The Heirloom Artisan Market 2016

I'm late in sharing this, but this is where I was on Saturday!

Colors

Colors always excite me.  I think my favorite thing to say about anything is that it has a juicy color!  The sky, water, a lovely fruit, a piece of silk,

color is an incredible thing to behold. 

I recently got some beautiful Fair Trade felt bags from Nepal that I am working on.  These bags were hand felted and hand dyed by women, and I feel good about supporting them in their livelihood.  They usually sell them with felt embellishments attached to them, but I ordered them plain so that I could finish them up with my own personal touches. 

Here's one.  I stitched up an assymetrical strip of a whole bunch of layered fabrics, and then sewed on trim, beads, sequins, leaves and the rose.  The back is studded with more beads.  A nice little purse for day and night!

The colors in this one are blues and greens with metallics thrown in.  Blue with green is my all-time favorite color combo, and it really tones down the indigo of the felt.

The other bags are in other shades, and I'm working on similarly exciting color layerings on them too!  More pics soon!

Sorry, this one is in yellow light!

Strawberry Dreams

Hand-felted, hand-dyed bag

embellished with a crochet flower

and yummy pink buttons.

Coming with me to
BrocanteLux 
and
The Glenridge Artisan Show

In The Bag!

OK - not completely: I'm still learning how to make a little purse, but sitting down (a lot of sitting down!) and actually making one taught me a couple of things that I now know how to fix in my next one.  Like sewing the lining part separately from the outside part and then inserting the lining into the outside part, and then sewing them together!  I also didn't have a clasp available so until I put one in (I'm thinking just a plain magnetic closure) this purse doesn't close...

But this was a weekend's worth of work for me - all those little bits first patched together, then the outlines to each shape, for which I used a variety of methods: handsewn bunched up strip of fabric - those puffy ones that you see - cord, twisted bits of fabric and well, more cord.  I tried riboon too but the width didn't look right so I took it off.  Also I could have used more layers of fabric sewn together for the handles but my back was starting to give out and I just used wide brocade ribbon instead.

And oh yes, each side has its very own metallic brown rose!

I love crazy quilting, and this was my very first time doing it.

I'm so happy with it!

My very first bag, and that too a crazy-quilted patchwork one!

YAY!