Change of Activity

I've not done any stitching since I went into lock-down - couldn't get motivated somehow but I thought it was about time I changed that situation.  I'm very fond of Redwork embroidery and I knew that some time ago I had embroidered some panels with different quirky cats so I went in search of them to remind me how many I'd done and to maybe decide what to actually do with them.  There were six finished panels but three were landscape format and three portrait format  which I thought would cause a bit of a problem trying to incorporate them into a small quilt so I decided eventually that making some bags with embroidered panels on the side might be the way to go and so far I've made three.  When you see the photograph the eagle-eyed amongst might observe that the cat is actually purple and not red.  Redwork was indeed traditionally carried out using red thread - Turkey red I think originally - but I chose to make all my cats purple in a break from tradition.

Fortunately I had some purple fabric and also some lining with purple colours in it for the linings.  Having worked out a suitable size for the tote bags I cut various strips and panels to build up the front and back.  I'm aiming to make four altogether; two with a vertical cat design on each side, two with a horizontal design on each side and one each using the two left over panels one one side with a plain piece on the other.

My next job is to clear up the chaos left in the living room from my mad sewing session!!