Great friends and my purse...

I had the opportunity to go out with some wonderful ladies on Tuesday - Ely, Thearica and Marie.  I know Thearica from the Vance Quilts 'R Us guild and the HGTV Quilting Forum.  (She's the one who actually turned me on to the quilting forum.  Thanks Thearica!)  It was my first time meeting Ely and Marie and I found them both to be so warm and friendly (as all quilters seem to be).  We spent the day talking, laughing and of course shopping.  I only wish we'd had more time.  The day seemed to fly by. 

I was able to hand deliver the purse I made for Ely.  She lives in Massachusetts, but was down on vacation.  I'm so glad I got to meet her in person!  I made the purse as part of a challenge I'm involved in called 'The Twelve of Us'.  Every six weeks, one of the members picks a project for everyone.  Each of us makes the project and mails our results to one of the other ladies.  So at the end of it all, I will have mailed an item to each of the other 11 ladies and received something from them too.  I shared in an earlier post the purse that Penny made me.  The challenge this time was to make a handbag/tote incorporating yo-yos.

Yo-yo Origami Purse

Note - I 'borrowed' this picture from Penny's blog.  She details how she made it and where to get a free pattern here.

And now that Ely has hers, I can finally share some pictures of the one I made.  I made her the purse and a coordinating tissue case.

Ely's purse

Everyone who's seen it keeps asking where I got the bottom part of the bag.  I actually made it from some leather I bought at JoAnn's.  I found it back where they have the decorator fabric.  It was really very easy to sew.  I just used a leather needle and tissue paper underneath to help it slide through the sewing machine.  Without the tissue paper, it has a tendency to stick to the bed of your machine.

Yo-yos and beads

I didn't have a pattern for the bag, but made it up as I went along.  It was a learning experience and there are several things I would do differently if I made it again.  I used the small yo-yo maker by Clover for the 18 yo-yos.  I put a bead in the center of each one and hand-sewed them to the top of the bag.  I'm pretty sure they're never coming off.

Our next challenge is to make a planner with a quilted and embellished cover.  I've already got all of my materials and a plan so all that's left is to find the time to put it together.  Again it's my own design so I'm sure I'll run into some challenges along the way.

I happened to pass by a window while I had the camera in hand and was able to snap a picture of this deer grazing outside.

Deer grazing in backyard

We usually have about a dozen deer eating in the backyard each night.  Right now they have new fawns with them that are so tiny and precious.

Until later...

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)