Wednesday on the Worktable: Karen's Under-the-Sea Satchel

My friend Karen, of Duncan Creative, asked me to make her a new satchel. She fell in love with Michael Miller's Sea Beauties fabric, but wanted that for the interior to avoid having the bag look like a diaper bag. I decided to create the bag in dark brown to 1. match the hair of a couple of the mermaids and 2. hide dirt!

I had a ball creating this custom satchel. I love the mermaid-covered fabric Karen chose. I decided to compliment it with variegated sea blue thread for the quilting. I love how it pops off the dark brown. The addition of the patch I showed you on Monday gives her a little preview of the interior and then when she opens the bag she gets a nice under-the-sea surprise!

And don't think this bag is just a pretty face. With five pockets on the inside, a large pocket on the bag, and an attached key fob, this little beauty is a workhorse too! I have a good feeling that it's just what Karen is looking for!

Monday's Marvel: Fussy Cut Applique Patches

This weekend I had fun working on a custom bag for a client and friend. I'll show you the rest of the project in my Wednesday on the Worktable post, but today I wanted to share something a little new and a little different that I made for this project: fussy cut applique patches. Now, I've done fussy cutting before - cutting out a particular motif on fabric, rather than cutting yardage as normal. And I've done applique and made patches. I've just never combined all three in this way.

Mermaid applique patches - fun fun!

The little mermaids on Michael Miller's Sea Beauties fabric were just perfect for this project. The little patches will be the perfect addition to this bag - adding just the right amount of fun and funky! If you know how to cut and applique, you can make fun patches for your projects, too. I can see these being great added to the front of a journal, bag, purse, or apparel item. They'd be incredibly cool on quilted works of art too!

Michael Miller's Sea Beauties fabric
is perfect for this kind of project!

Hmmm, I'm giving myself ideas! I created a dolphin landscape mini quilt last year. Maybe it's time to add a few sea beauties to those waves!

I think it's time to create a second sea landscape quilt with a
couple sea beauties surfing the waves!