The mind sees what it wants to see

A couple of months ago, some quilting friends and I were on a shop hop when I ran across a really cute purse pattern, the Crazy Patch Purse.  I haven't done any crazy patch quilts, so I thought doing a small project like this would be a good place to learn a few tricks.

Actually, it's more of a tote than a purse since there are no inside pockets.  (The Bow Tucks Tote has forever sold me on the value of lots and lots of inside pockets.)  Anyway, it was one of those "I have to have that" moments.

I took the pattern with me to the Quilt, Craft and Sewing Expo in Del Mar several weeks ago to shop for fabric.  Just as I was about to give up, my eyes focused on a fat quarter loaded with coffee and tea cups.  Voilá!  I had found the theme for this purse - I love coffee!  So, fat quarter in hand, I searched through the vendor's stash and found a coordinating print in brown with the word "coffee" written in various fonts all over it.

Hmmm .... trouble is that the word was not "coffee" - it was chocolate!  Guess my brain just wanted it to say coffee.  Oh, well.  I love chocolate, too.  So I call this purse my mocha purse.  Who will ever know?

The pattern was fun to do.  I enjoyed going through my stash looking for fabrics that would coordinate yet be different enough to make the crazy patch stand out.  I used a variety of my decorative stitches, too.  The stitch reference sheets that I painstakingly worked on paid off (see this post).  I opted not to add the buttons called for in the original pattern.  I'm thinking that this purse needs a big, puffy fabric flower with a button center. 

That's about 3 projects down the road .... pillowcase for the one million pillowcase challenge, a project for Jackson's new bike, pj bottoms for me, then a big, puffy fabric flower!  Never a dull moment around this house.