The neighbors across the street from us have a little girl who is just a few weeks older than Ada. I got her a few new books for her birthday, but I wanted to make her something too. So I whipped up a quilted tote bag for her to bring to the library. And today, it doubles as a gift bag for her books!
The main panel is the February Block of the Month in the Quiltalong. I know little Mina’s favorite color is purple, so I dug through my stash and found this purple mermaid fat quarter. The rest of the color scheme is based around the print. I was able to use up the last of the coral pink and turquoise prints.
The back is a scrappy patchwork of 2.5" squares from my stash of them. I just pulled out some of each of the purples, pinks and turquoises, then filled in with a few of the mermaids too.
In making the main quilt block, I used the off cuts from the snowballed corners to make extra half square triangles. I put those together into tiny pinwheel blocks, then turned all 4 into an inner pocket. The lining was stash too, and I even got to use up the last bit of 3 different spools of thread too.
I quilted in the ditch for the patchwork panels, but I decided to have some fun with the base of the bag, and did some wavy lines with my walking foot. Hopefully Mina and her family will get lots of use out of it.
Oh, I imagine a little girl taking this around all over the place with all her must-haves in it! This seems like just the thing - colors, mermaids, variety of quilted pieces - to capture her imagination.
We just got home from Mina’s birthday party, and her bag was a hit. Though I think Mina might have been more excited about the bath bomb I had put in there.
It came out so, so nicely! She’s young yet, too. She’ll love it as she gets to use it every week for library trips. Ellie has a bag that @magpie sent her and she uses it as her dance bag. She loves that no one else has one like it. It’s the only Dino bag in dance class!
That mermaid fabric is such a fun focal print! I love both sides of this bag! The quilting on the bottom adds a fun touch that just adds to the overall whimsy of this entire bag. I love that while this is perfect for a little girl, it’s the type of bag she can use for years to come.
I bet this is used until it can’t be used anymore! It’s so fun, and you used every tiny bit of that fabric. Whew, that pocket gave me anxiety. I can just imagine sewing all those tiny bits.
Love the color, design, and fun mermaids!
