And on this particular day which is called Black Friday here in the US, being the day after Thanksgiving when all the stores have insane sales, I’m staying safely tucked away at home, avoiding the consumer madness, and catching up on a little sewing.

One of the items I’ll be making is this totally cute Tea Wallet. As a tea lover myself, this strikes me as one of those thoughtful gifts; just perfect for the tea lover in your life.

I’ve just added it to my Free Purse, Bag & Tote website and you can find the listing here.

Happy sewing everyone!

I love to get your questions, comments and feedback! Leave them in the comments section here: Thoughtful gifts

I used a photo of my new grandson Jake, added some photoshop touch ups, then printed it on fabric to make these two different styles.

I kinda like this one.

But I think I like this one the best.

I’m going to use these for organizing stuff in my handbag; they’re just the right size at about 4.1/2″ x 7″. I always worry about using white fabric in or around my handbag (unspeakable things lurk in there) but these are fully washable so I think they’ll be fine. Plus I think I’ll make another couple for family gifts – the perfect weekend project!

I hope you find a little time this weekend for some quick projects. And if you’re looking for some quick sewing projects to use for gifts, I’ve just added a couple of new listings to the Free Purse, Bag & Tote Tutorials website – There’s a wristlet which you can find here, and a couple of small triangular coin purses that are so cute, I think I’m going to have to make some myself! You can find them here.

I love to get your questions, comments and feedback! Leave them in the comments section here: Cuteness alert

For instance, I was recently looking for some inspiration for upcycling a piece of old clothing. I loved the fabric and didn’t want to throw it out, and was in fact kind of inspired by this seller on Etsy who upcycled men’s suits into fabulous bags, purses and accessories.

And this one

And even this one!

While the free tutorials I’ve got listed aren’t quite so detailed or intricate, you can still find some good inspiration. The easiest way to find things is to head over the website, scroll down to the bottom, and pick a tag from the tagcloud.

So clicking on the “upcycled” tag brings up all these listings which is a nice selection to choose from!

If you’re in the mood for a little upcycling, here’s the direct link. Enjoy!

I love to get your questions, comments and feedback! Leave them in the comments section here: Upcycled Purse Tutorials

As you know I LOVE making bags and purses, and for the last several years I’ve been regularly updating my listings for free purse, bag and tote patterns and tutorials but the list has gotten so large (over 320 links to date) that it was getting difficult to manage them all on this website, so I’ve been investigating a better way to present them to you and as it turns out, the best way was to give them a home of their own!

On the new website you will now find lots of different ways to browse and search the listings and the best place to start is visit the “Browse Listings” page.

Also note that I won’t be updating the listings here on this blog any more, so if you want to be notified when new listings are added (which I can now do more frequently thanks to the new setup) the best way to do that is to sign up for the blog email on the new website. You can find the sign-up form here on the sidebar of the new site. This is a different subscriber list to the blog email on this website so all you will be receiving is updates to new listings.

I’ve just updated the listings so there’s a bunch of new links available and you can find them if you head over to the new website and scroll down to the bottom where the archives are listed. Look for the Archives for November 2011.

You’ll find the new website here and make sure to let me know if you like it by leaving a comment. Enjoy!

I love to get your questions, comments and feedback! Leave them in the comments section here: Free Purse, Bag & Tote Tutorials

You’ll find all the links here.

I love to get your questions, comments and feedback! Leave them in the comments section here: Purse, Tote and Handbag Tutorials Updated