Well, at least my purse got to go to Market!

Hello Everyone!

You may remember that I talked about Spring Quilt Market going on last week.  For those of you who don't know what that is...every year there are two Quilt Markets....one in spring and one in fall.  The fall one is always in Houston, but the spring one travels around.  This year, it was in Salt Lake City.  This is where all the fabric designers show their new fabrics and patterns, and store owners go to buy their new merchandise for spring and fall.  You really can't go unless you are a store owner, a designer, etc.  This year, I had the chance to go, because Amanda Herring, The Quilted Fish, invited all of us on her design team to go.  I wanted to go so badly, I could taste it.  But I just couldn't squeeze any more travel in right now.  Maybe in fall, or maybe next spring.  (Fall is already getting really packed up with travel for me.)  But some members of the design team went, and they've been reporting on what a great time they had.

Remember a while back I gave you a little sneak peek at this?  Well, I didn't want to show the whole thing, because it was something I made for Amanda to take to Spring Market with her to display in her booth.  But I can show it now.

Here is the little purse I made out of her new fabric, Sugar and Spice (which, by the way I totally LOVE), hanging over a chair that Amanda reuphulstored with her new fabric and with other things that other designers made sitting on it.  Is it the cutest thing or what?!  (I mean the display, not my purse.)  I made the purse using my DSi pattern, but I made it a big-girl purse.  I am so excited that my purse got to be displayed at market, and see how Amanda put a sign on it with my name as the designer?!  So exciting!  She did this for all the girls' projects!  (By the way, this photo is courtesy of Sally, one of the other design team members.  You should go look at her blog posts to see more of the booth and more about Market.  To see the post about the booth and all the other designers' projects, click here.  Go here and here for her other posts.  Thanks, Sal, for letting me "borrow" this photo!)

Wanna see some close up shots of the purse that I took before sending it off?

Here it is!  My adaptations were...I added the little ruffled ribbon around the edge, I used this cute birdie embroidery, and I made the strap a lot longer (for an adult). 

I used it as an opportunity to practice some more free motion quilting.  Here is a picture from the lining inside, so you can really see the stitching.  I experimented with a new design.  I can't remember now what the design is called, but I got it from Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project.  It has become one of my favorites.  I really like it...perhaps because it's remniscient of feathers.

I used the snap closure, because it's become my favorite closure for this.  I also modified the pockets.  I made them from fabric, instead of lace, and I made them a little taller.  I also sewed them wider so they could accomodate a credit card or driver's license.

Or a gift card, or a coupon!  haha.  You can see I made a couple of pockets.

Here is the back.  I used this cute, red flower button.  I liked it.

Here is how it looks from the back when it's closed.  I like how it turned out.  Sweet Pea wanted it, but I wouldn't let her have it.  There were a few tears, but she got over it!

If you want to see the tutorial for how to make this purse, you can still get it on the Quilted Fish website.  Here is the link to that free tutorial and pattern (as well as all the other tutorials).

Cross your fingers that I get to go to Market next year and give you my OWN report!  (Oh, there was some other exciting news from Market, too, but I probably shouldn't share it yet, because it's so tentative.  I'll tell you more about it if it happens, okay?)

Before you run off, go check out my Health tab (it has magically reappeared!).  My two friends who are losing weight with me are going gang busters!  One has now lost 6 lbs and the other over 30!!!  Girls, you are keeping me motivated!  Thank you!

And finally, we saw the fox again this morning.  It was the mother we saw in our yard the other day.  I know she's the mother now, because she had 3 kits with her in our yard today!  I tried to capture it with the camera, but it was pretty dusky out still.  I don't know if they turned out.  I haven't had time to download the pictures yet.  I'll see how they turned out later.  But it was sure a great way to start the morning...eating my cereal and seeing something in the yard..."What's that in our yard?"  I thought it was the cats at first (I could see two).  But one looked too big and one looked too small to be our cats.  The smaller one was too big to be any of our kittens.  I asked Papa Pea, and he said, "Oh!  It's the fox family!"  All three of us went to the window to look.  We got to watch the kits run out of the woods on the side of the house, go across the yard, and head into the woods behind the house.  Mama sat and watched them go through the yard, and then went into the woods herself.  Just awesome.

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with my blogger friends in Michigan and then Friday Night Sew In!  Good thing, because it's going to be a working weekend for me.

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

Comments

[Shelly]

The purse is adorable. Congratulations on having it at Market. The suspense about your other news is killing me . . .

[Lynn]

Very cool! I'd love to go to Market. Will probably never happen, but it's fun to dream about.

[Sue]

That is FANTASTIC! I love everything about it! I love the quilting you did. Leah is so inspirational in getting us motivated to quilt on our own home sewing machines. You did such a wonderful job on that!
I have to confess that I did NOT know you couldn't go to market unless you owned a store or were a designer.

[Linda]

Cute cute bag! Excellent quilting!! The birdie is my favorit! Too cool that it was at market too!

[sherri]

Great bag...and I love the quilting! Did you do the quilting on a long arm or just on your regular machine?

[sisLH]

Hey, let's all get together and get a store name so we can all go!! Cute purse-I like that red button-nice touch. M & B had a deer right outside! the dining window. Thrilled them. I'm sure they'll tell papa while he's there.

[sisLH]

p.s. let's call our store 'This Little Piggy'. as in -that's the one that got to go to market.

[Allie]

So sorry you couldn't make it this time hon, and I sure hope you get to go in the Fall! That purse is too, too darling, how exciting to have something there that you made!!!!!

[Maggie Szafranski]

The purse is fantastic! Can see why SweetPea wanted it! And good for her to be independent with her art!

[Aunt Pea]

Such a cute picture of you and Amanda. I love that you two met up, and WISH I was there :-)