You won't believe how long it took...

...for me to get around to felting this bag. But I finally did it! And it looks awesome!

Ileana and I took a felted bag class together in February. February. I have been done with this bag since the middle of February and this weekend, mid May, I felted it. Ok, I have a small excuse in that I didn't have a washing machine I could use for free, but at a certain point it became ridiculous.

It's done now and I guess I'm happy with the way it looks, but I can't really see myself using it as a purse. It's just too deep, everything would get lost in there. I wish I had made the tan part much, much shorter. I think it may have a future as a medium-sized project bag, especially if I line it and give it some pockets. Now I just have to learn to sew. The strap is a bit too stretchy for anything heavy, though. Does anyone have any ideas for reinforcing it?

In Italy I'll be staying with a host family, the Rosellas. I wanted to get them a small, portable but interesting gift and found one today. I grew up in (and am currently killing time in) a pretty touristy town and my first job was in a museum. One of the other tour guides is a great artist, and he now lives elsewhere but sends boxes of little paintings for the museum to sell in the gift shop. I figured that a picture by a local artist, and a former colleague of mine, of some local scenery would be a nice not-stupid gift, and found a great one. It's a shore scene with a little shrimp boat and some seagulls and a pretty sunset. I also picked up two for myself while I was there (I'm so weak!)--one of a country road and farmhouse that reminded me of the stuff my grandfather used to paint, and one really fabulous picture of the museum itself, a historic home. Happy!