Sew Powerful Purses #69-70 for 2026

2 purses for Sew Powerful Purse Project that I used African woman canvas prints for the flaps. I had to trim off the bottom of each print to fit it to the flap size. I used a Japanese print fabric in orange and red with black Kanji writing on it. Africa meets Japan in these purses. The Japanese print was such a good color match to these flaps.

I wanted to show the entire flap here. Since I had to cut of the bottom of the print in order to not cut of her head when the flap folds to the back, I added a strip of green print to make the flap the correct height, but you cannot see that green when the flap is folded back, so now you can see it.

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Sew Powerful Purses #64-68 for 2026

5 more purses completed to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Scrappy pieced rectangles.

This was a Spiderweb quilt block I had that I turned into a purse flap.

Another heart finished for the February challenge at the Sew Powerful Facebook group.

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Sew Powerful Purses #61-63 for 2026

 I made these teapot appliqués years and years ago. Wanted to make a table topper with them, but my layouts just never worked quite right. So when I found these again, I decided they needed to become purse flaps. I had hand blanket stitched around them all those years ago because that was probably when I didn't have a sewing machine that did blanket stitches. So I added some scraps to make the flap the correct size and finished these 3 teapot flap purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

Happy tea drinking and/or sewing!

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Sew Powerful Purses #58-60 for 2026

3 more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. The flaps were all made using prints of African women that were meant for framing. Since they are a canvas and similar to vinyl, but stiffer, I wanted to use them for purse flaps. I had to cut the bottom part of each print off to fit the size of the flap, but also since part of the top of the flap is on the back side of the purse when used, I had to cut off the right amount so the head could be seen on the front, which was a bit tricky to get it right.

I had purchased several prints a couple of years ago and forgot about them. When I found them all recently, I started to finish them into flaps for the purses. Most of the prints, I bought one of each, except the two down below I bought 2 of the same print.

I tried to cut off just enough of this print so her head would still show. In doing so, the rest of the dress at the bottom had to be cut off. I could have cut more off the bottom, but it was hard to know this beforehand. This print was narrower than most and so I added fabric strips to the sides to make it wide enough.

These 2 were the same print, but when I cut off the excess from the bottom so it would fit the flap, I cut one slightly higher than the other. You can see more of the women's hand on the right one.

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Sew Powerful Purses #55-57 for 2026

3 more finished purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. 2 with appliqué and one is scrappy pieced. 

Scrappy upcycled denim jeans for the flaps with added appliqué, ribbons and buttons.

Scrappy pieced bee fabrics. I stitched the button on like a little flower with embroidery floss, but the white beads are inside this button and that makes it an interesting looking button.

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Stay at Home Round Robin 2026 (SAHRR) Prompt 5

Gail, of Quilting Gail, gave the 5th prompt for the SAHRR, which is to make a block using 2 colors, or 3 if using a background color too. I knew what I wanted to do right away was to make a block that represents the flag of Ukraine, which uses two equal colors of blue and yellow. I made 4 little Ukraine flags to either place in the 4 corners of the quilt or directly above or below the last sewn blocks. I haven't decided where I want them to go until I learn about the next prompt and what I will end up making for prompt 6. So I placed the little flags in the 2 positions to see how they will look and they will be sewn next time with the next prompt. I had planned on donating this quilt to Ukraine when I first began this quilt, hence the sunflower starting block and the sunflowers on the last prompt. I will donate it through Wrap the World with Quilts, organization based in Lehi, Utah.

Flags placed above & below the sunflower blocks here is one possibility. The next prompt will be blocks that will be sewn between the flags, top & bottom.

Flags placed at the 4 corners, leaving room for whatever blocks are made for the next prompt.

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Sew Powerful Purses #49-54 for 2026

6 More purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. Some with appliqué hearts, some with the word LOVE on them, some quilting, some rickrack and ribbons and flower appliqué added, some with batik fabric, commercial fabric and some upcycled denim jeans.

Upcycled denim jean flaps with ribbons, rickrack, appliqué word, Love, & a flower.

These flaps I used scraps of denim from upcycled denim jeans. The flap on the left I added tulle over the flap and quilted it first before appliquéing the heart. The flap on the right I stitched the scraps and using a zigzag stitch and then added ribbons and rickrack over the joined pieces. I much prefer the tulle overlay and quilted flap. The ribbon was a bit much in the end, but I thought I would give it a go and see how it turned out. I do have lots of ribbons too, so that was another reason to try this. I made another one at the same time as I made this flap as you can see below.

2 more scrappy pieced hearts that I appliquéd to the flaps and then added rickrack all around. Both flaps were started like the other denim flap above, with the denim scraps, tulle and quilting. 

These were finished in February, so I will add them to the Love is in the Air album on the Sew Powerful Facebook page for the monthly challenge. 

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