The Sincerest Form of Flattery

I so hope Kaelin feels the same way I do about imitation and flattery.

I saw her beautiful bag on Flickr the other day and fell in love with it. I've been dying to make a bag/purse and have been wanting to use my Echino for it and wha-la, this was it! (Kaelin, you were my inspiration-I hope you don't mind!!)

So here it is-my first purse/tote bag!

The pattern is the Nikki tote bag pattern by my friend Michelle of I Like Orange, Too!

Nice and roomy inside

This was my first purse and the pattern was great-easy to follow, clear and concise and plenty of pictures.  I highly recommend it.

That zipper pocket was so easy!

Inside there are four pockets, and I added a snap closure and a zipper pocket.  (You can find great tutorials for those here and here.)

Echino patchwork fabric and chocolate brown corduroy

I just love how it turned out and have to say I am really proud of myself. :) The only thing I might change would be to topstitch with dark brown thread instead of pink because you can see it on the inside so well. But this is not a big deal.

I'm most excited that I'll be traveling handmade to the Sewing Summit- Yippie!

Speaking of the Sewing Summit- it is less than 3 weeks away! I can hardly wait. Don't you want to come too?

In addition to the Across the Sea Quilt-Along, I've also been working on a few behind the scenes projects that I can't show you quite yet. There is a BIG FUN event coming in October that I am excited about. I have a feeling you will love it too.

I can show you these little pouches I've been making.

They are super fun, really quick, and make great little gifts.

BTW, I ordered my little labels from Inked Papers on Etsy.

I'll leave you with a sneak peak of tomorrow's post.

Be sure to check back because there's a giveaway involved!
BTW, I'm linking up to Megan and Sew Modern Monday today.