The South Seas Fiji Purse

I tend to let my finished canvases pile up if I plan to finish them myself.  I don't like finishing very much--stitching is a LOT more fun!--but I can do simple finishing and often do since it is a lot cheaper to Do It Yourself.  An example is the lovely Leigh Designs canvas above:  South Seas Fiji from the Dynasty ornament series.

I finished this piece last summer and started looking for a purse to attach it to as I just love the piece and want to show it off.  I finally came across the perfect purse last fall, too late to carry the purse as it seems to be a summer into early fall purse to me, not a winter one.

Then I needed trim to hide the round edge of the canvas where I stitched it to the fabric of the purse pocket.  I settled on the beads you see strung on River Silks ribbon above.  These are agates, polished and shaped to look somewhat like bamboo segments, with a hole drilled in the center.  They are heavy stones, in other words, so I strung them on silk ribbon instead of thread, using a lovely grape color that matched the purse.  I used the John James double ended needles (size 26).  The eye is in the middle of these needles.  The ribbon went through the eye, then the ribbon and needle slipped fairly easily through the hole in the agates.  Once I had the ribbon stitched to the edge of the canvas, I tied a double bow knot at the bottom and let the ribbon hang at the bottom of the ornament.

Here is the end result--a beautiful summer purse that I will carry with pride and enjoyment for years to come.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow