Hello there! I just finished my Christmas sewing…whew. What fun! What a relief!

Using my scraps from other Christmas projects, I made a last-minute Christmas purse. I purchased this magazine from Barnes & Nobel. The bag on the cover caught my eye!The directions were excellent! I haven’t made a bag in a couple years: a testament to the clarity of the directions. This quilted bag gave me a chance to practice my free motion quilting. And, to change thread colors. ALOT. I think that’s something you have to get used to with free motion quilting. Below I used a bright red.These two pieces are the pockets. I used a dark green thread. I didn’t free motion quilt this, I just did a regular straight stitch in random zig zags. This is what the original pattern suggested. I like the contrast between the fun loops & the stark diagonal lines.Below I used a variegated thread. The gray pieces turned out to be my favorites, but they barely show in the finished product! Drat.

On the star pocket pieces I used red on one & green on the other. I prefer the red. Do you?I know it is just a couple days before Christmas, but I did finish this purse in time to carry it a few places. Nothing like a deadline to keep me motivated!By the way, this purse is made almost entirely from scraps from my tall trim the tree wall hanging & christmas tree skirt.

It will be handy for Christmas shopping trips next year, because it has four exterior pockets, two green & two red with stars. (I’m a receipt stuffer.) 

With the last stitches on this project complete…I can officially say: I am DONE with red & green fabric! I folded up my bigger scraps and stashed away the little piles of blue, green, white and red.

Oh, and I enjoyed some wine while I sorted. Merry Christmas!