We are so excited to announce the winners of June's Photo Contest! To learn more about what it takes to win, be sure to check out our blog on the contest details.
If you’d like to submit to the next monthly photo contest, VISIT THIS PAGE to submit your photos.
Want to see the rules and submission guidelines? VISIT THIS PAGE.
If you want to see all photo submissions, visit our Customer Photo Gallery. You can also search through all of the Winning Submissions here.
Let’s see the winners
ByAnnie Top Voted
WINNER: Julie W
PATTERN: Travel Duffle Bag
THEIR STORY: "After making a beach tote for my grandson, my 30 year old son, Brad, requested that I make him a duffle bag. I knew of the ByAnnie patterns, so I said "Yes, sure!" I was honored that he would want something homemade by his mother.
He wanted the exterior to be black canvas. The interior lining is a fish themed fabric. I learned that sewing canvas is really hard! But with encouragement from my cousin (who has sewn many ByAnnie projects), I persevered. I needed her help to sew on the bag ends, but we did it!
Brad also requested backpack straps so that he could walk through the airport with the duffle on his back and a coffee in one hand and his phone in the other hand. (I purchased the actual black backpack straps from Amazon.) The rest of the bag is all ByAnnie! I added my own personalized tags, too. I also added a wrap around strap to hold the handles together when it is in "backpack mode".
I hope that the pictures show up. I had a little trouble attaching them." — Julie's experience
"My mom has worked very hard for several months making me this “boy bag” duffel. The exterior is made of quilted canvas and is complete with all of the bespoke options I requested. The main one being the detachable backpack straps. The inside of this bag is lined with custom fish print fabric and I love all of the storage pockets it has. The zippers, hardware, and construction of this bag is very durable, and I look forward to using it on my rugged vacations to the wilderness.
Attached are a few pictures of me using this bag at Great Smoky Mountains National Park!" — Brad's thoughts on the bag
WHAT WE LOVED: Annie had this to say, " Julie did an amazing job on that Travel Duffle Bag made with black canvas. It looks SO professional and I love that Brad took time to take photos of it on his trip and share his feelings about the bag."
WHAT THEY WON: $50 coupon to use on ByAnnie.com
Storyteller Award
WINNER: Joanna W
PATTERN: Catch All Caddy
THEIR STORY: This bag is a surprise gift for a fellow Sarcoidosis sufferer. When she is well, she loves to skinny dip in the sea here in the UK, or, chunky dunk as she describes it. It took me about 6 months to track down this fabric and I was only able to obtain 70cm from someone else’s stash.
I chose this bag for her to use for her essentials when she is feeling unwell and to remind her of the good days that have been and are hopefully yet to come.
WHAT THEY WON: $50 coupon to use on ByAnnie.com
Quilt Shop Highlight
WINNER: Stacy M
PATTERN: Clam Up and All Bottled Up
THEIR STORY: The Clam Up. A popular pattern! This author's least favorite pattern (to make). *However* everybody likes it, so I decided to go ahead and have a class for it. When Annie said that her favorite food was tacos, I couldn't pass this one up!
For our May B.A.G. Ladies class, we tackled the Clam Up bag, with great results! Some did the binding hack (adding binding to the top) and some made it the traditional way. All of them turned out beautiful, with sooo many different fabric choices! And because it was for B.A.G. Ladies, we also had tacos at lunch, and there was a taco-related giveaway.
I suppose I have to amend my statement that this is my least favorite make, since they do turn out fabulous! The ladies are talking about making a bunch to give to foster children, after hearing Annie talk about Comfort Cases on her live show. So more Clam Ups are in my future... :)
The June B.A.G. Ladies project was All Bottled Up, and students had to use blue fabric, since Annie's favorite color is blue! This little bag has many uses. The design was meant for nail polish bottles, but some students adapted it for thread spools, and essential oils. There were some cutting challenges with this pattern (READ the pattern carefully!!), but overall students were happy with their results. We even had a junior B.A.G. Lady assisting in the class.
Part of the joy of these classes is taking the intimidating parts of bag making and making them easy and accessible for students. So many of them walk away saying, "That wasn't so bad after all!" The way the ByAnnie patterns are written makes everything so easy!
WHAT THEY WON: $50 coupon to use on ByAnnie.com
WHERE IS THEIR SHOP: Orcutt, CA
WHERE YOU CAN FIND THEM ONLINE:
Website: https://www.oldtownquiltshoporcutt.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldtownquiltshop/
SewPINK
WINNER: Anna R
PATTERN: Catch All Caddy
THEIR STORY: The holidays are coming. In my family, it always means taking a lot of medications for every trip. Packing them and unpacking after coming back was a real pain! With this organizer, things go smoothly.
After we come back, I simply put the organizer into a drawer and and easily use the meds from there. When we leave, I simply grab the organizer and we're ready to go. What a game changer!
WHAT WE LOVED: Our team member Casey had this to say, "Such a great idea! I love the medical theme of the fabric to match the purpose of the bag."
WHAT THEY WON: $15 coupon to use on ByAnnie.com
Honorable Mention
WINNER: Lesia M
PATTERN: Ultimate Travel Bag
THEIR STORY: I took a class for the bag at my local fabric store. My husband usually suggests creative ideas for projects I am working on which generally push me out of my comfort zone. And I love him for this.
WHAT WE LOVED: Annie had this to say, " Leisa M did a beautiful job on the Ultimate Travel Bag. I loved hearing that her husband challenges her to get out of her comfort zone. She is CLEARLY comfortable there!"
WHAT THEY WON: $15 coupon to use on ByAnnie.com
Honorable Mention
WINNER: Janet L
PATTERN: Two Big Totes
THEIR STORY: This is my first ByAnnie bag ever. I wanted to try out some new skills and techniques. I sew mostly garments, but lately have been building a passion for accessories and wanting to also try my hand at quilting.
This was the perfect project and a gift for a dear friend who loves Hawaii. The vintage tea towel incorporated into the product is from the 1960’s. I had to ponder placement and piecing to get the graphics out of the towel that I liked, which is why I decided to make the outside slip pocket in clear vinyl.
It was also a first time using that material. I do a lot of just looking and thinking before I dive into a project! It’s like meditation. I just love how this project turned out. I made the whole bag on my Bernina 990 and really appreciated the advice for how to get over some of the thick seams.
I have two other ByAnnie patterns that I’m searching for the right fabric combinations to create, also using some vintage graphic fabrics. Thanks for checking out my project. I have another tea towel just like the one I used for this project so l might make a copy this tote for my self, or make a small duffle for a trip, hopefully to Hawaii. How many bags can one woman have? Answer: UNLIMITED.
WHAT WE LOVED: Our team member Jacque had this to say, " The added tea towel panels makes this bag beautiful, vintage and creative. I love that it shows off something from the 1960's with such flair."
WHAT THEY WON: $15 coupon to use on ByAnnie.com
Honorable Mention
WINNER: Ann N
PATTERN: Out and About
THEIR STORY: I had made this bag for a girlfriend for her birthday. When I posted the picture on my social media my daughters both asked for one. We are traveling together in July from the west coast to visit my 90 year old father back in Ohio and thought why not make us all bags!
My local quilt guild hosted a zoom retreat this weekend and I prepped all of the materials to make these bags my project for the retreat. Can say that production line made it much easier to complete these bags!
WHAT WE LOVED: Our team member Elisa had this to say, " I love how she personalized every backpack."
WHAT THEY WON: $15 coupon to use on ByAnnie.com
A special "thank you" to everyone who submitted to this photo contest. We had a wonderful time viewing submissions and reading your stories. We look forward to sharing as many of them as possible on our social media.
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June 2025 Photo Contest