Lorraine's Tote Bag

I am finishing the last of the Round Robin Tote Bags, this one belongs to Lorraine. She likes a modern style, and I have used a black background. The first two sections done by others in our textile art group, have circles, curves and are made in browns, beige, & rust on black. I drew a sketch to get started, but the applique is different. I kept the large curve and my fabric choices dictated the size of the circles. I made the curve into a pocket, so I added batting and a backing, and quilted it separately.

The first 3 sections are together, I think my addition works with the whole.

The last side section was all that was left. Since I am doing a section for Clare, who is weaving us handles, I did this section too. I found some brown, rust, black prints at the shop in Snohomish, Washington. I wanted the section to look as if a different person did it, but still combine well with the previous sections. I fussy cut the border off the circles print, and fussy cut 3 large circles from the 2nd print. A pale cream batik worked for a light background.

The other sections are "simple" I kept wanting to fill in the empty spaces, but the modern look is more sparse. So I decided to add some beads to embellish the last side. A quick trip to Ben Franklin scored some rust/red glass circles. I will also add a few seed beads to the large fabric circles. I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday." click here to see what other textile artists are doing this week.