Embellished Purse

You may remember that last summer after a super class in Milwaukee, I made this purse.   I wasn’t overly thrilled with it but it stayed in use until the beginning of this summer as it started to wear.

Finally by mid-July, I had to take some time to sew & quilt for me so worked this in between some jobs.  First, a collage page of the embellishing & quilting in process.

L-R and top – bottom:  hand-dyed bronze-colored fabric loaded as if it was a quilt; layering some silk flowers, eyelash yarn, wool roving and covered by matching tulle; first section quilted; close-up of the quilting (I used this as a practice piece for feathers); the finished piece to use for the fabric for my purse; back of quilted piece which now hides behind lining.

Click image to see it larger.

Some pictures of the finished purse.  Basically, the same pattern I’ve been using for years but a smidgen longer this time as well as the 3″ taller that has been the norm for the last 3 or 4 models.  The color in the collage above is more true than these that look washed out to me.

The inside is quite bright with the hot pink and coordinating prints for the pockets.  One zippered pocket, one for my eyeglass case, and one for my phone.

Of course, it has a coordinating clutch!  The same bronze fabric but not layered with the flowers.  I make these with my embroidery machine so used that quilting instead of my own.  I used a pink variegated thread and another piece of fabric that coordinates with the insides for the trims.

This purse (besides the lining!) is more muted and has less flowers.  I’m liking that and enjoying seeing my quilting.  In fact, I missed the purse while it was at the fair last week.

In the category “any other quilted item”, I won first place and then Best of Show over all the craft categories.   This was a big surprise as it wasn’t out on Tuesday night when we went down.  I found this on Saturday when I went to bring my items home.  Yeah!!!

I found Norma Riehm at this year’s Milwaukee show that taught me this technique .   She was delighted that I had used her technique and then found her to share.  She is a good teacher and wonderful artist!

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Putting Into Practice

I have 2 things planned for cementing my new ideas from the Quilt Show last week.   Because it worked out that I had the supplies and because I have been wanting a new purse for awhile….. I created a piece of art quilt fabric Friday & Saturday.

A few things went wrong …. 1) I didn’t have thread to blend with my background so have black which is more of another accent.  I’m OK with that.  2) I forgot to add some glitz with angelina fibers.   It is all fine … this is practice.   And really, would you have complained had I not told you?  😉   As Phil said, I can make another one.    He’s learning!!

This is my piece of art quilt I created.  I started with a blue-gray hand dyed piece of cotton.  Then layered my silk flowers, organza, yarns & fibers, and tulle.  It is about 45″ wide x 21″ long and I quilted it on my long-arm machine.

The next day I made my purse.  Of course the inside tweaking to make the pockets fit my needs took awhile.

I used a rectangle of the art quilt fabric as an accent on the zippered pocket. Then a pocket for my phone and for my glasses case so those things don’t get lost.  The pockets & wrong side of the tab are pink hand dyed fabric.

So far, so good!  I couched one of the yarns from the main fabric around the tab and like how that turned out.   It is growing on me and I’ll see how long it is until I make another one.

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Mother’s Request

If you know  my mom any, you know she doesn’t ask for anything.  Really.  Ever.  She will do ANYthing for you, though.

So I was thankful, surprised, and honored when she asked me to make her a purse. Small.  Black. Simple.

I quickly went to work and had it done last Tuesday.  I asked Phil if he’d put it in the mailbox that day and he said no.  The wind, after all, was making quite a blizzard even tho it wasn’t snowing yet.  I asked a few hours later and he said I could try it.

After all, if I got it out on Tuesday, she could have it by Thursday.  I was pretty sure we wouldn’t have mail delivery Wednesday or Thursday because of the Blizzard of 2011 last week.

So….. I got it packaged and printed off a pre-paid label on the PO website.  Shipping date: Tuesday.

Mid-afternoon when the blizzard was in full-force…..

he brought back my package.  😦   He did put it in the mailbox for the approximate 1:30 pick-up but I guess our maillady had already given up.  You know that whole USPS motto: through rain, sleet, snow.  It doesn’t apply in the rural areas.  Just sayin’….

The package waited.  Of course, we didn’t even HAVE a highway for Wednesday.   And on Thursday we were just digging out.  Shockingly, when Phil was digging out the mailbox, the maillady came but he didn’t have the package with him.  So the requested package FINALLY shipped out last Friday.  It arrived in Ohio on Tuesday.   Finally!

Nothing fancy but I do love the fabric!  The opening edge is only about 10″ across.   A petite purse.    No fancy closure or do-dads.  🙂

A close-up with the flash so you can see the fabric design.

I like using a light-colored lining so one can see what is inside the purse.  I loved this cream lining with tan & black dots!   🙂   It has a magnetic closure.   Seems to meet with approval with Mom.  ♥

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Paint Chip Challenge

At the November quilt guild meeting, we were given envelopes with a short list of instructions and 5 paint chip colors for our guild challenge piece. I opened mine and was saddened to have 2 chips of one color and 3 chips of another color.  We were allowed to toss out one chip but if I tossed one, I still would have 1 or 2 of that color, just a different shade.   Our finished project was due at the April meeting.

back of my tag for voting display

I put the chips back in the envelope.

I saw a fellow guild member at a quilt shop sale in February and remembered the challenge.  Nothing started yet.

In March, a guild member asked on Facebook who was working on the challenge.  Not me.

I have wanted to be in challenges and have been glad the guild was having them so I MUST participate!

I lamented. I whined. I fiddled.  I shopped online.

paint chips on tag

You know I love paper piecing so I first drafted a New York Beauty block on EQ6 (a quilt design software program).  I wanted two blocks for the front of my purse.  Of course, I’d want a new purse for summer and these bright colors I had to work with would be quite stylish I hoped.

One of my favorite online quilt shops is eQuilter.com.   They have a TON of fabric, great search results, and I like the design wall.

For this shopping challenge, I did a search for my 2 colors: turquoise and orange.   As I sifted through the results I put a yard of each fabric I liked in my shopping cart.  Another day, I sorted my cart.  I finally had one fabric to be my focus fabric and tie my pieces together, then I added other coordinating ones.   I also downloaded the images of the fabrics I liked and input them into the program.  I colored my block with the actual fabrics I wanted to use!!   🙂

Once the fabrics arrived, it was time to work….

In piecing my smallest arc, I learned a key point in drafting my own patterns… and in this one, I had backed myself into a corner!  LOL!   Instead of starting over and redrafting a new block, I printed off little sections to pre-piece and then add in as 1 piece.

This is the add-in piece.

And it goes in here.

Stitched in.

Pressed open.

.

I feel smug, it worked!

Here are the 2 blocks finished and pinned to the purse front:

At this point I had a panic and called in my behind the scenes advisors   😉   thinking this was a tad wild.  Everyone said they liked it,  so I continued on.

I hand stitched the arc to the background piece.  After layering with batting, I quilted various arcs and the star points.  I did free-motion meandering quilting on the background and the back of the purse which is just the plaid fabric.

Then I assembled the purse.  The lighter background of the star points is the lining of the purse and I added 2 pockets inside.

This is the commercial pattern I used for purses at Christmas time but I made the pattern 2″ taller.

I also made a coordinating cosmetic bag.  The pieces are stitched on my embroidery module and then I assemble them with the standard sewing machine.

I love having these to keep my lipstick, eye drops,  and spare set of car keys easy to find.   🙂

Report from guild — I won in my category – they put purses in Clothing.   There were about 6 purses/totes  and no actual garments.    So I’m happy that I wasn’t the only one in my category and still pulled it off.    🙂  I would guess there were around 25 entries overall.  I wished the entries had been sorted into categories before voting as I think it would have been more fair.  We, the voters, had to decide what category we’d put each item in.

It sure was fun to see what paint chips others received and how they carried out their colors!  I was pleased with the participation level!!  (a bit less than 50% of membership)

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Christmas Purse +

Two years ago I made a purse for Christmas time.  I used a bag of “garage sale” fabric I had bought at the local quilt shop. It is a gallon ziploc bag FULL to overflowing and I paid $5.  🙂

The main fabric is a black floral with reds & greens & blues.  Not hugely screaming Christmas but that is my preference.

But when I pulled it out this month, it was just too small.  heehee!  So I made a new one and tested out a new pattern.

The 1st purse had a paper-pieced panel in it.  I couldn’t find that pattern :blush:  so I opened up my new quilt design software, EQ6, and learned how to draft my own block. This is a “block” that is 3″ x 17″ tho!!  Then I learned how to print the foundation for it.  Very cool!  🙂

{Another use of paper-piecing without picking paper and I love it!! 🙂 }

I still have that $5 bag of fabric but did add other fabric for the lining (cream with red snowmen outlines) and the pink & blue in the flying geese strip. There are 2 pockets inside for holding my gum & my phone.

Of course, I had to have a coordinating cosmetic bag inside.  🙂  (this is becoming a new sickness!!)

And then I made another purse & cosmetic bag for a gift.  😉

(sorry the colors get wonky… that happens when the sun doesn’t shine for 2 weeks! :p )

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