(This is a little night stand I painted for a friend who had a baby and a pooh theme.)

I have been in love with sewing for as long as I can remember. It never mattered much what I was sewing, clothes, curtains, costumes or quilts, it all made me smile. I love the simple act of taking fabric, cutting it up and making something. Sewing kept me going for many years until the yearn to paint took over.

I also love painting. Something it took me most of my life to get around to doing, but I finally got to it. I had a business of selling hand painted furniture. I would go out to Amish country and buy the wonderful shaker furniture, paint it up and sell it. I also spent several years scouring the flea markets for old metal objects that I could paint and sell. It was a great time of hunting for good junk that I could re-purpose!

Like this old stove. After you clean them up and paint them you can wire them with a small light fixture that was in the lid. When you turned it on the light would glow through all the vent holes, what a beautiful night light it made.

Or these old canning tubs, they were always a great find. I love painting on these. Just about any design would work. And the Americana theme was a big seller back then. You could paint in on almost anything.

I painted furniture for many years. You could find me on any given day in the UPS office with some pretty big packages. Some odd shaped ones too!

Like this butterchurn, what a job this was to ship!!!
But then I got tired of painting and I wanted more! I wasn’t quite sure what that was at the time, but I knew it would take me back to my original love, SEWING! It couldnt be the same old sewing though, it also had to be so much more.

Then one night while I was surfing the internet for some inspiration to guide me, I came across this quilt Wedding Dreams by Maria Elkins ,and it captured me. For the first time I saw the ability to take the two things I loved most and put them together. Quilting and Painting!!!

Upon finding the Quiltart Mail List I came across a great group of people who create some of the most amazing art with fabric that I have ever seen. If you would like to browse through the sites of some of these amazing artists, then I keep a link list on my art website here. It’s a fantastic way to spend some time surfing.

Well needless to say a new era for me had begun. I was smitten of the idea of painting with fabric. It took me several years of trials to figure out who I was in this new medium and every bit of it was a fun journey.

see my art quilts

No matter what I was I was full of color. The above quilt is called Essence! My Essence which is RED! Or its direct opposite in blue which is called Ice-O-Lation. Hot and cold more or less.

Or the happenings of a bustling city from my point of view, thru color. Most times you will notice that I loved working in solid color fabrics. It was the challenge of painting with fabric, the pure essence of color that inspired me to create art using solid fabrics.

Then I have my more serious side, deep in thought, this quilt is called Into The Woodwork, for those times in life when that is just where you wish you could be part of the surrounding scenery. (those times are now past for me in my life)

Or my need to make a statement, which I did thru this quilt, know what the subject was?? Our societys obsession with boobs!!!!

And my more tender moments, being a mother! One of life’s biggest accomplishments!

And that all led to my very first Cat Sack Handbag, a combination of all the things I love. It was a long journey but it all evolved to this. I took my love of sewing, painting, art quilting and transformed it into something funky, fun and functional. Functional being the key word here.

For me there is something special about being able to take all of those passions and create something artful and functional.

That is how Studio-259 handbag designs came about. I love to have art I can carry with me, something fun, unusual, wild etc. After all it’s not like I can go around with an armful of quilts to show people.

So bags, art bags were the next best thing. What a great canvas a bag makes. Why have just a traditional bag with preprinted fabrics when you can go the extra step. And it’s art you can carry anywhere!

You can see some of my designs below.

And I just can’t settle for the ordinary bag, what fun would that be! Going to the next level is part of the fun.

So the next step along my journey is sharing these fun designs with you thru my online classes and patterns. I want you to have fun sewing and how better to do that than with some fun bags. Learn some new techniques, make a fun bag, play with color and design and create your own unique piece of art. Play outside the box, break free of those traditional boundaries and have some fun with something funky!

And being able to show you way close up how to create fun things like my bags, is fantastic. That is why all my patterns and classes are in PDf format. It allows me to show you more than traditional printed patterns. It is almost like being right there with you and showing you what I do!

I also take great pleasure in seeing what you create with my patterns, I love to see your creativity at work. It’s so much fun to let loose and play!!! I hope you will join me in some of my upcoming classes and come and make a fun funky bag with Studio-259!!