good friends and making things

a weekend or so ago, friend Shelley hosted, in her adorable and especially nice home, a craft day. she worked on her actually-Christmas-but-secretly-watermelon-themed quilt while I embroidered bits of this new messenger bag I've been working on. my old red-and-white one with buttons is getting filthier and filthier, not to mention kind of frayed and stained with the guts of leaking ink pens.

this new one will be brown. lovely, dark, chocolate brown.

with a great paisley lining. I love it.

oh, and it'll have a smidge of olive-green piping to go with, around the edges. that's not too much, I hope? 

and of course I wanted to embroider the thing, because I quite enjoy embroidery. I matched a dark-ish orange floss to the lining, but I didn't want my stitches to compete with all that rich and intricate paisley, so I stuck with straight lines on the top flap. well, okay... straight lines and then other straight lines with chevrons.

and for a bit of interest underneath that, I tried these dots. the stitch is officially called 'woven wheel stitch.' I learned it from one of dear Shelley's books: the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Embroidery Stitches, which I think I should attempt to track down for myself. Shelley said it was out of print. sad day! maybe I'll get lucky and find a cheap used copy somewhere, someday.

we had a glorious lunchtime/afternoon of crafts and laughing and watching Jacques Pepin on DVD. Shelley quilted and quilted and quilted. I used up a lot of pretty orange embroidery floss.


and then I came home and eventually finished this. brown. paisley. orange. green. mm. I think it might need a button or a snap on the inside pocket there, but other than that it is complete and one of a kind.

and unless my attachment to the old fraying red-and-white bag proves too strong, I'm going to want to wear brown all the time so I can carry this new bag everywhere, full of books and notebooks and dreams and pixie dust.