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UPDATE:  The Starling Handbag crochet pattern for the purse above is now available on the free downloads page.  Yay!
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This blog-reader found me when she was Googling something (I didn't think to ask what), and emailed me to see if I would make her a handbag.  She was very specific.  She wanted Barb's handbag with black, pink, and white replacing the blues and ecru.  She even verified the dimensions, the presence of pockets, etc.  She is a detail-oriented woman after my own heart.

The resulting handbag is adorable.  I had to buy new fabric for the lining (HAD to ... really).  I couldn't decide between getting this print in white on black or black on white - so, I bought them both!  I used the black for the lining and the white for the pocket.

At first I didn't know why I loved this fabric so much, but when I got home I realized that it totally reminded me of the wonderful Japanese designs in Japanese Patterns, which Andrew bought me for my last birthday (over a year ago).

Do you see all those bookmarks?  That's only the right half ... there are more on the left half.  The plan is to embroider these designs.  I'd really love to tackle the dot designs in French knots.  But it might be another year before that project moves to the top of the list.