rehearsal tote redux

I made another Tourist Tote that will be used, I hope, as a rehearsal gig bag! I love how this one turned out, and I hope Mark will too. The tote bag he normally uses for mutes, towels, and other horn player trappings gave out recently. I know he would find something to replace it on his own, but I am somewhat charmed by the opportunity to surprise him with a fun handmade tote. 

I used sturdy fabrics for the entire thing this time, plus interfacing. It's not that I don't think the quilting cotton worked out great on my first one, it's more that this is a really good use of some heavy duty canvas leftover from an upholstery project. It looks SO classy and masculine paired with that flannel plaid. The deer print is a cherished remnant from a quilt I made for my grandfather, and adds a bit of whimsy to the outside. 

In order to get the deer oriented vertically I couldn't cut width of fabric strips for the straps. Because of that and because I eyeballed the length, these straps ended up being the "longer" I was wishing for on my own bag. I will have to measure and note how long these are for any future efforts. Also, to make the deer behave properly along the entire strap, I added a seam at the top of the straps so the orientation flipped there instead of being one long piece with deer upside down on half. 

While the deer are classy yet whimsical on the outside, I went full on whimsy for the lining. Mark has a deep and wonderful sense of humor, so I have a hunch he will appreciate these quirky chickens. The fluorescent orange beaks play with the orange in the flannel nicely and the navy and brown read as neutrals to me, so I think it all "goes" nicely. It's an out of the box combination, for sure, but it makes me smile. I am very happy with how this turned out and am really enjoying getting to play with fabric combinations on smaller-than-a-quilt projects. 

hydrangea quilt finished

I am continuing to successfully work my way through the stack of quilts! I started this quilt in May of this year. I had recently finished my Kodachrome quilt and felt like getting one of my wips done was a great reason to start another. (Ha!) A stash dive unearthed a charm pack of batiks in gorgeous purples, magentas and teals as well as a large cut of a peachy solid I could use for the background. Having recently seen a Jacob's ladder tutorial on Missouri Star's YouTube channel, I decided to give it a go. The middles of half of the blocks are a purple floral flannel I had leftover from my huge purple and turquoise quilt top (another one that's in the stack to be quilted!). Sitting in the evenings trimming half square triangles and chain piecing all of these blocks was very meditative and relaxing, and I finished the top in June. 

Now for the quilting. I chose to do horizontal lines in a set of colors that ranged from light blue to magenta to purple as you progress across the quilt. It isn't incredibly noticeable unless you are sitting with it, but I like that detail. It is backed with a beautiful floral print I had in my stash and bound with a purple I went out to get at the shop here in town. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I'm calling it Hydrangea because, well, just look at the way my hydrangea turned out this summer. It's gorgeous and has just about all of the shades in this quilt. The jacaranda bloom in the second photo is quite nice too!