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.

This purple handbag was made from the yarn left over from the super bad bag.  I don't usually go for lavender, so this color presented a challenge to me.



The paisley lining matched perfectly, so I thought I would go with paisleys for the outside.  Ugh, they just didn't look right on the bag: too many purples, no color harmony going on, and the tiny paisleys looked microbial and contagious.  On their own, they are supercute, sadly I made them too late to send off for the embroidered patch swap.

Next, I started a super elaborate paisley, thinking the microbial thing was the problem.  A couple hours into the stitching (no joke) I started to panic because I didn't have the time to spend hours and hours on one (one!) paisley.  Plus, I was starting to have second thoughts about the colors and the purple felt backing.

Freak out time.  What the hell was I going to put on this bag?  I pulled out my "stuff to put on other stuff" drawer and started to sift through the sequins, beads, and ... stuff.  That's when I stumbled across these sequins ... again (I used them on the aqua bag, too).

The Story of the Sequins

I rescued these sequins from a sweater I bought last year.  They were cute on the sweater, but my long hair was constantly getting tangled in them.  I carefully cut them out of the sweater and saved them (like the little hoarder I am).  Now they have become my absolutely favorite sequins and I can't find anything like them at the store.  My casual hunt is going to become a determined and focused hunt as I use them up.  If anyone has sequin finding tips, let me know.  I've already scoured AC Moore, Michael's, Joann's Superstore, and Pearl.

Attaching the sequins to the handbag was super easy.  Three rows looks great to me.  The turquoise/pink shimmer on the lavender yarn is really pretty and it matches the lining fabric really well, too.  Glittery, yet subtle.

I'm drawn to Earthy, Autumny, Deep Jeweltone colors. As a green-eyed, redhead who was born in October, those are the colors that make sense to me.  Eventually, when I have more time to play around, I want to explore color combinations that I'm not comfortable with (lavender, pastels, bright colors).  It always seems like people do the neatest and most inspiring work when they reach out of their depths.  Of course, I could also end up with Springtime Handbags that come with their own antibacterial hand wash.

This is the one Mini Handbag of the bunch.  I originally made a yellow one, but I didn't have the right fabric to go with the yellow.  I thought a trip to the fabric store would do more to harm my deadline than just making another in ecru.

I decided to line this one with the freaky stripe fabric, but I was afraid that elaborate embroidery would overwhelm such a small handbag.  I decided to embroider simple, multi-colored dashed lines across the top of the bag.  Next time, I'll make sure to put the yellow yarn on a bump-row, because it's a little swallowed up on the valley-row.

I like the effect of the alternating dashes, and all the colors hint at the crazy lining.  This one is going to be a gift for my young niece.  I think she'll love it.

In this last picture, you can see the crisp bottom corners of the lining.  After I sew the square bottom, I iron on stiff stabilizer. Not only does the stabilizer flatten out the bottom of the handbag, but it helps the lining fill-out the bag instead of looking loose and bunchy.  It's a small thing to do, but it makes a big difference.

Now that I have the purses for my mother-in-law done, I'm getting a lot more done on the ornament swap.  I kinda cheated a little ... most of the green X's were completed yesterday after I normally would have posted for WIP Friday.

That second row on the ornament chart represents 14 hours of work (16 hours once I do mine).  The rest of the ornament construction is going to be a breeze compared to that. :)

Today is my One-Year Blogaversary.

This blog has had a much bigger impact on my life than I ever thought it would: I made new friends from around the world, I discovered an endless source of inspiration and encouragement, and I actually sold things that I made.

I never imagined that a craft blog could lead to these things.  It's so awesome.  Most days I just can't stop being completely excited about being one of the thousands of people online sharing their passion for making things.

The amount of creativity out there can be overwhelming (I subscribe to 93 blog feeds), but, at the same time, with everyone involved in so many different arts/crafts/mediums, I don't feel any pressure to do one thing or the other. In this huge sea of people, I'm free to do whatever I want, and I still have a place here.

As much as I love posting my stuff and getting your great comments (and I *do* love them), an even greater pleasure is reading about your new stuff, your passions, your successes, and your lessons learned.  I don't think this place would have such a draw for me if it weren't for you.

Thank you for a great year.  Let's keep this thing going as long as we can!

To celebrate, I'm sending out postcards to everyone who wants one.  Send me an email at alice(at)futuregirl(dot)com with your address, and I'll send you a postcard!

All seven handbags are finished and ready to go to Thanksgiving dinner with us tomorrow at Andrew's parent's home.  I know! ... I can't believe it either. :)

I'd like to thank my mother-in-law (the. best. ever.) for commissioning these handbags.  It was great to have the freedom to try a bunch of different and new things without having to worry if they'd sell.  Because of this project, as I go forward, I'm going to be more confident in my fabric choices and embellishment designs.  Thanks, Elaine!

This is handbag 1 of 7.  The designs and colors in the striped lining fabric are way-crazy.  It's overwhelming - in the best possible way.  When I first got it, I cut a strip the length of the repeat (24 inches) and I just stared at it for days while I worked on other crafts.  Each stripe is mesmerizing, ecstatic.  It's every curtain, wall paper, rug, and embroidered dress I had growing up in Kansas - all rolled into one fabric.

I was tentative about making a striped bag.  Especially with such a crazy color combo, but I plunged in.  Then, it just seemed right to use the yarn, itself, to do the embellishments.  I did a fairly simple cross-stitch-y design that echoes the fabric.

If I actually try to think about the color combination and the stitching, I start getting lost in all the colors and stripe widths, but when I just look at it, it looks *right* to me.  I love it.  I can't really explain why.

Wow.  I embellished 4 handbags this week (teal, brown, striped, and purple).  I crocheted a new mini handbag in ecru. I had a yellow one, but I didn't like any of my current fabrics paired with it. I figured it was faster to crochet a new mini handbag to match fabric I have, than to go to Joann's and look around. :)

I love the brown bag.  The flower stems are sage yarn that I stitched on with embroidery floss.  The white stitches in the flower centers are French knots with tails - something I learned from the embroidery book I got recently.







The striped fabric was a one of my birthday presents from Andrew.  It's the most crazy, fun, striped fabric ever. To echo the bold design of the fabric, I cross-stitched on the single crochet using yarn.  I thought embroidery floss would be too delicate compared to the lively stripes.




I had a lot of trouble embellishing the purple bag.  My two attempts and creating embroidered paisleys failed.  The biggest problem was that I didn't have the right color of felt to back the paisleys, so they just looked weird on the purse.  I saved my paisleys for the next patch swap, because they are cool on their own.

Exasperated, I started looking through my stash to find inspiration, and I came across these sequins.  They are the same iridescent, clear sequins on the teal purse, but they have a much different effect on the purple purse.  They create a tuquoise/purple shimmer, which I think is a perfect compliment to the paisley lining fabric.

I apologize for the wanky color in these WIP photos (and the teal ones).  Once the handbags are all done, with linings and everything, I want to take some nice photos of them.  These photos almost look like mug shots, poor handbags. :)

I was focusing on the bags this week, so there was less progress on the ornaments.  Just one and a half X's.

On my last post about the teal handbag, Ambika said: "I love this. I liked the bags before but the embellishment really dresses it up. Very cool."  Ambika leaves great comments.  This one also got me thinking ...

I've considered leaving my bags plain on the outside (I would still line them with fabric), but I worry that they will look too Grandma-crocheted and not the clean-modern I would want.  Of course, embroidery and felt can look Grandma, too ...

So, I'm asking you (yes, you) what you think about unadorned bags: Grandma or Modern?  Also, while I'm at it, if you have any constructive criticism about my bags, I'd love to hear it.  Supportive, happy comments are great, but there is value in critique, too.

I finished embellishing the teal handbag.  I LOVE the lining fabric, but I wasn't sure how I was going to tie in the embellishments.  I have so much to do that I didn't take the time to labor over it - I just jumped right in.

I like the way the felt circles came out.    There was one weirdo reject circle, but I like these two.  The tiny felt circles were a last minute addition to help balance out the big circles, because the little transparent sequins aren't always visible.

Yesterday we went to opening day at Conspiracy Showroom in Philadelphia.  It's located in the Northern Liberties (a northern Philadelphia neighborhood), near Art Star.  Conspiracy Showroom is run by three members of the Philadelphia Craft Mafia. It's so great that Philadelphia is home to several indie art/craft stores.  Yay for the resurgence and coolification of crafting!

Andrew brought along his camera.  It's no surprise that he wasn't coming along for the craft store opening.  The Northern Liberties has been an 'up and coming' neighborhood for about 25 years ... and half the buildings are still condemned.  It's a perfect place for gritty, urban photography.

Apparently, it's a great place for portrait photography, too.  He took the photo above while we were walking around.  It totally looks like an album cover from the 70's. The other photo would be on the back of my album, next to the song list: Futuregirl Sings the Blues.

I can't believe how warm and sunny it was - around 80 degrees and blindingly sunny.  I had to struggle to keep my eyes open.  I didn't realize that he was getting so much of me in the second photo, or I would have sat up straight ... but I still like it anyway.

I finished crocheting all 7 handbags and have embellished one. The handbag is laying on the fabric I will use to line it. The felt flower is inspired by the fabric, of course. I love the curly leaf veins and the French knots around the flower center.

The fabric looks a little neon on my monitor, but it's the actually a deep brown with rich, warm flowers. I fell in love with the fabric even before I pulled the bolt off the shelf.


Here is a shot of the project chart for the handbags.  The next step is to embellish all of them.  I'm looking forward to it since each one is different from what I've done in the past and from each other.

As you can see, I'm making headway on the ornaments.  I put the most laborious, time-consuming, exacting work first so that I would hurry through it to get to the fun, easier work.  My evil plan is working, since I accomplished a lot this week (there were no boxes checked off last Friday).  I'm taking pictures as I go, so I will be able to show you all the details once their owners get them (some time after Dec 12th).  It's killing me that I can't share this project with you, but I'm loving the anticipation!

I'm definitely going to leave mine (the lonely "fg" at the end of the row) until the end.  But I've promised myself I *will* make it.  I think I can trust me. :)

Andrew and I pay $85 a year to be members of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  In addition to being able to go to the museum every day for free, we also get free admission to Art After 5, and most special exhibits.  The photo is from Art After 5.  Every Friday the Museum stays open until 8:45 p.m. and there are two jazz sets in the main hall.  I love going because it's a nice walk up Ben Franklin Avenue from our apartment and they serve some great red wine.

During the last year, we went to the Dali exhibit, a Wyeth exhibit, and (yesterday) Tesoros: The Arts in Latin America 1492-1820.  Tesoros is open until December 31st.

There were some amazing crafts in this exhibit.  One of the first was a set of religious vestments in feather and embroidery.  There was a ground of feathers (which didn't really look like feathers, more like delicate stitch work) with tiny detailed embroidery on top. I'd never heard of such a thing.  It was striking.

The embroidered pieces in the exhibit were mind blowing. Now we would make that kind of fabric with machines, but back then, they hand stitched all the detail.  One piece had people in elaborate scenes, and you could barely see tiny individual threads of the embroidery.  One figure had at least 7 different colors of brown and blond thread swirling around to make his beard and hair.

They also had an embroidery sampler made by a young girl who was living at a nunnery until her marriage at 14.  It was very intricate, colorful, and skillful.

The exhibit has many examples of South American weaving, which looks similar to the weaving you still see today from that region.  I was also interested in all the sewing boxes they had sprinkled throughout the exhibit.

I'm sad that they didn't allow photography in the exhibit.  I would have taken a ton of reference photos. I took some notes, but that's not the same as a photo. I also discovered the idea of open-toed boots.  There were many paintings where people had on boots where the ball of the foot was uncovered, but there was still a sole under the toes.  I think it's going be the next big thing.  Just wait. :)

The exhibit is heavy with paintings, furniture, and statues, most of which are religious in nature.  The statues of Jesus were fascinating, stunning, and gruesome.  I've never seen so much blood on a statue before.  One of them had bloody footprints all over it's base, too.  I'm a huge horror movie fan, and any of those statues would make a terrifying prop in one of them.  The mood was lightened in the most blood-heavy rooms when someone's cell phone rang and Hava Nagila (a Hebrew folk song) started echoing around us.  I couldn't stop giggling.

I totally recommend this exhibit.  It isn't something I would have gone to, if I didn't get free tickets, but then I would have missed out on some amazing craftsmanship.

I've made progress on my bag commission, as you can see from my 3" x 5" chart.  Just 2 more bags to crochet and then I will start on the embellishments.

It's probably not a surprise that I like to make charts.  In junior high and high school I used Ampad notebooks (they don't make them anymore) that were 8.5" by 5.5" and filled yellow perforated paper that was college lined on the front and quad graph paper on the back.  I would fill those things full of charts and graphs and lists.  I *loved* those notebooks.  I'd be using them to this day, if they still made them.

I didn't need to make a chart for the bag commission, it's not an unmanageable project.  But I figured while I was making *this* chart, I'd make one for the bags, too.

*This* chart is for my ornament swap.  I am making 7 ornaments for my swap-mates (and one for me, but I'm leaving mine until the end).  Every single one of those boxes (except for the very bottom row) represents a step in the process of making my ornaments.  The initials across the top are the recipients.

There are a lot of steps to be completed and I thought it would help me feel like I was getting somewhere if I could mark off little boxes as I finish them.  Plus, it's a handy way for me to share my progress since I don't want to give away any details.  I spent the last week coming up with my idea and gathering the materials, so I'm feeling a little behind.  I'm excited to get started actually making them.

Two of my commission purses will have paisley embellishments on the outside.  I figured I should do a practice run and make a patch for the Red Button Tree Patch Swap at the same time.

The paisley is about 2" by 1" on black acrylic felt.  It makes me happy just to look at it.  It's so bright and cute. It came out 110% better than I thought it would.

I used a pattern from this book.  It's full of great designs and I'm happy I finally had a chance to use one.


I have two more paisleys traced and ready to stitch, but I feel like I need to make some significant progress on my big projects before I make more patches.  Maybe when I need a break, I'll pick them up.  My self-imposed mail date for the patch swap is November 10th, so I still have some time.