Dilly Bag Show and Tell
Here's a whimsical blast from the past... April 2015 to be precise.
The reason for this trip down memory lane is that I'll be catching up with the lovely Judy Newman this weekend while I'm on my visit to Queen of Fabric, and so in her honour I decided to repost the Dilly Bags I made using her pattern.
Okay here goes,
No more dilly dallying - it's time to show off the Dilly Bags I made recently...
Judy Newman's Dilly Bag pattern made making these bags a breeze. I think you can guess that I had a lot of fun picking out the fabrics.
Introducing the Red Top bag
with its fun heart circle bottom.
It has happy word lining to whisper lovely things to the projects it contains, and a delicious pocket.
By chance a lot of the feature hexagons on this bag have friends on them. A pair of children, a circus ringleader with his horse and there are some others on the other side too. As I sewed these hexies together I came to think of it as the Friends Bag.
This little teapot says it all.
I love the whizz fizz summery colours of the other bag.
It features happy things like bike riding and little scottie dogs, spots, dots and flowers.
and a fussy cut flower underneath.
Hidden inside is green leafy lining and more cute pockets.
I couldn't decide which ribbon to use so I used a combo.
The bags are the perfect size for a carrying around a hand crafting project and it's notions , but it's tricky to be able to tell the size of things in photos sometimes so to give you an idea Rachaeldaisy Barbie offered to stand in as a model.
If you're in the mood for a story here's a link to the Colourful Hexagon Adventure that I wrote last year inspired by these hexagons.
**** NOTE: Just keep scrolling to read the story, I've reposted it here for one big super post!
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***First published in October 2014
It's probably a good idea to make yourself a cup of tea, I'll wait...
Oh good, you're back, now let's begin ...
The Case Of The Missing Rabbits
A story told through hexagons, by Rachaeldaisy
One fine sunny day Billie Boy and Gertie Girl went outside to say hello to their two pet rabbits. They stopped to smell some flowers along the way and watched a butterfly flutter by. It was such a lovely day in the garden but when they reached the rabbit hutch it was empty.
The rabbits were missing!!
" Oh dear. Where can those bunnies be?!?" they both exclaimed.
They looked around and saw some birds sitting in a tree.
"Hello Birds. Have you seen our 2 bunnies." Billie and Gertie asked.
"Tweet, tweet. We saw them go down the path and around the corner." The birds tweeted in their sing song voices
"Oh No" cried Billie and Gertie and they rushed off down the path and around the corner, where they ran into two lovely ladies.
"Hello Lovely Ladies, have you by any chance seen our two little bunnies come this way?" Billie and Gertie enquired.
"Why, we Did see some bunnies hopping by a while ago. They went down the road and past the colourful flower gardens" The lovely ladies answered, and they pointed towards some beautiful flowery garden beds.
Billie and Gertie ran off in the direction that they had pointed.
They found their good friend Little Bo Peep wandering along the path.
They called out to her "Little Bo Peep, Have you seen our rabbits?".
"No I haven't! I've been too busy looking for my sheep!" she replied and then she burst into tears and started crying.
"There, there Little Bo Peep, no need to cry. If we see your sheep we'll send them back to you." said Billie
"They probably be wagging their tails behind them" added Gertie reassuringly.
That seemed to cheer up Little Bo Peep a little bit.
The next little group they came across was a little group of dogs running around in circles, a smiley cup and a soup pot with some friendly mushrooms.
None of them had seen the bunnies but meeting them reminded Billie and Gertie that they were thirsty so they stopped to have a refreshing cup of tea.
Along came Mr Cat InATopHat and little Pink Kitten.
Billies and Gertie enquired if they had seen their two missing bunnies.
"I'm sorry to say, No bunnies have come this way." said Mr Cat In A Top Hat.
" Why don't you look in the newspaper to see if there is any mention of them there?" suggested little Pink Kitten,
"What a great Idea!!" cried Billie and Gertie.
They bought all the newspapers and read them cover to cover. Although there were lots of colourful stories there was no mention of two runaway bunnies.
However they did notice a colourful page that announced the grand circus was in town. Billie and Gertie both agreed that if they were rabbits that's where they would go. So off they went to investigate.
The circus was on the other side of the river so to get there they rode their bicycles and then hopped on a boat.
Before too long they arrived at the circus. They were greeted by some beautiful circus horses who with a whistle and a toss of their feathery head pieces called over the Ringmaster.
"Hello" greeted Billie and Gertie "Our two rabbits have disappeared. Have you seen them hopping around?"
"What do they look like?" asked the ringmaster.
"They have lovely long ears" said Gertie
"And they love to dance!! " added Billie
"Well, If they like to dance, let's play some music and maybe that will entice them to come out of hiding. " suggested the Ring Master.
So he called out the circus's finest drummer clown who beat out a catchy, toe-tapping tune on his drum.
And guess what!!
Out came two lovely long eared bunnies dancing a merry jig.
"Yippee" Billie and Gertie, and all the circus folk cheered!!!
The runaway bunnies looked very relieved to see their owners. Their story was that they'd just gone for a little wander but soon lost their way and didn't know how to get home.
Billie and Gertie said thank you to the circus folk. They bundled up their two tired bunnies and off they went on the boat that took them home to their little cottage...
Where they had a delicious dinner and laughed about their colourful, adventurous day.
And they all lived happily ever after.
The End.
P.S. No extra hexagons were cut out for this story. They were all taken from the pile of hexagons I'd made for my dilly bags. It's easy to let my imagination run wild with stories when I'm stitching with such cute fabrics. I hope my story made you smile. :)
It's fun to look back and see what I was doing a few years ago. I should add that it's very rare that I make anything from a pattern and even rarer that I make bags or things other than quilts but that just make these pretty bags all the more special.
I'm looking forward to a fabulous weekend, as I mentioned earlier I'll be at Queen of Fabric in Melbourne, sharing lots of quilts in my Trunk Show this coming Friday 1st November, from 6.30pm. Plus a Whizz Bang Workshop over the weekend 2nd & 3rd. If you'd like to come along call the shop on (03) 9596 3434.
