Elizabethan Sweet Bag No 2

Way back in June of 2010 I entered a post about an  Elizabethan Sweet Bag that I made from a class taught by Susan O'Connor.  I mentioned that if I ever finished the other one I was working on I would show it you. Well, I haven't made a bit of progress but decided to photograph and share it anyway. This one is called Flowers for Elizabeth and can be found in Inspirations Issue 51. My last issue is No. 68 and it comes out quarterly, so that would mean Issue 51 came out in 2006. As I bought it at a SAGA convention a few years later, at least I didn't have to spend a small fortune on shipping from Australia.

 
The piece is worked on silk broadcloth using Soie d'alger silk embroidery floss, which I absolutely love. It's so fine that it lends itself beautifully to shading, although the only shading in this piece is in the leaves, and a bit in the pansies. Elizabethan embroidery always seems to have insects on it, and this piece has a ladybug on a leaf and a pretty caterpillar-type bug in the center. I say "type" because it has wings, and caterpillars don't have them, as they are larvae for various winged insects. So I have no idea of what this one is.  The strawberries, honeysuckle, white rose of York and the strawberries are all done in padded satin stitch, with a bit of gold on the strawberries.  I cheated a bit on these as I worked the padding in matching cotton floss, so I would save the expensive silk threads for surface work. As the silk thread is over ten times the cost of the cotton, this amounts to quite a savings if there is a lot of padding. I still have a bit of work to finish on it, namely the side edging, tassels for the loops on the bottom and the carrying loops. It's been sitting around for years, namely because I just don't like the finishing bits. But at least the bag is constructed!

Now here is the really difficult part - I actually had to design this portion myself! On the back of the bag, Susan had worked an S for her name. Now since my name doesn't begin with S I couldn't use her design, meaning I had to come up with a design for a C. Oh no, this hurt my brain so much! I worked very hard to come up with this C, and I have to admit it looks a bit bottom heavy with the three strawberries. But I sort of like it. 

Now I just need to finish it!