The second bag is almost finished

It has taken a few weeks but this second Bag of the Month is just about done. During the process I had several technical problems. First, I cut the yellow lining fabric too small, so I could not use it. Next I cut pretty purple cotton lining and made a yellow pocket. While sewing the pocket to the lining, my bobbin case became jammed. I was finally able to dislodge it, which motivated me to clean and oil my sewing machine and schedule it to be serviced with a long overdue tune-up. After sewing the pocket on the purple lining, I realized that this lining was too short for the bag. What to do? I decided to go to my Mexican placemat collection and use two placemats for the lining. That made sense since the outer fabric is made from two woven placemats that I stabilized and quilted to batting. I also decided to use blue cotton webbing for the straps since I didn't have any extra placemat fabric to use for straps.

The new lining is stronger and more colorful than the two previous choices so I think it worked out for the best. I am going to tack down the bottom of the lining to the outer fabric, and I may add a big bright yellow butto and loop to close the bag. I am not sure about that yet.

The next step is to fill the bag with goodies. Since this bag is made from Mexican placemants, i want to fill it with products from Mexico: a CD of Mexican music, a card made from a photo I took in Mexico, some favorite Mexican recipes, and a few food proucts such as chile powder, salsa, and maybe even a bag of tortilla chips.

When my kids come home next week I'll have them check out this bag and see if they think its of good enough quality to donate to a silent auction. And now, a little about my friend Kathryn.

I made this bag in honor of my friend of 26 years, to donate to a fundraiser at her school. Kathryn and I met shortly after we were both married. We later belonged to the same book group. But we became real friends when we were both pregnant with twins, 26 years ago. We went through our pregnancies together and raised our twins together (who were born 2 weeks apart). In the early years of mohterhood we offered support, comfort, and humor as we dealt with difficult and demanding babies who never slept. We enjoyed seeing our kids play together at preschool and at each others homes and birthday parties. For years we had an annual event to celebrate the birthdays of our two sets of twins.

In those early years Kathryn and I began to run together, a few mornings a week. During those runs around Lake Calhoun we shared our life stories as well as the current issues and challenges in our lives. We ran all yar round, even on cold icy days in the middle of winter. Later we switched to walking, and now walk around Lake Harriet once a week. During those walks we ocntinue to share storeis of our lives: our work, our travel, the books we read, our aging parents, and of course our twins. Kathryn is a wonderful friend to me. She is so warm, caring, energetic and upbeat. Despite some devastating tragedies in her life, she continues to be positive and to give of herself to so many people and causes. I admire her tremendoulsy and feel very fortunate to have her as a close friend.

Over the past few years we have managed several times to overlap vacations to Puerto Vallarta, Mexcio. We have enjoyed swimming in the ocean, sitting and talking at the beach while our husbands play tennis, drinking Mexican beer or Margartas as we watch the sun set over Bandaras Bay, feasting at fabulous restaurants, and watching the fireworks on New Year's Eve. I hope we can meet in Puerto Vallarta again next year to share some more sunny times while we escape part of a Minnesota winter. We will be warmed not onlly by the tropical weather but by our enduring friendship.

I start the second bag

This is a woven placemat I bought in Mexico. I liked the colors and the patchwork design. I also saw this fabric in a table cloth in the open air market at the Rio Cuale, and almost bought it, but decided not to becuase I already had four placemats. I decided to use two of them as the material for the next bag I will make. As I mentioned before, this bag is to give to a fund raiser for an early childhood program and is in honor of my friend Kathryn. The idea of using a Mexican theme appealed to me because Kathryn and her family have spent several vacations in Mexico , and some of them have coincided with trips I have had there with my family. I am going to fill the bag with Mexican recipes. food products, music, and a photograph I took at sunset over the beach. I hope someone will like it enough to bid on it at the silent auction. I will try to make it very carefully so that it will look as good as possibie. I have chosen a bright, yellow woven cotton fabric to use as the lining, and a similar green fabric to use for the handles. Here is the yellow lining.

What I have done so far is to first iron the placemat and fuse it to fusible web fabric to make it more stable, and since the web was two sided, I aslo ironed it to a piece of quilt batting. You can see the edges of the batting showing on the photo above. Next, I quilted it with a light blue thread, using a big loopy meanering pattern. I will repeat this with another place mat, and then trim them and sew them together. I will sew a lining from this yellow fabric, and add a pocket on each side. I will make the two straps of green fabric, batting, and yellow fabric on the other side. Then I will assemble the bag. I am running out of time today so I hope to finish it on Thurdsday. Then I can write about Kathryn and what I will put in the bag.

Two more gifts added to the frist bag

After I thought I was done with the first bag and filled it with gifts for Paula, I thought of two more things I wanted to add. I decided to add a photograph and something to do wtih music. So I ordered a copy of a nice photo of Paula and Harlan, framed by a gorgeious sunset in Mexico, and I will put that in a small, blue cermamic picture frame from Mexico. I also burend a CD (my first!) with some of my favorite Irish songs because Paula and Harlan are going to Ireland for their honeymoon, and becuase I LOVE Irish music. That CD is now in the bag as well.
So now I can move on to my next bag.
While I was walking around Lake Harreit with my dear friend Karhtyrn on Saturday I told her about this project. She told me that the Early Childhood Program she directs is having a silent auction fundraiser in April. That seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to make a bag and donate it to a non profit group for fundraising purposes. I am going to dedicate the bag to Kathryn, use Mexcian materials in making it (becuase we have enjoyed spending time together in PuertoVallarta with our familes) and will fill it with Mexcian themed gifts. More on that to come.
I am also going to make a bag for my cousin Cheri who is traveling to Paris with me in May. WE have already been discussing this bag and I plan to use red and gold fabrics from my Provence collection. Today my daughter Rebecca asked me to make a bag for her and write about it on the blog. When she is home in March we will pick out fabrics together and discuss size and style. So I have one bag done, and three in the works. I think I will make the bag for Kathryn second, then Cheri, then Rebecca. And I am sure new ideas and prospects for giving away bags will continue to present themselves!