October Retreat - The Ultimate Market Bag

I just completed our October Retreat project and it's awesome! Pictures don't do it justice, so I'll only include this close-up of the front panel as a teaser.

I'm calling the project The Ultimate Market Bag. It's practical...large and sturdy with wooden dowel handles. It's fun...denim with a large sunflower on the front made of hand-painted fabrics and further embellished with stitching and metallic highlights (shown above). The lining is a fabric from my stash...sunflowers with cat heads for the center. Perfect! 

Of course, my bag is just an example. If you'd like to make a similar bag of denim and the lining shown above, I've got plenty of yardage available. If you want to bring your own fabric for the background (outside) of the bag and lining, the yardage amounts will be included on the list of supplies/materials. I've created designs for two different sunflowers and an hibiscus. I will also have a pattern for a chrysanthemum available (from Jean Well's book). 

Here's a quick overview of how we'll be spending our time together:

Thursday afternoon/evening:
  4 p.m. Show and Tell
  6 p.m. Dinner (LA Times Tortilla Soup)
Friday morning:
  8:30 a.m. Breakfast (Continental) 
  Choose design and plan project  
  Fabric painting 
  12:30 p.m. Lunch (Light) 
Friday afternoon:
  Transfer design to freezer paper
  Cut flower from hand-painted fabrics
  Quilt flower to background
  5:30 p.m. Dinner (A Fall Meal)
Saturday morning:
  9:00 a.m. Breakfast (French Country Omelet)
  Embellish flower and background
Saturday afternoon:
  Construct market bag
  5:30 p.m. Dinner (Chipotle Enchiladas and Mexican Rice)
Sunday morning:
  9:00 a.m. Brunch
  Finish market bag
Sunday afternoon:
  4:00 p.m. Dinner at the Union Hotel