Play date

Today I had a mental health day play date with Kathie.  She took a day off of work and I put the t-shirt quilts aside and we just had fun.  Kathie brought a whole bin of her beautiful hand dyed fabrics up to The Sandbox and we scrounged around through my drawers and cabinets to get ready for our project.  Kathie proposed we make embellished bags.  (Dummy me didn't take a single picture while she was here, but she's promised to write a weblog post soon.)  We also went out for a shrimp taco lunch (to die for) and a bit of retail therapy at Cary Quilting Company.  Always a good idea!

I decided to go through my binder of bag patterns looking for a particular one.  Could I find it?  No!  Arrrgghhh. Years ago Mom, or Mom and I, took a class (I really don't remember) for making this kind of "envelope/origami" purse.  I had a hand written pattern/instructions, possibly in my own handwriting, and I also had a commercial pattern for the same thing.  I made a few of them back in the day too.  (Couldn't find those either.  Sigh.)  This pretty black one with the silk ribbon embroidery was a gift from Mom which I believe I've used as an evening bag several times.  (I suspect the tissues left in the pockets are a clue.  Heh.) You can see the envelope shaping and it has a nice silky lining.

I spent a good deal of the morning searching online for a pattern or tutorial and came up with a good one by Janet.  I've made her soft drawstring version before too.  In fact I now remember I made a whole bunch of them for the church drama group years ago.  (I think it was the church. (?)  And for what play I can't even imagine now.)  Anyway, I wanted to make the flat version like the black purse.  Kathie gifted me with a yard of her yummy fabric.  This side came out more orangey.

I've chosen to embellish the pinker side.  (Surprise, surprise.  lol)  I dug out a big box of old "silk" floral stuff and we had fun ripping some of the flowers apart.  These are pinned and waiting for the glue to dry.

Several years ago at the NC Quilt Symposium in Raleigh I took a face drawing/painting class with the wonderful Patti Medaris Culea.  While digging for treasure this morning I found the box with the practice faces I colored in her class.  Yay!  This one is perfect!  Well not perfect.....but perfect for the purpose.  I've glued flower petals around her face to cover some of the imperfections.  :-)  I had also unearthed my Flower Faces pattern by Barbara Owen which is what sparked me to dig out the flowers in the first place.  Serendipity at work.  (Because the brain sure wasn't working.  Sheesh.)

And tomorrow I'll see about attaching her to the bag.  Kinda cute.....maybe?

I'm a slow starter but now I'm excited about adding more flowers and some beads, and then looking for the perfect cording as a handle.  Over the top I go!