Pleated Purse

This afternoon I set out to work on a project.  In the middle of working on a cute pleated purse, I made supper and stopped to make Joel some spice tea.  Unfortunately, Joel is not feeling well...he is coughing his head off and very congested.  Hopefully he will get better soon!

Anyway, back to the project.  Tonight I finished up the purse.  It is a really cute pattern that is free here.  It was a great easy pattern.  It took me a couple of hours to complete - including the distractions mentioned earlier.  I had never done pleats on anything...so easy and I think they make something ordinary a little unique!  Also, I had never put on a magnetic snap.  Overall, the magnetic snap was easy to work with.  The instructions on the back of the box called for you to add a small piece of cardboard to help reinforce the snap.  At first I was unsure of what to use, but then I went to the pantry and looked around.  I ended up using a flap from a nutri grain bar box...but any cereal box material would work nicely I think.

The fabric that I used for the outer part of the purse is an Amy Butler piece that I got for free at the local quilt shop on the shop birthday.  I really like the pattern and think it looks nice as a purse.

So...enough talk.  Here are a few pictures:

Brayden's Quilt

So, I should have posted these pictures a LONG time ago...but better late than never.  In March, Joel and I got to visit with my friend Brooke and meet little Brayden.  He is so adorable, and I was so excited to get to hold him.

I wanted to make him something special, so I made him a small baby quilt.  This was the second quilt I have made doing machine quilting.  I used a walking foot (first time using one of those), which worked out really well.

Close up of Brayden's Quilt

I used these - Micron Pigma pens that allowed me to write directly on the fabric for the quilt label.

Here is a picture of the front of the quilt.  The back is a polka dot blue flannel...I hoped it would be nice and soft for little Brayden.