My friend Molly has inspired me to get my sewing machine working more often than the necessary taking in of Luli's pants. She suggested a helpful book Bend The Rules Sewing, By Amy Karol. I have really enjoyed the book because it's rather easy to follow for beginners and has really cute projects. At first I wanted to do one of the kid projects but then I thought, I'd really like to make something for myself first. While it's not going to be sold in stores, I'm pretty darn proud of it for my first project. I went with the "charming handbag," I did 'bend' the rules a wee bit by using a pink thread on my brown lining, I thought it would add an element of fun. I really like it, but you can see my stitch veering here and there a couple times. Oh well! Like I said I'm really proud of it and can't wait to start using it.