I'm SEW Coordinated

My current raggy-baggy bag was so raggy-baggy I didn't even bother to take a picture of it, so I set out to make a new purse a few days ago.

First off...I have something I feel compelled to admit: I just NEED to let fabric "simmer" awhile before I can bring myself to USE it. I'm sure none of you can possibly  understand or identify with this (wink, wink). I haven't yet unraveled the formula by which "new" fabric has simmered long enough so it can be used without angst. Actually angst may not ever go away...but after a certain period of simmering, at least I don't break into a cold sweat at the very thought of cutting into that Sunkissed fat quarter bundle. Although...I STILL haven't whacked into it, nor my Hometown, and now Reunion has come down the pike...and I'm not quite sure how long it will be before I can even THINK about snipping into Outfoxed or Good Fortune, but I did manage to use some of my Ruby.  However - and I have to believe some of you had the same experience - I'm so OVER Sherbet Pips, probably due to the mass quantities of hype prior to any of it actually being released to us regular sewers. No angst there. Whack, whack, whack.

Just a VERY teeny-tiny sampling of my pre-cut stash - think HUNDREDS more...

So, after deciding a new purse was needed, the next question was: "What of my precious fabric stash shall I use?" It took hours. Of angst. "But if I use this...then I won't have (as much) of it anymore!" More "Aaack!" than "Whack!"

But I finally settled on Kate Spain's Terrain. I had a nice, fat Jelly Roll and a selection of quarter- and half-yards of 8 prints. I was careful to NOT use all of any one print, although a few of the individual Jelly Roll strips are now pretty short. At some point when I was making the purse, I decided I should just go for it and make all new accessories to match. I wasn't sure I could stand to be this coordinated, but decided it was worth a shot :-)

So here's the new purse, complete with floofy-and-beaded flower. No pattern here, just made it up as I went along after decided it needed to be a smidge bigger than my old raggy-baggy. You know...we rise to the size of the bag - no matter how large or small, we manage to fill it to the brim, and while there's a bit of room left right now, I'm sure it will fill up soon.

New key chain, checkbook cover, card wallet, and Shoop-Shoop Bag.

 Bag interior. Already filled up with the new, coordinated stuff!

All together now!

And YET....I still had plenty o' Terrain left...

Now I'm SURE that Sunkissed Jelly Roll has probably simmered long enough, so I need to drag it out and get WHACKING!