Mini Mini Monday - Me-ow!

I love a swap! So I was very happy when Jennifer @ Little Black Cat Quilting agreed to swap with me. We've been commenting back and forth on each others blog s for some time now and it was fun to come up with a mini mini to send her.

I couldn't resist sending her a little black cat of my own making. All those black low volumes needed something bright to set them off and this Blueberry Park on Kona Limelight fit the bill nicely. You can see my wee sketches in the background. I based this mini mini on Elizabeth Hartman's wee kitties.

 It was half planned, half improv-ed. And I managed not to repeat any blacks on the front!

I wanted to make the back interesting too. I find it tricky to improv small letters, but these came together nicely!

I love quilting mini minis. You can go crazy with dense quilting and not spend a year finishing it!

This Little Black Cat wanted to go play in the yard. Who I am I to say no?

I used Crazy Mom Quilts tutorial for binding tiny things (yet again). It just works so well!

The quilting is very dense and best seen from the back.

What's a swap with a surprise or two? If you're paying attention, you can find some fun notebooks and school supplies that are suspiciously quilty-like. Jenn loves her some Orange Peels, so this was a perfect fit. And everyone loves a sassy little quilt button!

 And look what she sent me! I am absolutely flabbergasted!

Can you even believe this? She made a mini mini of my (as yet unfinished) Technicolor Galaxy. It's bonkers!

She even did rainbow hand quilting! I feel like I should send her a pile more mini minis to even out the awesome! And there was chocolate in the envelope. How lucky am I?

I'm linking up with Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Mondays!

J 

Friday Finish - In the Bag!

Tumbleweeds. Crickets. It's been a little quiet here lately. With preparing to go back to work and transitioning DT to days without Mamma, there hasn't been a lot of blogging going on! But I have been squeezing in some sewing in the form of some drawstring bags to organize DT's toys.

It all started with this adorable Ann Kelle fox print. I bought it a while back with plans to make shorts for DT, but summer has come (and is almost gone) and they didn't really need more shorts. As much as I hated to use (up) any of my precious Mini Pearl Bracelet hoarde,  it was the perfect match for those green foxes.

For the lining, I decided to go with blue, but didn't have quite enough of any one Kona to get the job done. Then it occurred to me that I was making a bag to store toddler toys. They don't care if the lining is pieced or doesn't match PERFECTLY. In the name of using one's stash, I kept on truckin'!

 A little more Ann Kelle (Oval Remix) for the drawstring and that's that!
The best part about this bag is that it's big enough to store a bunch more Mega Bloks! It's the laundry size from Jeni Baker's fabulous Lined Drawstring Bag pattern.

For the second toy bag (to store their pompoms and accoutrements), I went back to the Ann Kelle stash. This time, alligators and more Oval Remix. Some chunks of Kona Papaya made up the lining. This one is the Project Bag size.

Once I got going, I just couldn't stop! Remember that C+S cat print that Ms. K liked on our South Shore getaway? Well, I grabbbed some C+S Netorious from the stash and got to sewing. A little Kona Emerald for the outside accent rounded out the pull.

Here it is all sewn up and ready to fill with some Back to School goodies. Ms K is so good to DT and I, I can't help but treat her once in a while.

If you'd like to make a bag or two of your own, you can pop over to In Color Order and check out the tutorial. I loved it so much I bought the pattern! 

I'm linking up today with TGIFF @ Quilt Matters as well as Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts (I'm so happy she's back from her social media holiday!)

J