This bag is lined with paisley fabric, and I originally planned on adorning it with paisleys. But, after the purple paisley insanity, I decided to try something else.
The fabric has great, simple graphic flowers on it. I found myself doodling at work (that's the back of a client questionnaire - see the doomed paisleys?). I picked the two sketched flowers (under the bags) to put on the bag.
First I attached the sage yarn with embroidery floss. Then I created circle flowers like the ones in the fabric. I was on the fence about them - something didn't seem right. Quality Control (aka Andrew) helped me decide to nix them when he said, "I think it's staring at me.*" He saw the flowers as google-eyes and the stems as a nose. Alrighty then ... back to the drawing board.
I still wanted to go with flowers. As a test, I traced the top of a spool, cut the petals freehand, and embroidered the centers on two flowers. They were perfect, so I ended up using the test ones. Yay!
It's funny that using simple, normal flowers makes me feel a little guilty, a little like a slacker. I always feel like I need to kick it up a notch or I'll look unoriginal or lazy. Not just in crafting, but in life in general. I was the girl who always did all the extra credit homework - and loved every second of it. But sometimes, simple and normal is exactly what is called for.
The brown of this yarn is very rich and warm. I really like it. I only had a fat quarter of the maize paisley, so I'm going to have to hunt down a bolt of this stuff, because I love it paired with the brown yarn. They are like chocolate and caramel.
* I want to take the opportunity to say that Andrew is my biggest source of encouragement. He's the first person to see my stuff and is always supportive and helpful ... and, even when he accuses my bags of having google-eyed stares, it's with a smile.