Finishing Stuff

Today I actually finished a couple of purses that I had started ages ago. One was knitted then felted using a yarn that had many elements to it - little variagted yellow boucle yarn, wool roving in reds and greens, black thread as a binder and some glittery stuff. I used a pattern I found on the web that I can't for the life of me remember where I found it. After felting, the fabric created was very uneven which meant I needed to line it with something sturdy. I used some black ultra-suede that I had on hand and added a snap just below the opening for your hand. It came out to about 9 !/2 inches wide by 7 1/2 inches tall and does not have a gussett. The picture shows all I have left of the two balls of yarn I purchased at the Hen House here in Houston. I may make a couple of crocheted and felted ornaments to attach to it just to use up the yarn and add a little more pizzazz to this purse.



This is the second purse I finished up today. It used up a bunch of scraps that had been fused and over-stitched into a 17" square. The construction was based on a pattern in Nancy Shriber's self-published book - Sashiko Handbags 14 on 14. This pattern was based on the origami folds for a Home File Folder Carrier. I lined it with some very bright hand died fabric from Judy Robertson's Just Imagination and used a recycled magnetic snap for a closure. The purple log embellishment was supposed to be just a fabric bead to cover the back of the snap but it got a little out of control as I fell in love with Fabric Tac again. Its about 8 inches wide, 5 inches tall and 2 inches deep at the bottom.

I don't know what I am going to do with these. Although I love them both I just don't see myself using them. I may post them to a craft trading site and see if anyone has something they would like to trade for them. On the other hand, if I can find someone who would like to have them and use them I am more than willing to entertain offers. Chocolate for purses... sounds like a great concept to me! My final option is set them out somewhere (away from Alex!) and admire them and stroke them and, generally, feel good about myself.