Paying It Forward

Scroll down and you will see former posts of purses I have made this year for a good college friend and her mom's American Legion Ladies' Auxiliary group (Girly Purse and Poppy Print Purse). After making these items, they commissioned me to make other items to sell at their local farmers' market. After making and sending some of these bags, etc. I received a call from my friend that she had been diagnosed with colon cancer. Her prognosos is good, however she's a single mom and this was the absolute last thing she needed to have happen to her. I felt helpless in that I don't live close to her to just stop by and help out. So I decided to donate my portion of the market items proceeds to her upcoming fundraiser. I also made a purse today to send along as well for the raffle that will be held that night.

She requested royal blue and this fabric jumped out at me. It reminds me a starry night sky and it sparkles, just like my friend does. It's not much, but it truly is the least I could do to help a friend who has done so much to help me.

Crimson Lily: The Tattoo, part 1

My Crimson Lily is now permanently a part of me. This is the exact copy of the one posted here on the blog. I will eventually get the entire plant down my back...as soon as I decide to handle the pain again :p

Christina's Bag

I was asked recently by an old friend to make her a new "purse." I use this term lightly because her idea of a purse is actually a huge tote bag :p She mailed me some pre-quilted fabric from JoAnn's and I instantly got to work on this monster of a bag (17" long, 12" tall, 9" wide). I love using the pre-quilted fabric because it saves me about 1-2 hours of work, depending on the project. I am soooo happy with the way this came out and it's already back in the mail 24 hours after I received the fabric. Hope she LOVES it!

Poppy Purse

This is my new venture: The Poppy Purse and Change Purse. I was commissioned by a friend (the same college friend for whom I made the Girly Purse) to make a purse for her mom's American Legion Ladies' Auxiliary outgoing president (phew!). Their symbol is the poppy so they found this gorgeous poppy print fabric on Spoonflower and mailed it to me. I quilted it, added their patch, and created a lovely purse with an outside cell phone pocket. They also requested a sample of a change purse. They were mailed from NJ Wednesday and arrived in NH Friday for this weekend's ceremony. They already have requests for at least 2 more sets and hope to take orders for more this weekend. Eeeeekkkkkk!!!! Yay me!!!! I hope to be very busy in the coming weeks....

New Jersey Sewing

Well I didn't realize it's been almost 6 months since my last post. A lot has changed in my life. The first major life-changing event was our move from Maine to south New Jersey in October. Although it wasn't a culture shock for me, it was definitely a tough transition. My entire family is in Maine with my history. 34 years in the best state in the nation makes it hard to get used to living elsewhere. But we are doing it. And we're fine :)
The second change is that I'm no longer working. With all my extra time you'd think I'd be sewing a ton, but I'm not. I have an entire sewing room all to myself and it rarely gets used. That will be changing very soon.
My third change is my weight. I have never had to struggle with my weight until recent years. At 30 everything seemed to go downhill. I finally decided to do something about it. Since New Year's I have lost 15 lbs and 4 inches in my waist by changing my diet and joining a gym. What a great feeling!
So that's that. And now for the one thing that I have sewn recently...

It's a girly purse for a college friend who likes all things girly :)

Where Did It Go?

Where the heck did summer go????
I guess I blinked and it was over. Although I didn't get a lot of sewing done this summer, I did get a few orders. So last week I rushed to get my sew-jo back and got a bunch of stuff done:
Market Totes
Bridesmaids' Wristlets
Custom Diaper Bag



Busy, busy, busy....

What? I'm actually getting orders? (And WIP Wednesday)

(Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced again!)

Wow! I have been busy in the past few days. The quilted pieces of purse that I posted last week are now part of a complete purse. And there's a matching wristlet to go with! Yay! This is the donation for next week's silent auction benefit.


I actually love making purses. The wristlet is based on Ayumi's tutorial at Pink Penguin.
Now here's the fun part.... I have ORDERS!!!! After posting pics on FB of this set, several friends asked for sets of their own. So here we go! I made one wristlet already
and the rest will be made within the next two weeks with the following fabrics:




Fun, huh? And now I shall leave you with some process pics of the purse set. (Oh, and the Chrysalis Quilt is still on hold. Maybe I'll get to that by the time summer actually hits here in Maine.)