Art On The Go

I have to admit that we did not have a wonderful time this evening. There was shouting; feet were stamped. A basin of water was dumped down the heating vent in a certain someone's room, and there was subsequent precipitation in the dining room. I think that we are going stir crazy and just plain getting sick of one another. A frolic through the sprinkler would do us a world of good. They're predicting rain for tomorrow -- perhaps I will suck it up and get out the rain gear and take us puddle jumping.

I did have time to work on some genuinely fun projects today. First was the tote bag that I mentioned earlier. I had always wanted to make a bag before but had shied away from other patterns because they involved scary things like pockets and interfacing. This one has handles that are sewn down exactly as you see them and a lining that's just a bag-inside-the-bag. (My lining is a red-and-white polka dot, which looks adorable with the ladybug novelty print. I wish you could see it.)The bag is meant to be K's "Art-On-The-Go Bag," as described in Amanda Soule's book The Creative Family. To go with the bag, I ordered some Lyra colored pencils (but don't buy them here; go comparison shopping, which I did not and now I'm kicking myself) and made the felt pencil roll that Amanda describes in her book. I also made a matching patchwork Moleskine notebook for K to use as a sketchpad/journal. With these I plan to include a homemade coloring book and a pencil sharpener, and whatever else I can think of that might be inspiring. Ideas, anyone?


The pattern for the bag came from The Impatient Patchworker by Jayne Emerson.