My Favorite Summer Tote

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My Favorite Summer Tote

For the past several years the amazingly talented needle crafter Linda Nelson and her husband Ron make the long drive all the way from Michigan to Laguna Beach, California and have wintered in the guest house at Summerland Cottage.

The fist year as a thank you parting gift I gave them a little framed rendering I did of one of the paths in Heisler Park, our local park along the oceans edge that they they would walk their sweet dog Sammy through on their way into town.

The next year when they returned, Linda surprised me with a gift of a beautiful tea towel with a cross stitch flower border she had done in colors to coordinate with my kitchen curtains.

I was thrilled with it and when the towel began to wear I removed and saved the beautiful trim. Since then we have begun a friendly exchange of hand crafted gifts.

You can imagine how thrilled I was this year to receive the charming seahorse she had beautifully appliqued in my favorite ocean theme colors. Her husband Ron, the computer whiz, shrank the original pattern ( found @ cotton-picking.com) from a 24" x 36" wall hanging to the size you see here.

It was the perfect size for a pillow or small wall hanging but I chose to show it off around town by sewing it to the front of a simple canvas tote and adding vintage buttons to the bubbles as accents. Then scraps of ribbons were added down each side to accent the colors and sewn in place with a little latch added to the top to attach the house keys to. Not having a fabric store in town I was thrilled to find an over sized blouse for $5.49 at a thrift shop in the perfect color way and cut it up to use as border trim along the top of the tote, and to create a pocket on the inside to hold a cell phone and cover the handles with.

Summer Satchel

I LoVe blank canvases, blank books with no lines

and thick stacks of plain white paper.

To me they represent new beginnings.

So when I was gifted with this simple canvas satchel

and asked to decorate it,

my imagination went on overdrive with the possibilities.

I considered covering it in tapestry with corduroy

and a patchwork of fall colors.

Then the idea of using Sherpa suede with a wide tapestry trim in coordinating colors and vintage button detailing ...

or sewing a pocket inside for storing my paint brushes

and paint a color chart with labels of the various colors

on the outside as reference,the perfect tote for plein air painting.

Any of these would be great,

but last week I was inspired by the fabric paints

left out on the studio table

along with a collection of amazing seashells that caught my eye

and so I chose to paint a summer satchel

for the sun filled days of summer.

Perfect for toting my water bottle,

sun screen, sketch book and towel.

I added the hand crafted ceramic seashell

key chain as a fun little accent and

for easy access to the cottage house key

and the wide turquoise braid

seemed to be the perfect border for the painting.