I also didn’t bother with the sash (big poofy ribbon).  I really thought that it detracted from the bag, and I wanted that pretty fabric to stand out!  The interior is a really pretty coordinating red.  I did the handles reverse of the bag, and wish I had the fabrics stay on their respective side.  All in all a really nice bag that I’d be happy to make again.  Did I mention that it requires ZERO interfacing or stabilizer??  A very rare thing indeed, for an Amy Butler pattern.  I was quite happy with that! 

With the boxed edges, the bag has a really nice depth to it!

I love the way the black zigzag reinforcement looks – I wasn’t sure how it would turn out… but quite nice 

This came from her book “little stitches for little ones”.  No, no babies on the way for me at the present time, but a ton of my friends are pregnant and/or with little ones at home.  This is meant to be a full body baby wrap, that is then tied to keep them all snuggled and secure.

My very close friend, Karen, gave birth to Laura Catherine on July 4th, and I thought that this would be a super cute gift for her.  I made this in size 3-6 months, knowing Karen would get more use out of it in the winter, rather than now, at the peak of summer.  She and her husband, Matt, were waiting to find out what they were having, so I was on the edge of my seat waiting as well!  Would I get to sew up cute girlie things or cute boyish things??

I apologize for the coloring of this – the lining of this snuggie wrap is a gray/brown fleece, but here it looks like it has a much more yellow hue to it.  I was so happy with how quickly this came together.  It was really a nice, easy project to get done in the weekend that they baby was born.  The only difficulty came with opening the buttonholes.  I accidentally snagged one, and had to use some stabilized and over-sewing to fix it. (Thanks, Diana, for the save!)

I wanted to go ahead and get my feet wet regarding interfacings, stabilizers and embroidery.  I sure did with this tote.

The sweetest little girl, Sarah, lives across the street from us, and always takes care of our animals when we’re out of town.  She’ll come over to just chat, and often brings us fresh baked cookies, just ’cause   A girl after my own  heart, indeed!  Well, she leaves for sleep-away camp in about a week, and I thought that this, filled with goodies to take with her, would be a nice send-off.

Aside from the enormous mistakes that I’ve been able to (mostly) hid, the bag came out pretty well.  I because well-acquainted with some of the different interfacings, as well as stabilizers.  And best of all, I finally got to make use of my embroidery unit! Yay!

The brown ribbon at the top was used to cover up some mistakes, but it turns out that I really like what it did for the bag.  It definitely gave it a little more flair, which is always good!

Here’s the pattern front:

The fabrics used for this were purchased at Wee Scotty in San Francisco.  The dots and stripes go so nicely together, I think.

UPDATE: Sarah adored the bag! I was thrilled!  Until I told them that  I had made it, they thought I had purchased this bag and simply had it embroidered at the store.  Nice compliment, indeed