Aunt A's Birthday Bag

Aunt A's Birthday Bag, originally uploaded by rkkilmer.

I recently attended my Aunt Alice's 70th birthday bash. My Aunt A is very much unlike any of my other 5 aunts. She's the wild red-headed one. For as long as I can remember, that's how I've seen her. Now that I am older, I don't know that I would describe her as wild, so much as I would call her free. This particular aunt is one of those free spirit's that lives life to the fullest, each and every day. It's quite hard to imagine her actually being 70. She's not what one would call "typical". I racked my brains for weeks for just the right gift for her. She has everything and needs nothing. The theme for her birthday party was flowers and peace signs. She's crazy for peace signs! Also, her all time favorite color is purple. Everything in her life is purple. It's her "signature color"!
So, when I came across these fabric's at M&L, I knew immediately that it was destiny. I crafted this bag using the "Birdie Sling" pattern by Amy Butler. This is the second time I have used this pattern, so it went fairly quickly. When I was done, I seriously contemplated placing cash in my aunt's birthday card and keeping the bag for myself. :) However, I knew that I would feel forever guilty and would not be able to properly enjoy the bag from then on if I did that. So, I gifted the bag to my aunt and was rewarded with such a stream of enthusiasm and gratefulness, that I felt really bad for almost keeping the thing. My aunt was over the moon for this thing. You would have to know my aunt to appreciate this, but she spent the night showing off the bag. She was asked by several of her friends to ask me to make them a bag also and that they were willing to pay upwards of $50.00 a piece for them. My aunt, of course, emphatically declined for me! My aunt is the 4th of 10 children. When they all got ice cream, she would put her's in the freezer for later. She would only eat the ice cream after everyone else had finished their's. My aunt is very much, "this is mine, and you can't have one". I was not at all surprised by this. My aunt likes her things to be one of a kind. Maybe because she is?