I had some fun coming up with a project for Mother's Day this year. I decided to make both moms a purse, and use up some of the spring-y fabric in my stash, including a couple from Heather Bailey's Freshcut Line...(above, 2nd and 5th from the left.)
This little bag was fairly simple once I got my design down. It was loosely based on some bags I saw by Blair of Wise..Craft, but I think mine is a little smaller. Basically, it's made from six panels that taper slightly to give a skirt-like appearance. Then I layered it with a piece of batting, and machine-quilted the layers with my new handy-dandy quilting foot. I was a little nervous to use it for the first time, but it was actually a lot of fun. Such a weird sensation to have to move the fabric through by hand instead of letting the "feed-dogs" do all the work. And pulling the fabric toward me was even weirder! I think they turned out pretty good for my first quilting try.
Here's the other one.
I used yet another fabric for the button loop, and a vintage pillowcase for the lining of both. I was really surprised at how the faded pillowcase went so well with the fabrics I'd chosen. (You can see the pocket on the inside, too.)
Picking the button was fun. I went to the craft store with Emma, who ran toward the button display...
Emma: Butts! Oh! Butts, Mommy!
Me: Yeah, buttons. Good.
Emma: Look, more butts, Mommy.
Me: Yep. More buttons. Pretty.
Emma: *sigh* I love butts.