Pay it Forward #5 - Better late than never!

I bet you all thought I had forgotten about my last pay it forward gift now didn't you? Of course in my usual fashion this one has been sitting "almost" finished for a long time. I had actually started this project several months ago and after taking pictures and trying it out for its intended purpose I decided it needed that little something more.

The bag is made from forest green cotton, chosen because the intended loves trees, just as much as I do if not more. And I'm pretty sure she likes owls too so I wanted to crochet an owl motive for the front. I came into a little confusion with the pattern for this when it was all written in Japanese. Thankfully my friend Olive2 on Ravelry came to the rescue and sent me an interpretation to follow. Phew..... Thanks lovely!

This little bag, my friends is intended for art journals and or books.  Because you guessed it, my lovely friend is an artist and I wanted to give her something that would be useful. I made the bag pattern up as I went along as I wanted it to be big enough for at least A4 sized journals. It came along quite nicely and then came the decision of whether or not to line it! Hence the long wait.... see how the heavy book is stretching the bag?

And after much deliberation with friends and family, who mostly thought crocheted bags were nicer without linings because there was the potential to stuff more in them this way. I won with my arguments of "what if she wants to carry a pencil or a paintbrush in there hey?" Yep, I am very thoughtful like that especially since I have had many a knitting needle or crochet hook escape through the holes in my own bag's. ;-P

And so, I found some of the left over fabric from my Tansy Art Journal cover and I cut it up with the intention of sewing it and well, there it sat for a very long time... In my own defense I visited it often, I looked at it this way and that and I wondered how on earth I was going to fit it in the bag as I had absolutely NO IDEA how to do it! I even set up the sewing machine and played with the stitches etc. Lets just say there was quite a bit of procrastination going on but not much sewing!

Finally this weekend, the guilt stepped in and I consulted my oldest daughter who after rousing on me for chopping the fabric a bit small and the wrong way, agreed to fix it for me! She is such a sweetheart! Yes she is!

She even managed to make it so it has a bit of stretch inside so more books can be stuffed in there! More than big enough for journals, books AND paintbrushes!

I do so hope you like your new bag Louise! Sorry for the long wait when everyone else got theirs so quickly! For you patience I am going to send you a little extra gift. Something warm for winter! Bright blessings to you lovely! xoxoxoxoxox

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox