History of Dead Birds

I was digging thru my tubs of miscellaneous dye samples and discarded unfinished projects when I stumbled upon this lovely piece of dyed cotton. I knew it was about time to pull it out and turn it into something but thought it would have to wait until after graduation when inspiration struck! I've been toying with my independent study final project of 3D quilting and here was just the fabric to get the gears rolling.
My desire was to do all my samples and final about suicide but who says it has to be human suicide?

A few months ago my husband came home from a hunting trip with a dried out dead bird. A fragile tiny baby bird that he kept safe in his truck ashtray for me. While unusual to some this was a true gift for a gal like me-the Ellie equivalent of a dozen red roses. This spurred a theme and not long after I found another dried out dead bird on my own, then even had a baby bird fall out of his nest right at my feet.
These occurances inspired me to even include a dead bird in my senior exhibition. (We all made a letter of our title FABRICATION and being one of the I's I wrapped a dead bird in wire and hung it up. Only one other classmate would touch it!)
Now with quite the collection of dead birds I needed a place for them to call home. During my trash collecting I found a perfect dead bird house!

So, dead birds, dead bird houses and then my recent spell of quilting disturbing interior spaces like the blue chair quilt...

looks nice and comfy but is actually screen printed with hand guns and the wall paper is filled with bombs while a live and dead rats cover the floor...
And I was running to some paper to sketch out ideas for a
Home For Dead Birds quilt.

Sketches in place, dead birds and bird house for inspiration I went back thru my fabric stash for pieces of vintage fabrics with prints that spoke of comfort and home. I also found a great color reference fabric whose dark blues referrenced bordering darkness and bright pink flowers were cheery and happy and dyed the other fabrics to match.
This is where it all begins...

Baggin' It All Up!

This is a time for celebration! My last semester as an undergrad and since I have no clue if or when I'll ever get back to college I should be livin' it up in style.
I made myself an awesoem tote a few years back with just the right amount of space and uber pockets But it has two thin little handles that do fit over the shoulder but cut in when heavy. I walk nearly a mile to class folks and as an art student who knows what all will be in my bag. I'm one of those best to be prepared kinda gals, ya know. So my priorities were 1)lots of space 2)comfy for long hikes 3)trying a zippered pocket 4) handy place for ipod and id card (which I need to get into all the art buildings).
The fabric is all vintage, baby! And of course, this is Ellie we're talking about so I threw pattens and together that don't quite "go" and yet work somehow. I just laid my sketchbook down on the fabric and cut from there leaving plenty of room top to bottom and left to right for the odd ball of yarn or roll of fabric.
I found a great tutorial online for how to put in a zippered pocket
http://creativelittledaisy.typepad.com/creative_little_daisy/2007/02/dont_fear_the_z.html
I put mine on the outside of the flap for those things you want super handy like car keys and markers. Perhaps even a notebook or dayplanner. The only problem is I really wish I had possitioned it to unzip the other way. It looked right laying on the table but is a little akward when worn on the body. Just something to keep in mind on future projects.
[This is where I really need to get better about in progress photos!]

Then I tackled the lining giving myself pockets for the things I know I carry. Since I designed it all myself I could put in as many of any size as I wanted. I did one large pocket with a smaller sectional one on the outside. Pockets are easy peazy mac and cheezy. Just cut the rectangle, hem one edge, fold under the other edges and sew!


Last was attaching the strap which gave me problems. Not because I couldn't technically handle it but because of my own indecision and lack of selection at local craft stores. I had envisioned this with big metal hoop handle attachments but since I made the bag (and strap) extra wide I couldn't find any rings or d-rings large enough. I settled for smaller than I wanted but that caused the bag to sag in weird places and the flap to not seem large enough. SO I seam ripped the d-rings off and just attached it to the sides using the same triangles I had made to go thru the d-rings.
Inside the strap where it hits my back and shoulder I placed doubled quilt batting to keep it from digging in or rubbing when its full of notebooks.
Then last but not least I added a small pocket super handy on the strap for my id and ipod. I need that stinkin id to open building doors and it can be a pain to dig it out from buried deep in a bag. And the pocket could also hold my ipod and be close enough to my head for my earbuds to reach.
I am really happy with it for my first ever messenger bag and only my second book bag. Go Me!