Quilting Arts Challenge

I was fortunate enough to be one of 30 people sent challenge materials by Quilting Arts Magazine. Our assignment: do whatever your heart desires.

The items were both paper and fabric, plus trim and ribbon--all dyed to match.

I received a luscious sunset palette, though I know blues were sent to others (perhaps other colors too, I'm not sure). I do know that what I received couldn't have been more 'perfect-for-me' shades. Really, these were stunning.

What came to my mind was the type of bag you see in Japanese craft magazines, with a fabric drawstring and a basket for the base. My plan was just to make this one item. My plan was to utilize all my materials in one shebang.

I used the mat board to make a box, and added eilets so I could attach the bag part. I glued the coffee filter and the cheesecloth inside the box as a filler--like a lace really.


I don't have a digital camera, so I had to just scan these, and a bit is lost in translation, but hopefully you can get some sense of it. I love Flickr, but they suck with horizontal (well, maybe it's a blogger issue, I don't know) so click on the pic if you want to see it bigger.



Okay, then onto the bag portion. I knew I wanted to use the beautiful silk, but the piece was rather small. I ended up sewing strips of the silk and the cotton together. I did not do a circle template, but a shape that echoed the size of trim I had for each side. I could have stopped and the simplicity was fine. This was, however, a challenge afterall...so I embellished the fabric all over with snippets of the materials sent, metallic threads in pink, lavender, and bronze, and two types of additional ribbon.

I had a strip of the silk left over to trim the edge plus act as a casing, and I added the ribbon inside at the same time. I opted to glue the trim on from the inside. I rarely if ever use glue, but I wanted the silk to not be marred with stitching.


What I didn't plan on was the glue staining the silk.
So I took bronze thread and hand-stitched over the glue spots--an addition that I actually love. Go figure, sometimes mistakes bring forth your best effort.
(bag a bit mushed on the scanner here. It's really a cute round shape)



What I forgot was the ribbon inside the casing. Oops. It was stitched through in too many places to pull closed now. Hmmmm.
Enter a thin bodkin and a fuchsia cording. Voila!


I think I will still add a handle.

Bottom line though, the two together didn't work.
It was over the top. Too much.

Separately--I'm pleased with each of them. The irony is that my favorite material was the wallpaper, and I used it the least.