Ombre purse

This purse is a perfect example of "necessity is the mother of invention".  Years ago the pundits at Needle Nicely had fallen in love with ombre, a multicolored metallic fiber from Kreinik.  They/we ordered bunches.  That didn't sell.  Time passed and it was noticed that no one was buying ombre.  What to do? 

I traced the shape of a shop model purse on 18-mesh canvas.  Then I started stitching 18x18 stitch squares in basketweave with each color combination.  To divide the squares I did 3 rows of pewter LaLame metallic, again in basketweave.  Then for the finishing, the finisher made a shoulder-length cord from the LaLame.

Looking at this purse today I can see so many design possibilities, from varying the metallics in the squares to making the size of the square smaller to doing different stitches to. . . really, there are many more possibilities.  Perhaps I'll explore some of them in the future on this blog.