Phoebe Quilted Tote & Matching Wallet

Don't forget to enter my vintage sheet charm squares giveaway! This is the last day to enter, and I'll pick the winner tomorrow.

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite fabric combinations with you, done up in a purse and matching wallet. Meet "Phoebe" ...



I can't tell you how much I love this floral print, and the green gingham is the exact shade of the leaves.



Here are the inside pockets. I kept one side as a nice, big pocket. I divided the other side into 4 pockets - 2 small, and 2 medium pockets.



And here is the matching wallet, with that gorgeous floral as the outside fabric.



The inside is done in green gingham. It includes room for 6 credit cards, as well as two pouches for cash, receipts or a checkbook. It closes with Velcro.



Here's a closeup of the floral fabric that I diagonally-quilted on my machine.

It's in my shop, if you're interested. Enjoy!

I'm linking to Fiber Arts Monday.

Homemade Gift: Daphne Quilted Bag & Matching Wallet

Don't forget to enter my vintage sheet charm squares giveaway!



We went to another graduation over the weekend, and this is the gift I gave the (female) graduate: another purse and wallet set. I really love this color and pattern combination! I've called it the Daphne Bag. (For some reason, I thought it fit.)



This one is lined in yellow with contrasting pockets done in the same print as the outside.



Of course, I made a matching wallet, too.



The wallet has room for six credit cards, as well as two pockets for cash, receipts, or a checkbook.



Here's a closeup of the diagonal quilting I did on the outside of the bag. I really love the look of this kind of quilting! I found an even feed foot (for my sewing machine) at my local Hancocks, and it even has a quilting guide that attaches to it - something that Singer doesn't offer for my machine. As a result, this is going to be a lot easier to do in the future! :)

I'm linking to Fiber Arts Monday and

Chloe Quilted Bag & Matching Wallet

Don't forget to enter my vintage sheet charm squares giveaway! It's open until June 1st, and you have three chances to win.

For today, I'm showcasing another tote and matching wallet. This one is Chloe, one of my favorites so far ...



I adore this vintage floral print! I diagonally-quilted it on my machine and paired it with a pink gingham on the outside and a matching tone-on-tone print on the inside:



The inside also features three pockets in the floral print: one is approximately 4x12"; the other two are approximately 4x6".



Of course I made a matching wallet ...



... which features room for 6 credit cards, as well as 2 pockets that can be used for cash, receipts or a checkbook. It closes with Velcro.



Here's a closer look at the quilting on the bag.

Again, this is one of my very favorites to date. I've never seen a vintage print like this one, so I'm carefully planning my projects to maximize my use of it.

It's in the shop, if you're interested.

Enjoy!

Homemade Gift: The Quilted Laura Tote

We have several young ladies that we know graduating this year. Since we don't have the money to give them each a lot, I decided to make them a gift that's worth a lot more money than I put into it ... I'm giving them totes.

This is my first quilted bag, in that I machine-quilted the fabric to make my own diagonally-quilted fabric (like the big names use). I love how it turned out!



Here's a look at the inside, which I lined with a solid blue sheet fabric. Sorry about the lighting - I don't always get ideal lighting conditions before it's time to give something away.

I added a set of pockets to this one, using the blue gingham from the outside. I like to use the contrast so that you can actually find the pockets when you look inside.

You may notice the magnetic snap on this one, barely visible at the bottom of that last picture. I found them at Hancocks, but they're just as cheap on Etsy (and cheaper if you buy in quantity) if you can't find them locally.



And here's a closer look at the quilted fabric. I did all of this without my even feed foot (which I somehow managed to break) and without a quilting guide (which never fit the foot I bought it with in the first place). Keeping the lines straight wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done, but it certainly wasn't the hardest, either.

I'll have a few more bags to show you in the next few days. Stay tuned!

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Homemade Gift: Floral Tote and Matching Wallet

I had so much fun combining fabrics on the other totes that I went through my stash and made a few more pairings while I was at it. I made this tote and wallet for my Secret Sister for Mother's Day.

I used a non-vintage sheet from my stash paired with the Vintage Brown and Yellow Floral decorator fabric from my shop.



I lined it with the decorator fabric and added one of my new labels (courtesy of this tutorial by Patchwork Pottery).



Here it is with the matching wallet.



I discovered that I like the Velcro closure better than magnetic snaps for this size of wallet. It seems to hold better and the edges of the flap don't curl up.



I still had a zipper to use on this one, so I made it with a zippered pouch.

My Secret Sister isn't so secret anymore. I'm the only one in our church that does this sort of thing, so my gifts always give me away. I'm over that already. I've decided to just be me and let people figure it out early. They never seem to mind, since they all enjoy the gifts I make for them. :)

At any rate, she was pretty impressed. And I was pretty happy because I made her feel special and happy, and I didn't have to spend a fortune to do it. I just invested some of my time into it. Friends are always worth the time.

Enjoy!

I'm linking to ...

Homemade Gift: Dish Towels to Hand Towels

I don't know about you, but at our house, we have little kids who don't pay a lot of attention to the color of towels in the kitchen. You see, we have a certain color and design for our dish towels; everything else (in the kitchen) is a hand towel. It recently came to my attention that my kids were occasionally wiping their hands on my dish towels. Ewwww!!

As a result, I decided to make it easier to distinguish between the two. Now I can tell my kids that the one fastened to the oven door is the hand towel. You can't miss it. :)



I simply used scraps from my scrap bin (that hadn't been cut up into quilt squares yet) for the toppers. You only need small scraps for these.



Then I pulled out my stash of buttons and found coordinating ones.



The last thing I had to do was make the pattern. I can't remember where I read this, but somewhere online a lady recommended using your iron as a template for these toppers. It's perfect!

These towels were a little on the short side, so I went ahead and gathered them at the top to make a longer hand towel. If I were using more traditionally-designed hand towels, I'd gather them in the middle and have both ends hanging down. Of course, you could always cut decorative towels in half and use both ends as separate hand towels; I just like the fullness of using a whole towel in one.

These are super-fast and super-easy. I whipped up the majority of these while I was browning ground beef for a taco supper. Try it - you'll be hooked! :)

When I worked at a small Christian school, one of the ladies used to make these for each of the faculty members as Christmas gifts every year. It's such a small thing to some people, but I really looked forward to a new one each year.

I'm linking to Fiber Arts Monday and

April-May Sketch and Color Challenge

Supplies: stamps (Fiskars); paper (ATD, unknown); ink (BIC Mark-Its, black StazOn); MS edge punch; Nestabilities Labels 1; ribbon; green rhinestones; pink pearl dimensional paint; dimensionals.

My friend and I have been doing a monthly sketch challenge, and this month we had planned to throw in a color challenge, too. Well, life got pretty busy and we delayed it a month ... and then decided it just wasn't going to work for us at this point.

But I had managed to get my cards done early, so I thought I'd go ahead and share them with you. I'm sorry, but I can't recall which sketch this is based on (although I'm pretty sure it's one from Splitcoaststampers). However, they are all based on the same sketch.

The color challenge was to use just pink, green and brown. I think we were allowed to add a touch of white, too. I just so happened to have the perfect papers in my stash, as you can tell.



Supplies: stamps (Fiskars); paper (ATD, unknown); ink (BIC Mark-Its, black StazOn); MS edge punch; Nestabilities Labels 1; ribbon; green rhinestones; dimensionals.

This is just slightly different than the first card. I changed a few things I didn't like (the dimensional pearls at the scallops, for one). This is the first time I got to use this stamp set, and I really like it.



Supplies: stamps (Studio G, Recollections); paper (Making Memories, ATD, unknown); ink (SU Chocolate Chip); MS doily lace edge punch; Nestabilities Scallop Circles; pink half-pearls; dimensionals.

While I was at it, I pulled out this purse stamp I had just picked up from the Michaels $1 bin. I really like this one, too!



Supplies: stamps (Studio G, Recollections); paper (Making Memories, ATD, unknown); ink (SU Chocolate Chip); MS doily lace edge punch; Nestabilities Scallop Circles; dimensionals.

And here it is with just a change in dominant colors.



Supplies: stamps (Studio G); paper (ATD, Making Memories, unknown); ink (SU Chocolate Chip); circle punch; button.

Since I've been mailing out some apron gifts, I decided to try my hand at a freehand apron. I started with a rectangle and used my circle punch to cut out the arm holes. It looks okay, but I'm not sure about the overall look of the card. Good thing the people I send these to aren't card critics! :)



Supplies: stamps (Studio G); paper (Making Memories, ATD, unknown); ink (SU Chocolate Chip); small pink rhinestones.

I like this one a lot better.

I'll be using these cards as enclosures for my gifts to fellow pastor's wives. I plan to use the apron cards for apron gifts, the purse cards for purse/tote bag gifts, and the coffee cards for everything else.

Enjoy!

Pinkalicious Floral Tote and Matching Wallet

Today I thought I'd share another of my favorite recent projects, the Pinkalicious Floral Tote and Matching Wallet. It is also made from more of my favorite recent vintage sheet finds.



This bag is reinforced with a stabilizer to give it body. It is approximately 12x12x4".



It is lined with the pretty pink floral, and it features a magnetic snap closure.



Of course, I made a matching wallet! The wallet is approximately 4-1/2 x 8-1/2" when folded up.



The wallet also features a magnetic snap closure ...



... and a zippered coin section, room for 8 credit cards, and two extra pockets that can be used to carry cash or a checkbook.

If you'd like to purchase this fun pink set, you can find it in my Etsy shop. If you'd like to get your hands on some of this fabric, they're also in the shop.

Enjoy!

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Beachy Breeze Tote and Wallet

In case you were expecting the Thrifting Tuesday post today, I thought I'd change my thrift store posts to Thursdays. I'm a woman - I'm allowed to change my mind, right? :)

Today I'd like to share with you one of my vintage sheet creations. I call it the Beachy Breeze Tote and Matching Wallet.



I nearly squealed with excitement when I found this wonderfully fun and bright vintage floral. I knew I had to make something summery with it, and this is what resulted.



The tote is approximately 12x12" with a depth of about 4". The wallet is approximately 4-1/2 x 8-1/2" folded up.



I lined it with this fun print. I just can't get enough of it!



The wallet has a Velcro closure ...



... and includes a zippered coin section, room for 8 credit cards, and two extra pockets that can be used to carry cash or a checkbook.

If you're interested in purchasing this set, you can find it in my Etsy shop. If you like the fabric, I also have the print listed in the shop by the fat quarter.

Enjoy!

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