241 Tote Number 9.

I jokingly posted last year that I was building an army of 241 totes, but I don't think I can really consider that a joke any more. Today's version is number nine, baby, and like EVERY SINGLE ONE I MAKE, it might be my favorite yet.

But seriously. How could I not love this one? 

It's uses my all time favorite color combination--red, pink, orange, and yellow with navy. It features this awesome print by Melody Miller. And I think I finally nailed everything exactly right on this version. I clipped where I needed to clip. I didn't have to use my seam ripper once! I made the handle properly, plus, I attached it properly. My interfacing behaved. My zipper insertion was painless! (Okay, I wish I had remembered to topstitch the top with pink thread too, but if that's my only regret, I'll embrace it!)

This one is for me. No, really. Out of the nine I've made, this is only the second that is hanging around with me, and only because my first one is so well-loved. After almost two years of near daily use--I LOATHE switching purses--it is still in excellent shape. I just really wish the strap was longer on it so that I can wear it cross-body. This new one will take care of that.

I actually bought some Tula Pink Elizabeth fabric ages ago with the intent of making one an Elizabeth cameo on the exterior panel, but then I bought this fabric for something else and immediately knew it had to be a 241 for me.

Best of all, this is a finish from my Q2 FAL list, which is mostly untouched. I knew this quarter would be wild busy with other life business, but even still, I was hopeful to get to more projects. Q3 looms in the distance, and I'm already plotting my next lovely list of lovely.

What is your most well-loved pattern? I'm working on birthday/holiday gift ideas, and I need some input, y'all.

Projects in the Work

I know about a trillion women who are pregnant. That may be a slight exaggeration, but I promise you, it's only a slight one. I might actually only know a million. And people are getting added to that number daily. Seriously, I found out yesterday that two more friends are expecting. Dude.

That means that you will probably only see baby quilts emerging from HPQ land in the next few months. I have some exciting plans for these particular bambinos, and thankfully, I like baby quilts, even if I'd really really really like to finish my bed quilt.

This is baby quilt #1 in the works. Rainbow log cabins, low volume sashing. I feel like the hard part of this one is done, but I don't have the LV in stash to finish off the top. SHUCKS, I guess I'll have to visit the fabric store. My life is SO hard.

Fabric pull for baby quilt #2. I'm REALLY excited about this one, but I need a bit more LV fabric to achieve the scrappy pull I'm dreaming of.

And oh, the curtains. (And EPP.) This weekend, my husband will hopefully be getting the rest of our curtain rods installed, which means I should REALLY finish up the curtains I have in the works. That poor man. I feel like he goes to work, comes home, and I have a kajillion tasks for him to do. Build furniture, install curtain rods, fix stuff, buy stuff, haul stuff, lift stuff, etc. But I think the end of that is in sight as we've almost completely cleaned out the years of overgrown foliage from our massive yard and cleaned a ton of junk from the property, including numerous broken beer bottles and other random detritus that is unsafe for small kidlets.

Friends, I'm tired. The move was exhausting. The resulting work on the home and property was exhausting. But now, as I start to think about where I want to hang up my mini quilts and artwork, what kind of curtains would best serve our living room, and what kind of language arts curriculum is really going to be the best fit for my six-year-old this fall, I'm realizing that most of the hard stuff is behind us. This house is shaping into a place for us, and that is definitely exciting.

Star Blossoms, Take 2

I've been itching to starting another EPP project. I really enjoyed sewing up my first star blossoms project, and when I needed another EPP project to keep my hands busy, I opted to sew up a second. Oh, but this one will be SO different. Not as scrappy, and a completely different color palette. Oh my!

I love my Sew Together bag, courtesy of Michelle of From Bolt to Beauty, and I've been using it for my EPP and handsewing adventures.

I haven't gotten far, but I like it so far! When finished, this will be a belated birthday gift. It's already late...but I'm working on it! Slowly, but surely.

A Bee Block

Abigail was the June queen bee for my Stash Bee hive, and she picked a super fun block! This was my first time making this one, and while it took a bit of time to cut fabric, I really enjoyed the final product.

And maybe, just maybe, I started cutting 2.5" squares for a postage stamp quilt. I mean, I was already cutting a whole bunch...why not???

With the exception of the low volume squares, all of the colored squares were from scraps. I hauled out my bags of scraps and dumped them out, grabbing pieces that spoke to me--that didn't have brown--and were the right size.

And here's the finished product! I'm not gonna lie, some of those points are sharp. I think Abigail is going to have an amazing quilt when all is said and done!

The Return.

OMG, Friends.

I survived the move. And I've mostly survived the unpacking. Artwork still needs to go up on the walls, and I need to unpack my sewing area, but I am here. (And I've even been sewing a bit!) I hope to *gasp* even have a few posts up in the next few days. Stay tuned!