Fire and Ice

I find that I sew best when there is a movie on. Being a huge movie buff, I'm addicted to the two hour glimpses into other worlds and other lives. I prefer to sit in front of the TV in the evening and cut out the pieces. Then when I start construction, I like to be at home with a TV in the front of the house and a TV in the back of the house synchronized to the same movie channel while I move about from cutting table to sewing machine to ironing board. I did not realize until this bag that certain projects bring to mind the movie that I was watching at the time.

I was cutting out this bag last night while watching The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice. I think this wonderful Indonesian Batik from Batiks by Design could go along with that fire and ice theme. It has deep red for fire as well as navy blue which could be thought of as an frigidly cold dark color. Also, there are parts of the design than could be similar to fire "licks". The movie that was on while I sewed was The Flight of the Phoenix, the original best version. Elements of the motifs made me think of the ancient Phoenix as it rises from the ashes (fire again). So there you have it.

The pattern is nothing special.....something from a commercial pattern manufacturer, but a shape that I wanted to try, none the less.

Indonesian Batik Sack

I finally reached a decision on what to do with the treasured yard of green Indonesian Batik purchased from Batiks By Design at the Paducah AQS show. After much deliberation and study, I chose a bag pattern borrowed from my mother. It was a "fat quarter friendly" pattern purchased, but never used, from several years ago. I forget the name of the company at the moment. My greatest concern was to use a bag style that would show off the whole border print to it's best advantage. Even though this pattern was written for fat quarters, I was able to adapt it to regular yardage and had enough left over to use the batik as the lining as well.

The bag pattern was very easy and was a simple shape. I created my own pocket on the back side (not showing) and didn't use the velcro closure on the tab as instructed. Because after all, its against my principles to duplicate someone else's items. The whole fun of crafting and sewing is to add your own personal style to each item. I'm all about one-of-a-kind and unique items.

Batiks By Design recently opened a retail store in my town. I'm pretty excited about it. I had to purchase a couple more batiks at the grand opening along with this fat quarter in red. I picked up the idea for this key chain off a blog that I read about sewing, CraftGossip.com. One post was about creating keychains with fabric and elastic and if it is one thing I like better than bags, its keychains.

So, be on the look out for more posts as the holidays are coming up and I have been busy churning out home-made gifts and as always, the post-holiday season includes time off. Plans are already turning in my creative mind and supplies are being stockpiled. I made a huge discovery at Rural King. I'm leaning toward bags for that. Wait til you see!

And I have also been inspired by portrait quilts seen on Quilting Arts in the past couple of months. Hmmm, now to figure out whose face/picture to start with.