My First Bow Tucks Tote/Purse

I was wanting to make a new purse for myself and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I drove over to Joanne’s to look at patterns and as I was walking into the store, I noticed a lady’s purse in her cart. It was very bright and I could tell right away that the style was what I was looking for. I asked her if she made it and she said yes, but she didn’t know anything more about the pattern other than it was “Bow Tie Tucks” or some thing like that. A friend had given her the pattern, so she couldn’t even tell me where it came from. She did let me look at it, even to see what the inside looked like and I knew that was the pattern I wanted.
As soon as I got home, I googled “Bow Tie Tucks” and very soon I found that the pattern I was looking for was actually called “Bow Tucks” and learned that I could probably find it at a quilt shop. Needless to say, I immediately went to the nearest quilt shop, which was going to close in one hour and bought the very last one they had in stock.
I also found a tutorial for assembeling it since there are no photos in the instructions.

The embroidery design on the front pocket is from Embroidery Library and is called Scrolling Stargazers.

The purse measures aproximately  11″ tall x 13″ wide x 5″ deep.  Ties on each end form a bow that causes a tuck that adds a nice shape to the bag.   I was able to personalize the size of the inside pockets to fit the items I carry regularly.

Here Is One I Completely Forgot To Tell You About~

This is a project I did this past June. It is called “Seeing Double” and it is an In The Hoop Project by Anita-Goodesign.   The flowers in the center were from another design set called “Sketchy Florals” available from Betty’s Original Embroideries .  This was a fun project, it is done mostly in the hoop with the exception of the center portion which is attached with your regular sewing machine.  The flowers in the center are not part of the project, I added them in along the way, but forget exactly how I did it.

Where Does the Time Go???

I am so envious of those that continually complete projects, take and post photos and tell us all about it.
I started my HoopSisters Crazy Compass SO long ago and it still is not completely finished. I do have it ready to bind, but we just moved and I am still trying to set up my sewing room so it will be a while yet.
The good news is I have a whole room (10 ft wide x 20 ft long) for just me and my stuff! And I have a LOT of stuff. Unfortunately, my new room does not have a closet and it does have PLUSH carpet. It is a bonus room next to a single car garage (the same size as the single car garage). I have a ton of plastic bins in one of the spare bedroom closets and the carpet makes it difficult to maneuver my chair, but those issues are worth dealing with to have such a large space to play.
I do have my embroidery machine set up enough to get my embroidery “fix”, but need to wait on doing or completing a real project since I don’t know specifically where most things are at the moment.

I did find the bin with my supplies for a Christmas project I would like to complete before Christmas of this year.  I have 3 squares stitched out, they are stitched on 12×12″ squares of polar fleece and will be made into a rag type of quilt when all of the blocks are complete.  Here are photos of the 3 I have done so far:

The designs are the “Puffy Christmas Applique” set  from Anita Goodesign’s Baby collection.  These stitch out fairly quickly, I can do a couple a week, so I should be able to finish it easily by Christmas! (I hope)