J - Juvenile Diabetes

There is a very special girl in my life who is 11 and dealing with Juvenile Diabetes. This last year, I made her a special purse to hold her supplies. It had to be both cute and functional, so a lot of planning went into the project.

We began by making a list of her supplies and she rated how often she used them. Then we measured each thing and decided where it should go in a purse (outside pocket vs. inside pocket).

She had this wonderful owl fabric that her mom got, but I had her add to it by going through my crazy quilting scraps. I am proud to say that she picked all the fabrics, and she really has an eye for color!

I found some owl buttons, and even though I used Velcro to close it, they were just too cute and had to get used.

Her favorite part is that there are actually little sewn pockets that are made to hold suckers.

It is still a pretty big purse for an 11-year-old, but she loves it, and it should have room to grow with her.

100 Posts

This is post 100, so it just feels like I should do something different. I was going to do a top 10 list, but I couldn't pick only 10 and doing many categories was clunky, so I've decided that I am going to post a random selection of my favorite projects.

This was my first and only scrap quilt. It is queen sized, and I really enjoyed making it. I have plenty of scraps and really should make another. I donated it to the Joyful Heart Foundation.

This quilt (which I use for my background) is a mini quilt and is only 6" by 8". I loved the fabric and loved how it turned out framed. This one was also for the Joyful Heart Foundation.

This was a baby quilt for a first time mom who wanted to have something in gray and lavender that was somewhat inspired by India. I loved that it was such a non-traditional baby blanket, and I went overboard on making it perfect. This may be my all-time favorite thing I've made.

Like the mini quilt, I just love this color combo. I thought this purse turned out really nice with all the extra embroidered details.

I've been meaning to post this, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Landscape quilting is rather different from normal applique, and I always wanted to try it. I really love doing it, and this may also be one of my all time favorite things.

This was the first time I tried doing applique on a tunic. It was in an auction for Darkmoon, and I still need to give a post for it.

Stained glass quilting is super cool, and I love the look. I am also a huge fan of Celtic knotwork.

 I loved that these wings used so many different skills. It isn't often that basket weaving, crocheting, beading, wood carving and floral all go together. It was a fun and imaginative project.

I haven't posted these yet either. They are spell balls made by using the Temari hand embroidered method. It has become a new favorite craft for me.

During chemo, I spent a fair amount of time doing zentangles. It was about the only thing I had the energy to do because even holding a needle and cross stitching was too hard and took too much brain power to count. I have a book full of tangles, and this was my favorite.

This was my very first super mini quilt. I wasn't even sure it would work. I love the colors and how they blend, so I ended up making this quilt 3 times... once as a tester wall hanging, once as a king sized bed quilt and finally as this super mini sample.

This was not my first wedding dress, but it was the first time I set out to make a wedding dress. The other wedding dress I made surprised me. I made the dress and found out later that she liked it so much she got married in it. This wedding dress was really fun. It isn't too often that a bride is so interested in having that much color. I really love how it turned out, and she was thrilled.


It is so hard to just stop there, but there are just too many things that are cool.

Dice Bags

I made a bunch of dice bags for the con. Some of the ones with cooler fabric sold rather well. I broke my rule on normally not making things with licensed prints for resale, but I checked for copyrights on these, and I think they were okay for resale.

I also made some with a steam punk theme. The vintage one went to someone who loved it, so that makes me very happy!

Short post, because I am so tired after the con.

Overnight / Laundry Bags

This was a fun scrap project for my friend's nieces and nephew.  The often go on sleepovers, so we thought they would enjoy having a good-sized bag to use for overnights now and for laundry when they go off to college. I let my friend raid my scrap collection, so she picked the fabrics for the bags. Since it was so close to Christmas, I went ahead and did all the sewing to save time.

The first bag was for a mature 12-year old. I actually had used these fabrics together before for my own laundry bag  (which I apparently never posted). We added in a few more teals and golds to make enough scraps for the bag.

This bag was also for a 12-year old girl, but she likes cats and everything princess.

I didn't have any scraps of pink long enough for a strap and the top drawstring, so I used a glittery batik that had mostly the right colors.

The last bag was for a 7-year-old boy. He loves monkeying around, so it seemed natural to give him a monkey bag.

With all three bags, I did different sized patches for the majority of the bag. I used one piece of fabric for the top drawstring so that it would be stronger and less likely to rip out with opening and closing all the time.

All three have the same interior, an unbleached muslin.  I am a fan of light colored linings for bags because it makes it easier to see what is inside.

Once I finished, I wanted one for me. It was a fun project, and I smile every time the kids are visiting their Auntie and they have their bags.

Netbook Bag

 This is a new design I tried for a friend for Christmas last year. She had a netbook bag she used as both a purse and a computer bag that she loved, but it was falling apart. I actually repaired it a few months before a mutual friend suggested that I simply make her a new one.

She is a huge coffee fan, so I picked a coffee themed cotton for the interior, and a red microsuede for the exterior. Just like her old bag, I used velcro to fasten all the little pockets.

 I put a compartment in front for all the little accessories that come with having a computer.

And a long thin pocket in back for papers and other such things.

Overall, it turned out nice, and is only as big as a netbook. I am thinking of making one for me, so I can stop putting my netbook into a huge laptop bag.

Deb's Purse

This was a long-over-due present for my aunt Deb. About eight years ago, I found this wonderful pattern called "The Bow-Tucks Purse". I tried it and fell in love with it. I asked my aunt if she wanted one, and she did, so we went out and picked fabric.

Somehow, I managed to make at least 8-10 more bow-tucks purses without ever doing this one. I even gave her one, but this fabric just sat.

So, eight years over due, I finally sat down and made it up for her,

I put ribbon along the inner pocket to make it pop a little.

Deb likes purses with long handles. I also played around with iridescent thread on the quilting. It makes for a rather playful accent.

Grocery Sacks

For a couple of summers, I tried making and selling grocery sacks at the farmer's market. In that time, I sold one, gave one to a nice gal who gave me a bunch of veggies and sold 18 to family members. So, I generally don't make grocery sacks anymore. The problem is that there are too many cool sacks already on the market, and after paying for the supplies, I can't price them high enough to make up for my time. No one wants to pay $8-15 for a grocery sack.

I really do love using them though. Because they are made from twill or 2 layers of cotton, they are very sturdy and very washable. I used colored twill tape for the handles, so they are also very sturdy and make it easy to carry a bunch at a time. They are deceptively huge. I used a half yard of fabric on each, so they open up to approximately 40" circumference. My biggest problem is that when I take them to the store, the baggers will fill the full enough that I have a hard time lifting them. The bags can handle it, but I can't. I tested the bags when I first made them, and I could carry a 35 lb bag of cat litter in them without a problem. I didn't bother testing further because who carries more than 35 lbs in a grocery sack?

I based my design on the typical plastic bag-  folded on the sides and gathered on the bottom. This allowed me to use the salvage edge for the side seam. Then I used a french seam on the bottom (that would have mad a good "F" word too). A French seam involves sewing once with the bad sides together, turning the fabric, trimming, and then sewing the normal way with the good sides together. By doing this, the seam is totally encapsulated and basically can't ravel. I turned the top down by 1 inch, using a rolled hem, so there are absolutely no edges that can ravel. I was really proud of my design, and I get lots of people at the store telling me "you should sell those!" I just smile and nod and say, "Yes, I should."

Dice Bags

Well, it's time to admit to my inner gamer girl. I enjoy playing Pathfinder with my brother and friends (it's sort of like Dungeons and Dragons). I started by making a dice bag for my brother, and as long as I was at it, I made one for myself.

Then my brother went out and bought a pound of dice... a very cheap way of getting lots of dice, but they took up a lot of room.  To make matters worse, a couple months later he bought another pound. Clearly, the first bag would never hold all the dice. So, I altered a purse pattern for his big dice bag. He is fond of oriental designs, so I used three calicoes with a Japanese look. I used colored twill tape for the drawstrings and handle.

My brother's original bag was made of black crushed panne. This is a very stretchy fabric that looks like crushed velvet. The inside is lined with a burgundy brocade.  The outside has two ribbons as decoration.

I made my dice bag from a microsuede  fabric left over from a renaissance dress I sewed a while ago. I trimmed it with a piece of decorative ribbon from the same dress and a pearl lace left over from another project.

I really love the brocade ribbon, so it was nice to have it on something I use weekly.

Thanks for reading my A-Z Challenge post. I will try and visit everyone's blog who posts a comment!

Black Dragon Purse

I got a bolt of this fabric on clearance when I was working at Jo Ann's a few years ago. I was saving it to make an outfit, but I think it also works nicely as a purse. This one has the same lining and pockets as the burgundy one. One of these days, I am going to keep a purse rather than sell it. They keep turning out so nicely and my current one is falling apart from love.

Brocade Purse

Here's the latest variation on a theme. This is the same purse pattern as the "Teresa Purse," but this time with a satin oriental brocade. The lining is still cotton (mostly because I hate it when purse linings are made of satin and shred after the first use). The pockets inside have a metallic gold pain that highlights the design. I thing that this is one of the nicest key fobs I have made so far. This purse will be on sale on Etsy, but you saw it here first!

The Final Pattern

I made some changes to the "Teresa" purse, and here is the finished result:






Both of these purses are available for purchase through Etsy. This purse design takes about half the fabric and half the time of the bow tucks purse, so I can offer them for about half the price. I am also a stickler about copy right (maybe it's because I am a member of ASCAP), so I also love the fact that this purse is an original design.



These purses offer a bunch of pockets (10+) for everything you carry. There are special ones designed to hold pens and lipsticks as well as larger pockets to hold sunglasses, cell phones, black berries etc.

Check out my shop on Etsy to purchase these purses. http://sewhoneybee.etsy.com