A Beaded Shoulder Bag

I am not very good at just sitting still. I admire the fact that some people can do so and be very happy. I, on the other hand, am always a busy beaver.

I recently purchased a nice shoulder bag from IKEA to use as a carrying case for my little netbook, but the design was not at all me. SOMETHING had to be done! So after a short search I found the perfect fabric at a quilting store.Red is really not my color, and the red of the bag is very particular, like a little kid on a hot afternoon who has had too much sugar and not enough "real" food to have a reasonable response to anything.

But this fabric jumped right up, waved its hand frantically and said that she was the perfect candidate, and indeed, she was. I took her home, quiltered her a bit with bright green thread and then broke out the box of bead (well, a whole case of beads, actually).

Each week while Ellie danced, I carefully picked my way through my beads, carefully pouring the desired colors into tiny silicone bows. I used a tiny, short quilting needle to do the work. Ande even though I could see the finished project in my head, it was still like magic slowly appearing on my fabric.

It was interesting to see how much interest the red, the quilting and especially the beads commanded. People were often drawn in, hesitent to touch for fear that it was not the right thing to do, and very animated when I invited them to amble their fingers over the small, round seed beads, to follow the shaft of a bugle bead and to compare what each beaded design felt like. It was fun for me, too. Most people remark that they do not have the kind of patience it takes to do such a project. I suspect they just don't know the kind of joy it brings, either. Even the neighbor's cat, Gorham, was drawn in by the glimmer of the beads in the fading afternoon sun. She apologised for being being late to the photoshoot, smoothed out her ruffled fur and then jumped in, posing like a pro.

Do you think I might get a few extra pats on the super soft fur before you trot off, my dear?