Tha bouquet is combination of Mexican Sage and Cotoneaster. Both grow really well in SF Bay Area yards
Our community chorus is singing songs that have a star theme for our December concerts. Isn’t that a pretty idea our director had? I thought so. I was so pleased when I found this star print fabric in my garage rafter stash (see Garage Rafter Stash Busting Story below).

I did simple one way diagonal quilting  in pretty yellow rayon thread that shows up the stars nicely.

PATTERN is my own but pretty similar to a narrower Jordy bag (a t-shape flat bottom).  

INTERFACING I really like to use or give a grocery bag that can STAND UP EMPTY. This one does nicely. I use TWO interfacings.
1)   A thick quilt batting that fuses on BOTH sides
2)   A piece of the stiff stuff that the Joannes sales staff calls CRINOLINE. It is NOT sold with interfacing at my Joannes. I have to ask for it.

I fuse one side of the batting to the outside (part that shows) of the bag and the other side to the crinoline. Then I sew my big T together in one piece, leaving the top and bottom open. I then turn my one big piece right sides out.  Then I do my simple quilting. After that I sew seams and the bottom gusset.

After that I do any trim at the top. Here I added a piece of the bag inside material, along the top and folded it down inside the bag. It’s a simple blue pin dot that was in my rafter stash too and doesn’t show much.
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Then I INTERFACE my strap or straps with a length of the CRINOLINE and sew them onto a keychain ring from the hardware store. I attach that with either another piece of fabric or with grosgrain ribbon or whatever looks cute and I have. Usually I insert that last piece into the top of the bag but I couldn’t do that here because I’d done a foldover top (which I had to do because I interfaced too far out – we’ll call that a feature not a bug).

Usually I do two straps but it turned out I didn’t have 4 rings the same size so my chorus director only gets one strap on her bag.

I will put in a loaf of home made bread, add a note about it’s connection to our concert. Also something that says it’s intended for groceries but I won’t mind at all if she passes it on as a eco-friendly present giving bag. Some people are not take-your-own-bags to the store people and I just want it to be used.
….

Garage Rafter Stash Busting Story

I was working through some boxes in the garage rafters – you know those boxes don’t you? Yes, we put them there when we moved into our new house. That was 18 years ago now. I finally committed (of my own accord not because my husband bugged me to which is a lot better) to going through those boxes. I do 2 a week. How hard is that? It’s embarrassing to have goodies that could be rottingm when the economy is blue.) I stood over the donation bin (thank you Moses that the donation pickup truck comes by every month or so) and put about half the box contents in there. I hope some crafster/sewer/teacher/costume creator is happy to find those nice big pieces of material.

The rest I committed to turning into grocery bags for holiday presents. And they have to be pretty bags, worthy of being presents.

Whatever is left, unused but still useful for somebody, after the winter holidays goes into the donation bin.

MegRose

I like ALL pink. I think any other colors added into a small room, especially with the black furniture, will be too much. I say go PINK and BLACK. I would have pink on the walls, black furniture and for bed coverings, pillows etc. I would have black with stripes or large dots (maybe you could use your cream on that or have pink stripes or dots on a black background or vice versa). That would look more dramatic.

My late-teenaged daughters bedroom was very, very bright pink for the last few years and not in a childish way. She asked us to repaint it cream over her first college summer just because she associated the room color with memories of her high school boyfriend, so needed a change for emotional reasons. Hers is a pretty small room, all our rooms are, and it looked very nice. It didn't feel smaller or bigger really. The cream is OK but a lot less interesting. It's what she needs now though and people should do their rooms to make themselves feel good.

Have fun with your new house! Pleases email me when you have your final pics of the room.

MegRose

I have two very old (over 100 year) items that I want to be able, every once and a while, to take out and read from. One is actually an old guitar manual so it's somewhat thicker than a regular magazine. The other is a Ladies Home Journal from 1893. It has some substance to it and is fairly long and wide - more so than a modern mag.

Most of the time I want to keep them from falling apart any more than they have.

I'd like to be able to put them up on a wall, like a picture, so that I can enjoy seeing them, and also so that I know where they are and can get them out and use them.

I think they are too thick for a regular photo frame. I need something like a glass or clear plastic box to put them in, but something that supports their back so that they don't fall apart worse than they have.

OR

I guess I could put them so they are laying flat on a counter in some kind of glass/plastic box to keep them in good shape and have less gravity pulling on them.

Is there some standard kind of (not horribly expensive) container that you get from a standard kind of place? Or do I have to construct something in a special sort of way? If so how do I construct it.

When I see things like this in a library display they are in a glass case like a deep table. I don't have room for another piece of furniture like that (plus I bet it would be a fair chunk of change). I do have a counter in our incredibly over-stuffed family room/craft room/office that could probably take a flat display but it would have to be water proof. The rest of the house has even less table and counter space. In magazines and on tv people always have spare storage and wall space. We don't.

Thank you for your ideas

MegRose

Hard to decide what's more appealing the little cats on the handles, the quilt-y feel of it or the contrast between the purple and the yellow-based cat patches. I love it.

MegRose

like your design very much!

Talk about giving joy.Those purses will get more love than any others you'll ever make for another person.

Good job Auntie-by-Love

MegRose

I also attach my straps to  hardware in my buttercup bags. I use key chain rings from the hardware store because it's within walking distance and they are very inexpensive.

Also I often use grosgrain ribbon to attach the ring to the bag and then run the strap through it.

I also do this on other purses and grocery bags. It looks more finished to me.

MegRose

How did I miss this darling bag before? I love making, using and looking at buttercup bags. LOvely retro look

I use crinoline interfacing (thats what the Joannes lady called it when I showed her my old sample) and it makes these little purses, and other bags, nice and crispy. In some bags I also use regular interfacing and/or batting.

MegRose

I forgot to say how gosh durned cute these are too!  I love it that you made your laptop a wardrobe. A gal could make laptop bags like this to match her blouse, top or skirt, couldn't she? The candy cane one would be cute with jeans and a red jacket. The flowery one goes with...

 I make purses to match my tops and I think I will be inspired by you on this to do that next time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

MegRose

Yeah! I love that it doesn't have velcro. What is it about Velcro? How does anybody sew it without the needle getting all goey and stuck. There must be something obvious I don't get!

I like the way you made this like a big pocket. How inspiring. THank you!

MegRose