Fun books and a fun little bag

Photo from philippagregory.com

I spent most of today's Memorial Day just lying around reading.  I'm in the middle of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, about Mary and Anne Boleyn, both of whom loved Henry VIII.    


Since I love reading historical fiction, a colleague recommended that I give Gregory's books a go.  I'm am grateful to Patty, since I'm fascinated by Gregory's writing, 
her sense of time and place, and her great research.  

Photo from philippagregory.com

This is the second book that Patty has loaned me: the first was The White Queen, which is about the Lancaster and York women of The War of the Roses. 


Yes, I do enjoy reading about the royals of England.  Actually, I enjoy the intrigue of their survival, and Gregory does a fabulous job of describing the countryside, the workday, the whole of England.




I also spent a bit of my day sewing a small bag for Jolie, our nine year old granddaughter.  She loves carrying around little treasures--dolls, stuffed animals, her DS, money, and so on.  She never comes without at least a bagful of extras.  They will soon go on vacation and she will want to carry God only knows what, so I thought I'd make it easy for her.  






The bag is made from a pink Timeless Treasures fabric that is covered in delicious-looking ice cream cones and sundaes.  I added a brown/pink polka dot to make a large outside pocket and straps.  She hasn't seen it, but I'm very sure she'll love it.  It's perfect for a little Jolie.  


And it took only a few minutes of time--no pattern necessary.  I just thought of Jolie's small back to determine the size, cut out the back and front and the pocket, then started sewing.  I made a casing around the top to thread the straps through and stitched the ends down in the outside corners.  To finish the straps, I just tied the ends after sewing them down so that they look a bit like tassels.  She can wear it with the pocket against her back if there's something important in it that she doesn't want to lose, but I did put a small piece of Velcro to hold the pocket closed.