Use What You Have

My sweet friend Toni, over at simple sparrow, has declared April Use What You Have month and has invited others to join in. This bag qualifies so I'm sharing it now to bring attention to the challenge: not to buy anything new, but just use the materials you have on hand for one month. Not really that difficult for me because I have an embarassingly huge amount of stash here from years of sewing and crafting. Plus it really makes me happy to use what I have. That, and the fact that often times it results in bringing originality to a piece, because it forces me to experiment and look at things differently. I rarely know what I'm going to end up with because it all just sort of evolves out of trial and error. Sometimes, things don't turn out how I had envisioned; but I still learn through the creative process. Usually though, I'm happily surprised, like with this bag. Yet another use for a yo-yo. I love this old flower button too.  So absolutely perfect for this bag. I went a little smaller and softer with the colors on this one. Yummy lining fabric that I found while rummaging through my stash. And of coarse a little vintage rick-rack in a "robin's egg blue".  The back is one glorious print. Naturally I fell in love with the bluebird. Cassie might recognize this fabric. It was part of the vintage swap we did last year that also just happened to be organized by Toni.  Funny how this all came full circle.