Altered PTI tote bag

A few weeks ago I placed an order with PTI and with the stamps and paper, I ordered one of their tote bags. Knowing that I am a tote bag fanatic and that I am a quilter, I just couldn't leave that tote bag the way that it was!

So I began the search for a coordinating fabric. My stash would yield nothing that matched that pink. It is a difficult color to coordinate with. So off to the store. Lots and lots of pinks...nothing matching. Then I started on other colors that have pink in it and found a really cute brown/hot pink/pink/white print which even fits with the Papertrey style.

Now this was not the most economical project! The bag was just $2. Add $4.50 for fabric, $2 for piping, and 5 hours of my time...but the results are great!
So, what do you think?

Saturday Sampler March Block

Here is the March block for my Saturday Sampler Quilt. It is limited in its colors, so it was a bit more of a challenge.

I think I have figured out why I really don't like my quilt squares on my blog...the background of the pages is definitely NOT complementary to these squares. I'll just have to live with it for a time.

Saturday Sampler February Block

Thought I had better post another block from my Saturday Sampler Quilt.

I like this block a whole lot better.

I found the block I want to use to replace my January block with. It is called "Bird's Nest". But I think I'll wait until the last month of blocks (September, I think) so that I can use my September fabric in two blocks. So you will have to wait to see what it looks like! Sorry!

The Saturday Sampler Quilt--January Square

The Fig Leaf, one of our local quilt shops, has a Saturday quilt club called the Saturday Sampler. It costs $10 to join and the quilt you make has 9 larger squares. Each month you make one square from the provided pattern and fat quarter (plus any other fabrics you may desire) and bring it to the next meeting. The kicker is that if you finish your block and come to the club meeting, you get the next fat quarter free. If not...oops! you pay for your fat quarter! Keeps you quilting!
While the patterns are the same for everyone (I'd guess about 120 are doing the club) we had three color combinations to choose from. The first was the colors of the sample quilt, in rose and sage colors. The second was fabrics for Christmas. The third was called Tulip Nouveau after the fabric line from Northcott fabrics, and this is what I chose to work with. The focus fabric is a large tulip pattern fabric in reds, yellow, green, and black. I chose extra fabrics in those colors with a background in white-on-white.
I didn't join until later, but I got my January square done just in time for February. This is it:

I'm not absolutely loving this square. By the time I finish them all I am thinking I will replace this square with a different pattern. The rest of the squares are more "star" or "pinwheel" shape patterns.
Have a great day!