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It has been a long time since I have posted here. This was not my intention but that's the way things have happened. I love being able to sit down and type and write and share but man, sometimes life gets in the way. Thinking back, I have no idea what I've been up to since December, really and it is strange to know that so much can happen in one's life in the span of several months and really there is not much you can remember.
Here's what I do remember:
1) We're leaving for two months in just 22 days! England, Switzerland, Germany, Ghana and Ontario are all on our hit list - it is coming fast and I'm really starting to look forward to it.
2) I left my job in August to try some new things. Fundraising for our trip to Ghana kind of got in the way of pursuing anything right away, but leaving that job was a big change which has given me lots of insights into future ideas for paid work and the kind of lifestyle I would like to enjoy. Exploring the blogging world of women who capture and craft and express and thrift and sew and knit has given me a lot of inspiration in my journey and I am very excited to see where I will choose to lead myself - so many ideas!
And here's what I've been up to most recently:
First, I must pass credit along to the creator of this bag for inspiration.
My apologies go out to this woman because I have lost all reference to her name or blog and can't find a link anywhere in my files. So, if you know who created this bag, I would love to post a link here as thanks for the inspiration for this:
My gift bag for my niece Alyssa's third birthday. This summer we gave a very cute bag to our niece Anabel, on my boyfriend's side of the family, for her third birthday and she loved it! It was a very cute and was purchased at the Vernon Farmer's Market. It was larger, almost shopping sized, plain canvas bag with a panel of jungle fabric on the outside, a zippered pocket and rainbow webbing straps. The straps made the bag nearly as long as her though but she loved to carry it around and asked for it often and was always looking to carry the little sticker books we got her in the bag for enjoyment on every car ride.
So, when Alyssa's third birthday was approaching I new a bag was in order. I also knew I had a bit more time to make something so I stumbled around the blogosphere looking for inspiration and I found it. The materials are almost entirely thrifted (the thread to machine sew things may not have been, but likely was) from the Tommy Hilfiger jeans that were donated to our fundraising garage sale (it felt good to cut up that guy's stuff!) to the turquoise corduroy from Value Village to the floral fabric lining the handles (some ripped and dirty pajama bottoms that caught my eye in a free box on the sidewalk) to the cotton thread used to secure the fabric lined handles with a modified blanket stitch. The little flower was something my mom had in her patch drawer in her sewing cabinet for years which we agreed was the perfect addition.
I was rushing a bit at the last minute to finish so my brother could take it back with him to Ontario on Thursday so I didn't have time to line it as I would have liked but I think it still looks okay. Here you can see the interior and one of the first times I have used my labels for anything other than my baby blankets - it was fun to sew this one in to this bag.
Here is a shot of the whole gift:
1. handmade gift bag2. side-of-the-road-free-pile tins (filled with thrifted plastic animals and glow in the dark stars)
3. 2nd hand books
4. locally made Sunset Bay Honey Farm lip chap (or 'lip chomp' as the girls like to call it ; )
from the Moss Street Market
5. felted wallet
6. natural juice bears
7. a little note book from a Victoria based artist I can't recall the name of,
purchased from Sorensen Books, a great book store on Cook St.
And a shot of the little wallet I felted from Cat Bordhi's book:
