A bag for Lenna's swap

I have more or less come to a complete stop with my large quilt. I had set my mind on a border fabric of which of course I did not have enough to go around. I knew it was quite old but managed to find it online during a search on http://www.quiltshops.com/ and duely ordered a yard which was all I needed. They mailed it off immediately on the 29th September but helas, it is now stuck somewhere in our postal system as the postal strikes really begin to bite.

I can't quite believe how upset I am not to receive any mail for days. It is also a problem getting things out and yesterday I mailed 3 letter sized items, 2 went Airsure to Canada and the USA and one Special Delivery to Dundee at the grand cost of more than £15.

As least the Dundee one duely was delivered there today. Paying more money does mean items get priority when the posties are working.

More strikes are apparently coming next week unless a solution is found. Please!!!

Anyway this is all to explain why I belatedly decided to make a bag for Lenna's fabric bag swap. I thought when she posted it first that I would simply be too busy but as I can't actually work on my quilt I grabbed the last place she had left on the swap. This is a simple swap. Make one fabric bag and you'll receive one in exchange. My bag is about 8 x 10.5" (not counting the handles).

I started playing with my new embellisher (Pfaff Smart 350) and used black felt as a background, unto which I embellished Colinette boucle knitting yarn (which I had actually bought more than 10 years ago!!) and a pink felt heart for one of the sides. I used Alphastamps fabric images for both sides. Somehow the theme for this bag became Valentine like, with hearts and pictures of amorous couples. I must have been thinking of Lenna's romantic life (read all about it here). I mounted the pink felt heart onto vintage lace which I had stitched onto the black felt first. The embellisher attached the heart through the lace. To make the heart less pink I also embellished from the back so that some of the black came through to the front, calming down the pink. The fabric image (on both sides) comes from Alphastamps Lovers sheet. The boucle yarn embellished beautifully and again it also did it from the back. After this I layered up the felt with black wadding (batting in US speak) and started to add more embellishment, this time by hand. I beaded with pink and red seed beads and added some flower trim. Then I remembered some sparkly flower beads I bought in a garden centre last time I was in The Netherlands and that was simply perfect for this side.
On the other sideI again started with black felt and then added a very wide vintage trim depicting flowers which I stitched down. I added more boucle yarn with the embellisher and then added flower trim on both sides with the sewing machine. I added the fabric image and the title Lovers (both from Alphastamps Lovers fabric sheet) and beaded around these. More seed beads and flower beads were added to this side and as by now the theme was definitely LOVE I added a pink lining and handles to the bag.

I think it has Lenna written all over it, she is definitely the inspiration for the Love Theme but of course it is going to be swapped and the swap is entirely up to her. Now the only worry is getting it to her in the short periods we actually have a working mail service. Due date is still quite some time away so I'll give this some thought?.