My Reversible Handbag

searching through my new bag!

the other side!

another version, using Heather Ross fabric

Dwarves at work!

the button clasp

all my knitting projects stashed in my new bag!

 

Last week Betsy posted her version of the "reversible handbag" with embroidery embellishment. Here's a couple of the "reversible handbag" versions that I made! I'm using one as an everyday purse which I made out of the new Melody Miller "Ruby Star Spring" collection and the other one with Heather Ross's Seven Dwarf fabric which is so cute!! I'm using that one as my project bag, as you can see it is full with yarn already!

Projects and Motivation

A lot of people ask me if I ever sleep. Needless to say I have a lot of interests, hobbies, and activities I like to do. It can be overwhelming at times except that I am also insanely organized and love to map out my day, week, month, year with all the things I am doing, would like to do, and need to do (and then reorganize that for better efficiency). 

One of the things I have noticed about myself in the years since being out of school is that I love to have a routine, and the routine usually includes rotating through various activities after work. Such as, one month I'll be really into knitting; I'll breeze through ten projects, plan out ten more, and just become totally consumed with knitting projects. Then that will sort of wane off and I'll get some great ideas for art making, then the next month is spent deep in paint, pencils, and paper churning out vast numbers of large and small works of art. Then I'll get a sewing inspiration and have to spend the next few weeks creating a new wardrobe for myself and all my close friends and family. If you know me (or read any of the four blogs I write), you know I’m not exaggerating! I don't really watch TV, and if I do I'm knitting while watching. I don't go out to eat or drink much, and take very few mall or shopping trips. This affords a lot of time to be busy giving myself carpal tunnel! 

Currently "on my needles" are a two-color patterned vest in fingering weight wool (I have about 1/5 left to do!), a brown silk/wool fingering weight pullover sweater for Justin (just have to finish 1/2 a sleeve and seam it up!), a two-tone slip-stitch patterned blue cotton fingering weight pullover for me (started at my residency, finished the back and set it aside to chill), and a three-color funky patterned sock from "The Joy of Sox" (a present from Dana!) using stash wool/acrylic yarn (almost done with the first sock. This was a spur of the moment project I started because I just needed something different to work on!). I'm also getting ready to start knitting small sets of Christmas presents for my close family. These are currently a bit of a secret but they are multi-colored wool and I will post a whole series about the process after the new year! 

So those are my current knitting projects, next week I'll post about the awesome sewing collaboration project I started with Dana!

Hankies!

These hankies are surprisingly sturdy and can  be washed in the machine!

Here's the back. I'm a pretty novice embroiderer, but I try to keep it neat! I love my rolled hem job though!

I love using hankies. They're especially great when I'm riding my bike and need something that will last through the commute and not disintegrate or fly away when I grab it out of my pocket! I have a few packets of Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns that I've been using to decorate squares of hand-hemmed cream linen. The one pictured above is almost done, it's my second one. The first one had a great bird on it but I accidentally left it somewhere while changing for work, rats! Hopefully someone who found it is enjoying it! I can't wait to make some more. Hankies will also be a feature in a cool new project that Dana and I are hatching. More details on that soon!

Embroidery - meditative or frustrating?

I've been working on the Split Personality bag for the last week or so. I had to plan this thing out carefully because I have a tendency to rush through the preparation and get straight into the cutting on sewing projects, especially smaller things like bags. I was all set to dive into my fabric stash and start cutting out pattern pieces willy nilly. But I want this one to be special and last a while and be able to stand up to my constant fickleness with my bags/purses. So instead I took a deep breath, walked away from the box of fabric, and made a plan.

I planned one side to be gray and plain, with cream piping that is the only embellishment. And the other side has grayish blue and white striped ticking at the bottom with a bright green twill at the top. I have been dabbling with embroidery lately and I wanted something to spruce up the plain fabrics of the bag so I decided to use some of the many "Sublime Stitching" embroidery patterns and stitch a cool design on the "fun" side of the bag.

Now I love needle arts. I like the methodical way the thread goes in and out, and how you can make different stitches and patterns with just a needle and thread. I love how you can construct an entire garment with two blunt needles and one super long piece of yarn. I love how hand stitches have that slight irregularity to them. But I do not like when thread gets tangled, needles poke my cuticles, and yarn balls get twisted and knotted! It makes me want to throw the whole project on the floor and go for a bike ride. (Maybe I should try that). But instead I quietly curse in my head while trying to unknot the yarn or thread or put bandaids on my fingers. It can get to be a little too much though. I love the part of embroidery when I'm actually doing it and it's going along great and the image is appearing beautifully before my eyes. Then I make all these plans to embroider everything and just can't bring myself to start the projects because it's just a little too tedious. Do you ever feel that way?

Anyway, I love the way this bag turned out and can't wait to flip flop it when I get tired of one side or the other. And I'm really glad I un-did those knots and stuck with the embroidery!