Bags, Bags, Bags...

All these months since I started this little business of mine, I've been collecting fabrics. Now of course, I collect all kinds of fabrics...florals, vintage and retro reproductions, dogs, birds, kiddie prints, ethnic prints. But hands down, my favorite fabrics are cat prints. (No surprise, right?) How about a little photo of my stash?
(And no, that's not all of it...just what I can squeeze into this photo! lolol!)

So this couple of months of preparation for the National Capital Cat Show in Chantilly, VA has been a chance to finally make up LOTS of the bags I've just been dreaming about. Fabrics that are out of print (lots of those!), new cat fabrics, those that are realistic, those that are novelty...

I've had a blast. And I've realized that the majority of the fun of this business comes at the end - when the bag is finished and I can see it complete. All the time spent envisioning just what those fabrics and button will look like put together comes together in a crowning moment of "AHA!"

And I LOVE that feeling. I can't EVER completely visualize what the bag will be like. I think it's going to be - fill in the blank - "fun," "stunning," "beautiful," "funky," "cute," "amazing!" But I'm never sure till I have it all together. And it's ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS a surprise!

So this has been a lot of work to prepare for - and I'm not done yet - but it's been one of the most creative and prolific artistic periods of my life! An opportunity for which I'll always be grateful. I really hope I get to see some of you there...
(((hugs)))

Eye Candy Friday!

When I retire, this is exactly the sort of quilting I want to be doing in my free time!
(and I promise, a real post, soon...)

Eye Candy Friday!

My absolute favorite flower. I never get tired of looking at these, or smelling them. No other color of rose does what these do to me. (sigh)

Eye Candy Friday!

Continuing my wishful thinking...this is the PERFECT eye candy for my Friday! Wish I were there...in location and time (yes, that's a winter snapshot of Nantucket!)

Wistful Thinking...or "If I Could Be Anywhere..."

For all of my adult life, I've loved the New England seacoast. The lighthouses seem a romantic spot, set above the crashing waves, lighting the way to sailors trying to come home to their loved ones. This fabric was such a delight to find! I was so pleased to have someone order it, and I could make you one of them...

It's interesting that for years and years, I could not explain why I hated to be at the "southern beaches" - just was not comfortable baking myself under the sweltering sun. It always made me feel rotten. Give me the Maine coast in Fall, or Nantucket in the winter. Walking the beach in an Aran sweater and jeans. When I learned that I had SLE (Lupus) and that it gets worse with exposure to the sun, I finally realized why the beach and I were only happy together under "inclement" weather. Alice Koller, who went to Nantucket in the winter to find herself in An Unknown Woman, Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea), and Alix Shulman (Drinking the Rain) write beautifully and eloquently of how the ocean and a deserted beach can help set things right in a woman's mind.

In honor of that, I made the Beachcomber Mera below:


And just for fun, but not available anywhere (as there is no more fabric and this one is sold) Alexander Henry's great bathtub print, the Rubber Duckie Mera - the perfect small-sized baby tote (for when the Maddy is a bit too large!)
Yes, I've been busy. And I suppose, if you add in the work you've seen on Knitnana this week, you can see why I'm wishing for a break on an autumnal, windswept, deserted beach! Hmmm....maybe with this on the needles?

I think the shawl will have to be made in just this same yarn, as it's perfect with the Beachcomber bag above, don't you think?