This post is part of Purse Palooza 2012.
For full schedule of guest post pattern reviews and prizes, click here!
Purse Palooza is officially closed for entries! Thank you to everyone who has made this a successful event…all of the sponsors for providing exceptional prizes, the guest bloggers who all took the time to make a review a bag, and to all of you for commenting and entering your bags into the contest! Woohoo!
A special thanks goes out to Kim from My Go-Go Life for writing all the giveaway posts (all 20 of them!). She put a ton of work in, and a job well done! Thank you Kim! Please go and check out her blog! 🙂
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my 3 judges for the event. They will be giving me their top choices in an effort to appoint the top 4 winners! They have a lot of work ahead of them…with over 700 photos entered into the Flickr group, there is definitely a lot of talent to choose from!!
Erin from Pellon
“I would consider myself to be a lifelong crafter. I was the little girl who did her best to hand-sew doll clothes and who collected a variety of materials (buttons, cloth, foam, etc…) to create fun little toys. Though I took a long hiatus from sewing, I still grew into a woman with a strong appreciation for the handmade. Whether it’s coming up with a new purpose for an old pallet, making a giant framed chalkboard, or sewing a handy little tote, I love the satisfaction that comes from making something myself. I’ve learned a lot and still have a lot to learn and I’m loving every minute of it. Isn’t that what it’s all about? 😉 “
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| Erin’s quilt made using Thomas Knauer fabrics |
“Hi, I’m Anne Weaver. I’m the Sewing editor over at Craft Gossip (sewing.craftgossip.com). I live in Little Rock, Arkansas with my daughter, my husband, and three very spoiled cats. As you could probably guess, I love to sew. I sew all kinds of items – home dec items, accessories, clothes – but lately I’ve found that I have a weakness for sewing doll clothes. Thanks to my addiction to making tiny clothes, my daughter’s dolls have a wardrobe that borders on ridiculous. “
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| Anne’s camera bag insert |
“As for my favorite sewing project, that’s a hard one. If I had to choose, it would be the camera bag insert I made for my purse. I love taking photos with my fancy Nikon d7000, but I feel like a dork carrying the standard black Nikon camera bag around with me. My new camera bag insert lets me carry around a more stylish purse that has the padding and dividers to protect my camera. (The purse itself is an inexpensive bag from Target; I’m just showing it here so you can see how much nicer it looks than the black Nikon bag.) I made the insert out of a linen-y vintage fabric, with strips of hot pink Velcro to make the dividers adjustable. Oh, and I didn’t want to spend the money on foam from the fabric store, so the padding is just layers of thin but dense foam repurposed from some plate packing sleeves.”
Scarlett from Craft Gossip
Scarlett’s photo was taken at Craft Gossip’s April Fork and Talk event, where her table won the activity. It’s major bragging rights, since it’s the second time her table won!
On favorite projects: “They are all my favorites while I’m working on them, I’m fickle that way. However, to answer your question, a recent favorite is this purse I made for my friend Julie. See attached photo. I had the Lizzy Dish fabric in my stash and she purchased the fabric. it’s Kokka Ruby Star Shining line by Melody Miller and it represents her very first fabric crush.”
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| Scarlett’s Julie Purse |
“Like Kathreen, of Whipup.net, I consider myself a maker who happens to express my creativity through quilting. Quilting offers so much within this craft category. I favor the joy of design. Once I solve a design problem (the quilt top), I’m done and send it on to be quilted by a long-arm quilter. I’ve learned to give myself permission to concentrate on the aspects of quilting I enjoy. “
Thank you again to the fabulous judges for all their hard work!! The prize winners for Purse Palooza will be announced in a week or so, once the judges have had a chance to comb the Flickr Group. I hope you have enjoyed the sewing pattern reviews and participating in making your own bag!!
Thank you Sara and Kim for all the hard work. I had a blast. Although my last purse didn’t make it ( it was cut but no time to sew) I’m very proud of what I accomplished. The reviews thru the event helped a lot. I learned a lot. Purse Palooza 2012, woo hoo!!!
Ladies you have done an awesome job, it has been inspirational, informative and really useful – well done
I’ve really enjoyed Purse Palooza. You ladies have put in so very much work. I have enjoyed it as a blog hop as well and now have added all of these lovely blogs to my list. So much talent out there. I have NO idea how the judges are going to pick from those 700 photos, I’ve looked through them a couple of times and there are so many different styles of bags and they are so beautiful. I personally want to own about 75% of them! So many creative women sharing their work. You should be very proud of this blog! Janelle
Thanks, Sara and Kim for hosting the event. I’ve learned so much this month about making bags and have discovered so many new blogs, patterns, and tips. Looking forward to learning more from you at the Sewing Summit in October!
This was absolute fun! Hope you do it soon again. I have just finished another little Jeni-bag. With pockets this time, thanks to your reviews!
Thanks for the inspiration & motivation to go back into my sewing room! It was a blast – I’ve sat down and ENJOYED my sewing machine just about every day since June 2nd. Moved on to a quilt-as-you-go project and it’s going well. (And the gift box of bags is fully stocked!)
What fabulous judges! Can’t wait to see who they pick!
Yay for Kim and the judges, good luck to all :o)
Purse Palooza was so much fun – I made my own Organised Office Bag after seeing the review here and I just love it. I love seeing what everyone made – so much talent!!
Thank you so much for organizing this fun event! The Flickr group will continue to give everyone who visits it lots of purse-y inspiration for years to come.
It might be over, put I am still making bags. Purse Palooza was fun and informative. Thank you for your hard work.
I too learned so much, bought several patterns, won some and all around enjoyed the month! It’s great to see faces of the judges, 2 of which host blogs I visit. Nice to know there a real people lurking behind the scenes. Thanks for a month of encouragemt, ideas, inspiration and more!
thank’s for that challenge, was a pleasure
This was fun, thanks so much for putting together Purse Palooza! I don’t envy the judge’s work ahead of them; there are so many great bags in the Flickr group!