The winner is . . . Vicki Page!

It was very hard for me to pick a winner as so many of the fabric bags that were sent in were so creative! Scroll down to the next post to see an amazing slide show of all the bags!

With much pleasure, I am chosing Vicki Page for the most creative bag sent in for our swap. Her bag is incredibly beautiful and shows an amazing amount of work! She quilt-pieced (I think that is best how to describe it) and sewed and embroidered and embellished and put a lot of thought into her bag. She calls it a Japanese inspired bag and the Japanese word you see on the front of the bag means 'Artist'. The small green butterfly to the left of the Japanese woman represents the human soul, and the koi fish she appliquéd onto the other side of the bag means 'fearless'. Well done, Vicki!

Here are a few more photos (click on any photo for a larger picture) of Vicki's award winning bag -- and photos her prize below that! I am giving Vicki a shoulder bag I decorated : ) It was once a plain black bag. I added layers of paint, mostly Lumiere, then textured the paint with tools, stamped on top of that . . . and then added an image from artchix studio with alphabet beads which spell out, "let go". I hope you enjoy, Vicki!





Vicki's prize: a bag by lenna!

Thanks to all for participating!

Fabric Bag Swap Slide Show!

All the bags are in for our swap, so I thought I would give you a little slide show while I swap them out & decide on a first place winner for the most creative bag! Enjoy. Yours creatively, lenna

Fabric Bag Swap - Sue Simpson, WA

From Sue Simpson who lives in Camano Island, WA - a lovely knitted & felted bag! It's very, very soft to the touch. A close up and the whole bag - click on any photo for more detail.

Thanks sue!

Fabric Bag Swap - Victoria Talcott Wormell, CT

A very cool hand crocheted and felted bag got here just in the nick of time from my friend & student, Victoria Talcott Wormell! I love the bright color, short handles and fuzzy fibers that embellish it - Thank you Victoria, for being part of this fun swap!!

update!

Just a quick note to let you know ALL the bags made it here on time -just 2 more bags to photograph & upload-soon! I will SWAP them out this weekend. Oh my, be still my heart! So many beautiful bags I hope it won't bee too hard! If you'd like to view all of the bags that came in for the swap - follow that link! I will be adding another fabric bag swap to the mix of new swaps ~ an announcement will be coming out soon : ^ ) lenna

swap update!

I am just waiting for a couple more bags that are due to arrive tomorrow, right on time on the deadline day. I want to say thanks so much to everyone in this swap for being so clever and creative and for getting your swaps here on time so I can include them! Also, many thanks to those of you who contacted me to gracefully bow out of the swap for one reason or another. You must know I will truly miss your art, but don't mind you dropping your participation in one of my swaps as long as you tell me -- so I'm not left wondering what happened! If you can't make the deadline but are considerate and let me know, I will welcome you with open arms to any future swaps I host : )) I do understand. Sometimes life happens! All you need to do is communicate with me. Thanks.

. . . Speaking of future swaps, I am planning on announcing the new swaps very soon! I have talking about them and have been wanting to announce them for a while, but really rather have all the specifics organized, laid out, and clear in my mind before I make the announcements. I've been distracted - sorry! We FINALLY closed the deal to buy the home that we moved to TWO months ago, late yesterday afternoon, the 13th of November. Everything was recorded this morning and we now own our new home - HOORAY! I will get to the announcements of new swaps & the swapping of this wonderful bag swap this weekend, after all the entries have arrived. ThanK YoU so much!

Fabric Bag Swap - Stacha Reed, WI

Stacha wrote that she doesn't usually sew, but you would not know that by looking at this bag! She even added a cool magnetic clasp. Click on any picture below for more detail. Thanks for participating, Stacha!

Fabric Bag Swap - Heather Alwaisi, MN

Heather from MN sent in the coolest knitted bag - I think it's knitted? (instead of crocheted). This bag is so soft and textured . . . mmm! thank you Heather! Here are a couple of photos:
So cool!

Fabric Bag Swap - Linda Bean, NY

From Linda Bean in NY - Two fabric bags that are different from all the others I have received! Linda has created bags with a hanger on top! Here are some pics so you can se what I mean. Thank you Linda, for your creative contribution to our Fabric bag swap - I love these! : ) lenna

Fabric Bag Swap - ShuWanna Stout, St. Thomas, USVI

From ShuWanna Stout in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands comes another fabric bag to amaze and impress me. Thank you, ShuWanna! This bag is quilted with beaded trim along the front flap and a velcro closure. It's just beautiful! I have been having so much fun with this swap that I am considering running it again; not due until the end of February, 2008. Let me know if you are interested by voting in the poll at the top right of this page. Here are some close up views of ShuWanna's beautiful fabric bag; click on any photo for more detail!

Fabric Bag Swap - Cynthia Weed - Wyo

From Miz Cynthia Weed in Wyoming, another most wonderful Fabric Bag to add to our swap, thank you Miz Weed! Wow, all of the participants just keep amazing me . . . . so glad i decided to host this one!
Cynthia wrote me a note saying she would love to do another fabric bag exchange now that she has explored some of the "Baggy" possibilities : )) -- well, what do you think? Maybe I will add a poll . . .

Fabric Bag Swap - Susan Metcalfe, Texas

What a sweet bag Susan Metcalfe has sent in for our Fabric Bag swap. It has a darling handle that looks like it's been stamped . . . made of beautiful silky fabric with a great closure & it has collage images on the back, wow! Take a look, I think you will agree with me -- it's fab! Click on the photos for more detail & enjoy! Thank you, Susan.

Fabric Bag Swap - Donna Eck, CA

Oh My goodness! More gorgeous fabric bags keep materializing (no pun intended!) in my mailbox. Wow, I just love the bag that Donna Eck has sent to us from California. The postcards & letters on the bag even bear the San Francisco postmark on them, so cool!! Donna wrote in an email to me, "I took a "Three Hour Tote Bag" class at my local quilt shop and I've been having so much fun with it, putting my on slant on it. This exchange really got me thinking and creating. I do appreciate you hosting these swaps. Can't wait to see everyone else's."
Me either, Donna!

For a closer look, just click on any of the photos . . .

A look into swapping out the Mother Goose ATCs!

Here's what the floor of my office looked like, before I even swapped any of the ATCs for our swap. This was just the preparing stage! You can be very sure that the door to my office was closed at all times during this procedure to keep curious, playful kittens at bay! It really was not a bad job; I prepare by setting everyone's work out on top of their mailing envelope and then I usually figure out the swapping on paper first; making a chart of sorts. When doing the actual, physical swapping there always seems to be one piece leftover needing a swap, so I end up doing another swap with someone to make sure everyone gets different art in the exchange. It typically works out without too much of a hitch. : ) Packaging them up after they are swapped is another job it itself, but I don't mind doing it despite the work because of all the great art I get to see first-hand. Thank you for joining my art swaps! They were all mailed yesterday, November 5th, 2007 - and included a gift from Alpha Stamp's owner Leslie Elledge.

Below is a peek at the folders I told you I was making for the swap to hold your swap returns . . . . . they are stamped with Humpty Dumpty and Three Little Kittens rubber stamps from Alpha Stamps.

Fabric Bag Swap - Fiona Brockie, Scotland, UK

Look what Fiona has sent from Scotland for our Fabric bag swap, WOW! Fiona chose to make 2 bags and they are both beautiful! One is a quilted bag I think, obviously not knowing a lot about quilts! But the bag on the left looks like a quilt block pattern to me. It is such a neat shape too. The orange one is just dreamy, Thank you Fiona!

Here are a couple more pics - click on them for a larger picture.