Sew Powerful Purses #472-485 for 2026

Happy October 1st! The Sew-a-thon has ended and Sew Powerful not only made their goal, but they surpassed it!!! Yay!!! Thank you to all who supported me in this effort to raise money to help the girls in Zambia so they can stay in school. Sew Powerful's goal was to raise $250,000 and they raised $267,920, which means even more girls can stay in school, yippee!!!!!!! I too surpassed my fundraising goal as well as my purse making goal for September too! I raised $1,685 ($1,000 goal) and guess how many purses I completed in September??? My goal was to make 180 purses, but I kept sewing and I ended up making 252 purses in one month!!! That gives me a grand total of purses made so far this year of 541 purses and there are still 3 months left of this year. Well I can tell you I need a break from sewing them this month as I was worn out sewing them for a whole month!😂I even ran out of notecards to include in the last several I finished, so will be working on notecards this month.

On last Monday I sent in 2 large boxes full of purses. One box had 142 purses inside and the other had 143 purses inside, for 285 total purses. I probably won't send in any more purses this year as I don't think I could finish enough by the end of the year. 

Here are just a few of the last purses made during the Sew-a-thon from September. I have more to share in the next few days.

This is the other Intermediate purse with the other flap (Option B). I thought I had shared this one already. I shared the other Intermediate flap in my last post so you can see the differences in the flaps.

2 pineapple quilt block flaps.

These 2 were quilt blocks I made from a Jacquelynne Steves BOM from years ago. The blocks were too large for the flaps, so I cut them to fit the flap size, hence the other fabrics surrounding the appliqué had already been sewn on.

Patchwork squares on the diagonal.

I made this pieced reacup and saucer block years ago. I added a doiley.

Appliqué flower on the left purse is a textured vinyl, the appliqué on the right is from a tie dye tee shirt.

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Sew Powerful Purses #462-471 for 2026

10 more purses ready to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project.

This is the Intermediate purse with one style of the intermediate flap (Option A) that has a pocket on the flap (there are 2 different style flaps for the intermediate purse, each with a pocket on it). I made each flap to try it at least once. I always make the intermediate purse body with the gusset as I prefer it to boxed corners that the beginner body has. After making both intermediate flaps, I can say I much prefer to create my own flap with the beginner flap. The flaps are interchangeable, so I will stick with the beginner one so I can do my own thing and have more space to do it. At least I have tried all the purse patterns now so I know.

I created a gingham flap by sewing squares.

I wanted to use up some doileys I had, so I added one under a teacup and saucer. The teapot is from a BOM by Jacquelynne Steves from several years ago.

Painted and stencil backgroun and another Bountiful Basket quilt block from 3P Designs.

Painted stenciled background and a hexagon flower over a scrappy background.

Last few days left for the Sew-a-thon to donate in my honor to help the girls, although donations are accepted year round. I have been honored by several of you and I thank you all very much! Your kind words about the purses that I make, for what I lovingly call my granddaughters, are much appreciated!!! 

Please donate in my honor for the Sew-a-thon. Click here and then choose the amount to donate. $10 fills one purse to keep one girl in school. Thank you so much for your support!🤗

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Sew Powerful Purses #420-429 for 2026

10 more purses finished to donate to Sew Powerful Purse Project. This is the last week of the annual September Fundraiser too. Please could you donate something, anything at all so that Sew Powerful reaches their goal to serve 25,000 girls in order that they can stay in school and get an education? The QR code and the link is at the end of this post. Pretty, pretty please, with a cherry and whip cream on top? If everyone donates something they just might make their goal. Thank you so much! You don't have to live in the USA to donate in case that is stopping you.

I made many purses using pink scraps and some added decorative machine stitches.

Appliqué teacup flap too.

Please donate in my honor for the Sew-a-thon. Click here and then choose the amount to donate. $10 fills one purse to keep one girl in school. Thank you so much for your support!🤗

Use this QR code to donate to the Fundraiser during the month of September or the link above. Thanks so much! 🤗

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Sew Powerful Purses #386-392 for 2026

7 more purses finished during the Sew-a-thon & Fundraiser this month for Sew Powerful. Thank you for supporting me in this effort with your kind words and donations. There are many sponsors who have generously donated products for prizes for the Sew-a-thon. The top 2 people who received the most donations during the fundraiser will get to choose the prize they want (like a particular model of a Bernina, Janome or Babylock sewing machine that was offered). Then everyone who has received $100 or more in donations will be in the drawing to possibly win a prize by other sponsors generated by a random number generator. No guarantee of winning anything though, but to me the biggest prize is knowing that there will be 1,000's of girls who will receive an education and can stay in school all month long. Scroll to the end to donate on my behalf to keep a girl(s) in school. Thank you!

I used a wool flower and hand stitched it on.

One of the purses below has this lining because the 2 purses below were made by upcycling a red Starbucks apron. The pocket you see is the apron pocket, so I didn't need to make a pocket, yay! 

I got 2 purses made by upcycling a Starbucks apron. I used red scraps, including scraps from the apron, to create the flaps. I added a wool appliqué teacup & saucer and teapot.

I cut a charm pack into smaller squares.

2 scrappy batik fabric flaps.

Scrappy batik fabric flap.

Please donate in my honor for the Sew-a-thon. Click here and then choose the amount to donate. $10 fills one purse to keep one girl in school. Thank you so much for your support!🤗

Use this QR code to donate to the Fundraiser during the month of September or the link above. Thanks so much! 🤗

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