Another successful, productive week has drifted/jetted away. We are on the eve of the last long weekend of the summer, and so the next bag will be posted on Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

Meanwhile, I am waiting for a response for "Courtesy" which went to "rastagal99" three bags ago. If you return here; please send me an e-mail to work out shipping details and let me know your whereabouts.

Flin Flon Goes Aristocratic

In today's post; you will find approximately fifty million photos and possible spittle from my enthusiasm about the subject. This bag was finished some time ago, and sadly, I haven't had the heart to put it up for "adoption" because I love looking at it. but that's just silly, so here goes.

At the risk of boring you, I must give the credit for that unbelievable series of leaf prints to "aristocratic fabric guy" once again. They were the sort of fabric samples that made me slam the bag shut and turn away for fear of completely losing it with excitement, peeing my pants, drooling on my mumu, babbling into my wheaties, and then henceforth being commmitted to a lifetime of lunacy. Then when the leaves went perfectly with the Mayor of Flin Flon's 1960's necktie......... straightjackets and crafts out of plastic canvas on a locked ward seemed inevitable for me. The stimulation was just that much.The leaves are again, a series of colour options available in a particular sample of upholstery. They are sewn together to create the bag's bottom and edges, then pieced into a band for the edge of the flap.

The strap is Ed's necktie. His people shipped some amazing things down from Flin Flon, and I've had ever so much fun going through the donations and letting the mind wander. My husband wanted to keep the tie, but I had to wrestle it off his neck so that the bag wouldn't land up being lop-sided.

There on the inside, is lettuce and I all cozied up again. Me, aristocratic fella, Ed, and lettuce. Nice.

As usual, this corner store is open until 6 pm, cst. Leave your name, your number, and/or a brief (or not so brief) message.

Cider

The apples have mostly fallen off our young apple trees. They were so very beautiful this summer, and although a human can take no credit for a tree that grows apples; there is something very fulfilling about seeing fruit grow on a stick that you shoved in the ground some four years earlier. The little kids have been enjoying the permission to reach up and pick an apple to snack on, and my littlest one can't go outside without saying "babbo, babbo".

See there on the inside? That's me and lettuce hanging out, side by side. My shirt and her fabric donation. silly girl- she put that in the mail from London, England. I discovered Lettuce the summer that my brother was dying of cancer. Her mother was dying of cancer as well, and at times, she put things into words that I could not find and the tears could flow. I had a difficult time coping that summer, but I'll always remember that one piece of poetry that I found at my computer; thanks to lettuce.
Haven't said much about the bag now, have I? Well, maybe I have. These are again, mostly "aristocratic" fabrics. By that I mean that they come from the worldwide fabric distributer guy. And that means the quality is quite high, and the fabrics are quite lovely. I did top the flap with a piece of my personal favourite- dyed chenille.

And I realise that I've become lazy here with information. Bids go until 6 pm (blogger time) central standard time. I tend to forget that we don't all know one another, and that everybody just somehow knows where I am.

Happy apples, everyone!

Courtesy

A sister to yesterday's bag.
I'm not sure why I yanked "Courtesy" out of the 1961 Children's Illustrated Dictionary; but it resonated. I think partially because I love the definition, especially "respect for other people's feelings". Something that is super easy to think of when your own emotions are in question, but not so much when you need to put yourself in the shoes of another.


This bag doesn't need much explanation.
So, same routine. Leave me a comment. If you like the bag, add a name and number.

the Burro

Now you can set off for the hills without a donkey! Available now: A sturdy messenger bag to replace the cumbersome, thirsty, stinky old burro.

Drop your load here.

Subtle colours, mixed with tame but pleasant shades of brown and grey. All the regular treats you've come to expect- two cell phone/key/gum pockets. Two inside pockets. All made of sturdy upholstery samples, thanks to a kind heart named Linda. Except the strap. That's Loretta's skirt you've got on your shoulder now...

Names and numbers until 6 pm.

Darfur

Drawings by children in refugee camp, using crayons supplied by Unicef.



Thank you all for being a part of raising $7,759.00 for the people of Darfur, Sudan.

Darfur

Refugee Camp Greida. Population 137,000.
There are 200 refugee camps in Darfur.

http://www.dhsthepromise.com/miadarfur.htm

Destiny

Was it some sort of destiny that brought a newspaper journalist, an arty seamstress, and a fabric wholesaler together? When I work with these sumptuous fabric samples I find it miraculous on some level that a man and woman I've never met could somehow land up helping feed moms and babies far away in a reality that we can not fathom. Not literally, of course. But we are all hands and feet and voices of God, and their part of going to the effort of hoarding, and then donating these pieces has certainly made my part decadently more delightful.

S

Sometimes when I am working on a bag, I find myself rummaging through my many dishes full of buttons and picking out ones that I have saved and oggled and loved for quite some time. What time would I be waiting for now? This is the time to send them back out into the world with a true purpose.

Words are cheap. But I have the fabric labels to prove that these fabrics are not.

Leave your name and number, and/or comments. This bag is available for sale until 6 pm. After that, the money is raises will go to the World Food Programme, and specifically for the camps in Darfur, Sudan.

The Companion

I love this piece of blue circles on a brown background. It is thanks to a co-worker of Brian's who knew someone who worked at a furniture store and passed along a whack-load of upholstery samples for me to drool on, "Scotch-guard", wipe dry, and whip up into a bag for your viewing and buying pleasure. That piece is The Piece. I mean that unless someone happens along with another of the very same upholstery sample; I won't be able to make a bag like that again, ever. Especially since it got paired up with some aristocratic chocolate brown silk stuff from the other upholstery/fabric guy. As much as I love to create bags; sometimes it feels a bit final to slice and dice and say farewell in short order.

(Somebody needs a huuuu-ug....)

There's a little piece of "joyce" in this bag. Those are JWB's words, actually. Thousand dollar words, I like to think. Any Hoo.... That blue pocket comes from a really favourite shirt of mine that I bought a very long time ago at The Forks in Winnipeg.

You can keep the sleeves- put your stuff up my sleeves, in fact.

Those circles make me think about people too. Separate circles, intersecting.

As you move about your day today, don't forget that. Your circle affects the circles around you. Even the people at superstore who are budging their way ahead of you at the half price rack. Circle them slowly..... No..... That's not it. Make eye contact; it has the neatest effect on people. They won't know what to think, but it just may cause happy thoughts. Give it a circley whirl.

Happy Wednesday. Bids are on until 6:00 pm.