About two years ago, when I started getting excited about quilting, I created a problem for myself! We usually exchange birthday gifts in our small discipleship group at school. That year, instead of giving gifts to three of my friends, I gave gift certificates that I created myself. The certificate promised a quilted handbag, and asked the receiver to tell me the color combination she wanted -- I would do the rest. (Note to self: Never do that again!) They told me the colors, but I got busy with other things, put their certificates aside and forgot about them.
A few months ago I found the certificates, but was no longer feeling creative. I have to be in the right mood to do this! As you saw in my post in May, I finally got creative again when I made the
French Braid quilt. So I was inspired to make the handbags at last. I started with Shelby's bag, made from pieces of fabric that I bought the last time I was in Thailand.
The main part of the bag was an inexpensive shawl, and the design on the front was a beautiful cotton handkerchief that I cut apart and attached to the front. I had fun doing it -- the creativity is back!
Shelby was happy with it, and I felt I was back in business. So I started on the next one, for my friend Grace. She had requested a combination of dark blue and light blue. I wanted to experiment a bit more with traditional quilt patterns, so I used the "friendship star" design, which they say goes back to the 1700s in colonial America. But I did it with an Asian twist. The dark blue fabric is from India, the medium blue is from Korea, and the dark print on white background is from Indonesia. I'm pretty sure there is no other bag quite like this one on the planet! Here is Grace's bag.
Grace was delighted, I was pleased, and now I am working on the third bag. I'll show you when I'm done. Next time, if I feel like making a gift for someone I won't tell them about it until it's finished. I've learned my lesson!
