Sew Powerful Purses #181-183 (2025)

2 more purses to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. One is the no pocket version with a partial Dresden Plate and a button bee. The second purse is another flap using a paper napkin that is cover in an iron clear vinyl.

Partial Dresden Plate quilt block with button bee.

No pocket version.

Using a napkin with clear iron on vinyl over it on the flap. Background was first texture painted.

This one has a front pocket.

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Sew Powerful Purse #180 for 2025

I made this purse for last month's June Bee Challenge in the Facebook group for Sew Powerful Purse Project. I saw the bee made out of buttons on Pinterest, so I tried it, but I used a piece of embroidered trim for the wings. I made a few purses with the bee button and a partial Dresden Plate quilt block like this one.

Bee button and other buttons I sewed little flowers on to hold them in place.

This pretty exterior fabric was donated to me. I pieced webbing scraps together

with ribbon to cover the joins in order to make a longer strap.

No pockets on this purse on the back or the front. Next month a new pattern comes out without pockets added on. I think they meant to announce it later, but it got mentioned. So this was the first one I tried without pockets and it was much quicker to sew, which was the idea behind the no pocket version. Also, September is the annual Sew-a-thon Fundraiser for Sew Powerful and I think they wanted to come up with ways to make sewing the purses faster so they would receive more purses. We can still make any version we want to make and the 3 flaps are still interchangeable too. I can tell you it is so much easier and faster not to add the pockets, so I will be making more this way for sure. Plus, it saves on fabric and interfacing and that means less cost as well. Yay!

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(Disney) Tangled Panel Quilt Top

I was given this quilt panel and I decided to make a border of scrappy free style log cabin blocks using my black fabric scraps. I cut several 1-inch squares first in all the colors that are in this panel: pink, purple, yellow & green and then added the black fabrics around the colored square. Since I used fabrics that had black backgrounds with some colors too, those squares don't pop out as well as I would have liked, but I did want to use up a lot of scraps. I made more blocks than I really needed for this, so those will either border another quilt, or be made into a scrappy quilt alone.

I knew this was a Disney Princess, but I wasn't sure which one as I just don't keep up on all of this Disney stuff anymore. I found out she was from the movie, Tangled, which is an adaptation of the Rapunzel fairy tale.

I will be donating this to Wrap the World With Quilts when I have more quilts and tops to send in.

The pink and purple borders are part of the panel, which made it easier to not have to add any inner borders first.

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Boxed Bliss Bag~ pdf Pattern by ChrisW Designs

The Boxed Bliss bag is ChrisW Designs newest bag and it is loaded with some fabulous features! It is the most structured bag I have made, so no flopping on this bag. You can choose from a few stabilizers to use. For mine, I chose double fusible interfacing with added fusible fleece, plus the addition of a firmer stabilizer on the base and at the sides. The cording/piping at the sides further adds and enhances the stability of this bag.

Christine is a master at coming up with so many ingenious ways to sew what looks like a simple looking bag. From her signature phone pocket, to the zipper overlay pockets with added credit card and note card pockets, pleated pockets and the way she has you close the bottom of the bag without turning it, will blow you away! Eleven years of testing bags for Christine and I am still learning new things.

The pocket instructions can certainly be applied to other bags you make too, so it's almost like getting 2 patterns in one. While this doesn't look difficult, there are a few places that are more advanced so it is not a beginner pattern. However, there is also video instructions as well as the pdf pattern, so that is really helpful. As a tester, I didn't have the luxury of watching the video, since she needed to record it and make corrections after I had made the bag. But if I make another one, I will watch the video.

The Boxed Bliss measures 10" wide x 9" high x 5" deep. The pattern is on sale now! Grab yours one sale for a limited time only. 

Check out the video intro here, that also shows the tester photos and the full video is located farther down on the same page on YouTube.

Boxed Bliss Bag is a handbag with structure and loaded with interior pockets! You can add optional strap tabs at the side and clip on a cross body strap too. I opted to just have the carry handles that are rolled for easier on your hands holding.

Side view with piping  and stabilizer for added structure.

Vinyl base has bag feet to keep the bottom cleaner when placing it down.

Zipper closure has a long zipper so when you unzip it the bag is fully open making it easier to access your belongings.

Hidden phone pocket behind the recess zipper closure allows quick access to your phone.

Pleated slip pockets, internal pocket behind and the zipper overlay pockets with credit card pockets and note pocket. You can choose to add fewer pockets if you desire.

Vinyl overlay with credit card pockets, note pocket and 2 zipper pockets. Like an attached wallet if you don't want to carry a wallet. You can make a single zipper pocket if you prefer here instead, especially if you prefer carrying a separate wallet.

Pleated pocket, slip pocket with a large internal pocket behind (that I added rickrack around). If you rather carry a wallet instead of making the vinyl overlay with the pockets, a wallet would fit in the internal pocket.

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Sew Powerful Purse #179 for 2025

Another purse with leftover units from a quilt border. I shared a couple of these purses a few days ago showing the exterior fabric, so just sharing the front this time and I used only 3 border units on this flap as that is all I had left.

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17 Mini Composition Notebook Covers

I was searching for a post that I thought I had shared a year ago about these Mini Composition Notebook Covers and I couldn't find the post. Well, duh I guess I never even shared these before, so no wonder I couldn't find them! Well here they are at last. 

I got the mini composition notebooks at Walmart. They come in a pack of 3 for about $1.25. I wanted to make mostly Southwest prints and I thought I might make them for gifts or to sell, but I apparently put them away in a special "easy to find place" that turns out was NOT so easy to find as I cannot find them! 😭 I should have written down in my mini comp book where I put them! I will keep searching for them. 

4 with the same exterior fabrics.

Inside I used 2 different fabrics.

I love that one with the circles even if it is not Southwest. The center is a Route 66 print. The hot air balloons are considered Southwest here in New Mexico as Albuquerque is home to the annual International Balloon Fiesta each October. The balloon one I made first, so I made a fabric closing tab for it and then switched to using vinyl tabs for the rest, along with plastic snaps.

Southwest Margheritas.

Of course New Mexicans love chile peppers of all kinds, especially fire roasted Hatch green chile! It is chile roasting season here right now too. Yum! 

This is the one I kept. I made the closing tabs on all of them with a tiny piece of vinyl and a plastic snap.

Inside my notebook.

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Sew Powerful Purses #177-178 for 2025

2 more purses finished for Sew Powerful Purse Project. The one on left was a quilt block I was playing around with for a quilt block contest from 2013 (for Sisters, Oregon Outdoor Quilt Show Block Contest). I didn't want to waste the fabric that I received for the contest, so I used some of my own fabric to test out a design idea I had and then I made the one for the contest in the fabric I was given. I won an honorable mention for the block I made for the contest.

The purse on the right was made with some squares of fabrics I was given a long time ago. I decided to place the patchwork on point and add an appliqué flower that I cut from a circle and a blue flower and red heart appliqué that I die cut out of felt.

This is the quilt block I made for the contest using the fabric that I received to create a quilt block for the contest. The colors show up better in this photo that I took at home before sending it to the contest. Below was taken at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show with the Honorable Mention ribbon attached.

This is the quilt block I made using the fabric I received to make the block for the contest. The ribbon is barely legible, but it does say Honorable Mention at the bottom and July 2013 on it. This Saturday (July 12) is the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show by the way.

Closer look at the appliqué so you can see the crystals I also added.

I have used this exterior fabric for several purses I made for the purse bodies and I am using up miscellaneous fabrics I have for the linings.

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Sew Powerful Purses #175-176 for 2025

Here are 2 more purses donated to Sew Powerful that I finished. The pieced flaps were units leftover from a border I made for a panel quilt (that I donated). I set one flap horizontally and one vertically for different looks. Do you have a preference? I think I am partial to the horizonal one just a tiny bit more, but I like them both.

Pieced flaps from leftover border units I used for a quilt. I oriented each differently.

Front pockets.

Back Pockets.

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Sew Powerful Purses #173-174 for 2025

2 Pinwheel quilt blocks for purse flaps. These 2 also fit the Spots & Dots July Challenge too on the Sew Powerful Facebook group. The challenges are just for fun. The pinwheel quilt blocks were from a freebie table at a quilt group I got over a year ago. I made them all into purse flaps for the purses I make and donate to Sew Powerful.

I like that these pinwheels were more colorful that some of the others I got from the freebie table. So I added bright strips to make them large enough for the flaps.

I love that lime green fabric and how well it goes with the purse flap colors.

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Sew Powerful Purses #171-172 for 2025

2 more purses with pinwheel quilt blocks. These just happen to fit the July purse challenge in the Sew Powerful Facebook group, which is Spots & Dots Challenge. 

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