Sew Powerful Purse #165 (2026) for Marsha M.

When Marsha M. saw the fabric panel and the 2 elephant purses I made using the panel of the elephant/Congo piece, she messaged me asking if she could have one of the Zambia/giraffe pieces. I told her that I had already made all the flaps and cut out kits for all the countries/animals from that fabric I showed (see last photo). So then she offered to pay me for a purse with a giraffe, or swap a flap. Since I had already cut out the kits to go with the flaps, I offered to make one of them for her and messaged her photos of all the giraffe flap I made along with the exterior fabrics that I had cut out for each one and I numbered them and asked her to tell me which number that she wanted. She chose number 12, and then said it just happened to be her lucky/favorite number. I asked her to pay the postage or send Sew Powerful a donation instead of paying me, which she said she would do both. She received this purse on Thursday.

We normally include a notecard for the girl who receives purses we make and donate, so I included a card for Marsha in the front pocket. It was a postcard I made years ago using used teabags and then I quilted the teabags to batting and added a backing. The tea stains of the various paper and silk-like tea bags were also stamped with some various stamps that I have. It was a fun experiment to try. I am sure making that postcard look as long or longer than making this entire purse! If I had enough hours in a day to create nice postcards for each girl to place into the front pocket, I would love to make them, but then I wouldn't be able to make as many purses and I really would rather make the purses and use up my fabric first. Maybe one day, I will switch to making postcards only for an entire year and keep them all to include in the purses that I make for the following years. I might consider that if I get in a creative mood and want to use up lots of smaller bits and bobs of stuff I already have on hand.

Thanks again Tara! She is the sweet friend who donated this fabric panel to me.

African countries/animal fabric panel I used for center of purse flap.

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