On the first night of owning my new table I did manage 
to make a little handbag that I now carry.. it was my first try at “quilting” fabric. I enjoy my new bag but it’s a black and green bag and I don’t wear a lot of black so now I am on the hunt for brown decorator weight canvas. I have a great collection of new fabrics to play with and a lot of time for Christmas gifts.. I really would like to work on making very professional looking items rather than “handmade”. I want it so that when someone compliments the bag they ask where you got it from rather than think it’s a homemade pattern. So to achieve that I have started looking at how manufactured bags are finished and how they can be improved. At the embroidery shop where I work I see a lot of bags– ranging from extremely inexpensive and of poor craftsmanship all the way to moderately expensive and well crafted. (Not to mention that ones that are quite expensive and cheaply made) To clarify what I mean by handmade: I don’t think of handmade as a bad thing. In the above paragraph it is used, perhaps, as a bad thing depending on how you read it. Handmade is always better than manufactured when it comes to certain things (kind of like gardening– you appreciate the food more when you work to make it grow). A well crafted item is truly appreciated and is different from just any item made by hand. Quality is a sign of professionalism and that’s what I really strive for when I make something now. While I do like some of the projects I have done in the past I feel as though those projects were stepping stones (learning something new with each).
Where Luke and I live there are a lot of little shops in
the downtown area that feature quite a bit of handmade “stuff”. I seem to find that most of it is of high quality and I find that refreshing and worth wanting to become. I’m interested in how something as simple as a handbag can become a concept. I’m really interested in the handmade as a symbol of learning and development. While it’s nice to make things that are indeed beautiful or pretty I think it’s very important that they speak something. Speaking to mean that there are decisions in design- design in color, texture, purpose, economy, and so much more.
Well, last week I did make it a goal of mine to finish hooking on a rug that I started a LONG ago. I’m sad to say it’s not done.. but it’s ALMOST there. I only have a tiny part left and I still need to sew the edges in and bind it but here it is anyway.