Something new & fun

I amazed myself last week. I actually made a fabric handbag. ME! I just don't follow patterns well, but Karen made it so easy that it only took about 2 1/2 hours. And I love the fabric colors.

It's very fall-ish and Thanksgiving-ish. I definitely want to make more, but I need heavier fabric or to quilt it really well. It's not very substantial. Plus, it needs a board or something in the bottom to give it something to stand on.

My Uncle Dick has not been doing well and his birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. Mom told me that all he wanted was one of my cards. I have trouble coming up with designs for fabric cards for men for some reason, but I remembered the leaf piece I did for the Alzheimer's Art Quilts Iniative (the Stay-at-Home challenge) and thought something like that would be just the ticket. I went outside and gathered more leaves to scan and reduced their size. Cutting the little buggers out wasn't easy, but I think it turned out pretty good. Actually, I liked the first one so much I made a second one. I had a lot of leaves, anyway. I threadpainted the leaves with copper metallic thread and I really like the effect. I had some fabric that I had done just a litle rusting on, so I used that as the background.



I'm hoping Keri & Sarah will come down this weekend. We are going to Seagrove (NC) for some Christmas gifts. Seagrove is one of several towns in a two-county area that is known for generations of potters. Jugtown owned and run by the Owen family are probably the most famous and one of the spots we will definitely hit. The potters are spread over quite a large area, so you really need a map and be aware of who you want to go see. There are some sections where you can just walk around to a group of shops sort of huddled together, but mostly you have to drive from one to another.

This is the entrance to the Jugtown store. We always find some really neat things there.
So - maybe that will get most of my Christmas shopping done.
Later!