I am just back from my trip to the States – Washington, New York & Boston – and am still recovering from jetlag, so I hope the text makes sense :)
Just a few weeks before flying out, I met Preeti online through the weekly link ups and somehow reading through her blog found out, that she lives near Washington. So we decided to meet – which was really great and fun – and I wanted to bring her a little gift. As I interpreted the customs regulations, I am not allowed to bring in any kind of food… so a special Hamburg treat etc. was out of question. But isn’t a handmade gift better anyway?
So I started with three sew together bags – this one, another gift and one for me. Why not just one for a start, you ask? Well, I thought it would make more sense to do the steps for all planned bags in one swoop. Of course I overestimated my time at hand and surely it was last minute again… So you can guess that just a bit into the process, I decided to “just” work on the most important one.
So I turned some colorful strips from my favorite designer Alison Glass into the outside and quilted it with straight lines. Preeti’s emails always so joyful and full of life that I thought this fresh, happy mix would suit her well.
The black and white print (and the lime green one further down) is a self-made design, I had printed by spoonflower. It states German proverbs that are directly translated into English. The words mostly construct perfect sentences but do not make much sense this way.
I designed it for my friend Allison, an American living in Germany 10 years and counting, who finds those often very amusing. So as this is typically German in a way, I thought it should go into Preeti’s gift, too.
And of course there had to be colorful surprise pockets :)
Here is the bag in all it’s glory. I just love how you can pack so much stuff into them and it still stays organized because of the compartments.
Do you have a favorite sewing gift? Or a special something you like to gift when you travel?
Best wishes
xo Melanie
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New Projects (2)
Refound UFOs (0)
Projects In Progress (~12)
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the bag is great!someday, I may talk myself into making one. I love that you designed the text print for Allison :-)
Fantastic! I love the colors you chose, and that lining is a perfect “inside joke”. I’m eager to hear more about your trip and see some pictures.
Yes, there is nothing like a handmade gift. Love the colors!
I’ve got the pattern but haven’t made it yet! Very pretty bag!
Great pouch! I have that one of my to do list but all of the zippers scare me :)
You do beautiful work and take excellent pictures. I am so happy to be the owner of the gorgeous sew together bag. I got all my cups in the cupboard and all my stuff well organized. :-D
What can I say except that my life is sugar licking (sweet). Hope we meet again soon.
Hugs,
Preeti.
Online quilting connections are the best! I’m sure you and Preeti had a great time talking “shop”. It’s a good thing that you didn’t put any chocolate in it since her bag was literally “hot off the press”… it might have melted it ; )
I love the text print and am waiting for the right project to put it in… with green how could you go wrong?!?
C really loves to take sugar beet syrup with him… but it’s never been the biggest hit. Hmmm.
Toll Farbkombi und der Textstoff ist der Brüller (or, as we would translate into English – the text farbic is the roarer ;-)). Macht echt Bock drauf noch eine Sew Together Bag zu machen.
What a beautiful bag, now I think I need to make a rainbow one.
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