Post market hangover

Well, the market was on Sunday and it is Thursday today. I am still recovering. That is age for you... you can't stop it and it creeps up on you. Anyway, the day did not go as well as I had intended or hoped. I will have to do a few more if I want to become known or not bother with it at all.

But onto happier things. I am going to show you my diversity tote. I like the word diversity. It has so many meanings but all of them are nice.

This tote took a million years to put together. I like patterns but I didn't want it to not match, and it kind of doesn't but that gives it a good look anyway. I used spray adhesive so that I can move the strips until they were just right. Once I was happy with the result, I quilted the front and bag pieces and finally made them into a tote. The tote is the easiest pattern to assemble, whips up in a couple of minutes. The hardest part in this is choosing the fabrics and making sure that the colours in each are related. What do you think of this tote?

What's in a name

I have agonised over the name of my bags for a long time now. What do I call them? How many letters should be in the name? Generally five is the best right? What to do???
My first idea was to combine my kids' names - Rhiana and Liam - Liana, Rhiam? They didn't work well... didn't roll off the tongue quite so well. I couldn't think of any good words that would work.

I have a secret, well not so secret, addiction to Pride and Prejudice. I have read the book many times and love the BBC adaptation to be in the background when I am sewing or cooking (especially long stints in the kitchen). So I thought I would use one of the character's names as my bag names - Darcy would do because it is five letters long. I liked it but there are many, and I mean many, crafters who use the name darcy.

My brother suggested stash... although it made people think of drug stash it made me think of my massive fabric stash. But unfortunately, stash bags and stash designs already exists. So I quickly decided on dash, a compromise between darcy and stash. It is only four letters long so I don't know if it will last. What do you think?

As you can see, I got pretty excited about Stash designs and made a banner for my upcoming market stall. I will go with it for now because the market is in two days and I don't have time to make up a dash one, I don't even know that I want to name them dash yet... it just doesn't quite work.

Speaking of markets, I will be at the Gilles Street Markets on Sunday November 7th from 10-4 with my bags and accessories. If you are in Adelaide, South Australia I hope to see you there.

Inaugural Blog

Today was a pretty momentous day. I took my five year old girl for her first school visit. She was elated to be there. Didn't even turn around to watch me leave and say I love you. Seemed keen to get on with her schooling life (We'll see how she feels in a few years!). I, on the other hand, was very emotional.

Once we came back home I decided that I should take photos of my bags so that I can get this blog rolling, even if it was spitting out! I am pretty pleased with the weather so far, because once the heat starts, it will seem like we live on the sun!

I will post pics of my creations everyday until I run out. But what should I start with first? Big hard bags or small little wristlets? I think I will do a lucky dip... that will be best.

So today, meet three sisters. It is a very busy pattern. I like to try to co-ordinate patterned fabric. Here I've got some Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler as well as a gorgeous Batik. I love Batiks. I first drew the shape of the ladies and then came up with the idea of the three, one is separate because I wanted to show the gold strip - a Psychiatrist would say otherwise!

Front of Three Sisters

Back of three sisters.