Elizabeth Hartman Perfect Quilted Tote

Last fall I joined the Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild after spending the day with them at Lizzy House’s Meadow Quilt workshop. No, I don't live in Jersey, but the drive to them is much closer than the Philly guild. They are so much fun and it’s exciting to have found a group of people who love sewing and quilting. Each year they host a Secret Quilter gift swap around Christmas. It’s completely optional and those who want to participate fill out a questionnaire that overviews preferences for style, color, and item (something small like a mini quilt, tote, potholder, pincushion, etc.), as well as social media handles so the partner can dig around and figure out what to make. It’s like investigative sewing!

My partner loves pretty much all Cloud9 fabrics, so I finally had the chance to pick up some of Elizabeth Olwen’s Morning Song. My initial plan was to make a tote bag out of quilt blocks, but I got behind on my other Christmas sewing and decided to make Elizabeth Hartman’s Perfect Quilted Tote instead (sadly it's no longer available for purchase). I am so glad I changed my plan!

 

The tote features quilt-as-you-go sides. Ooooh you guys, quilt-as-you-go is SO MUCH FUN. And easy. And satisfying, because when you’re finished building the panel, you are finished quilting it too! (Duh.) The exterior pieces are quilted onto cotton duck, which makes the bag so sturdy that it stands up by itself without anything in it. I need to make myself one of these!

 

The inside is so roomy and has a zippered pocket and a deep open pocket. I love the contrast of the purple lining to the cooler tones on the outside of the tote. (Forgive this picture. It rained all but a half hour on the one day that I had a chance to take pictures in daylight.)

I was off the week of Christmas and by some miracle my daughter was taking 4-hour naps each day (and still sleeping 12 hours at night—she is a champion sleeper, don’t hate me), so I was able to bust this out in a few days and finished mere seconds before the new episode of Sherlock premiered on New Year’s Day. Hurrah to my first finish of 2016 on the first day of the year!

It was so hard to part with this beauty but I quickly got over it when I received this beautiful quilted pillow from my partner. She used April Rhodes fabrics as a tribute to my April Rhodes Adventure Swap banner and it turned out perfectly! This was my favorite gift out of the whole bunch and it’s mine, all mine! And it matches my couch perfectly. And it’s beautiful. Did I mention that? Now I want to fill up the couch with April Rhodes/Essex linen pillows!