Dear quilter friends out there - I thought I should share with you how my „handbag/purse” making came into life. It will also show you how God gives you gifts you don’t know you have until something happens and you get pushed forward to use them to bless other people. And of course it blesses you too as usually you love what you’re doing.

So sit down and pour yourself a cup of coffee/tea as this is quite a story!!!

We needed to get our lounge-room settee newly covered and went into the shop we bought it from to choose the material. The salesman gave us a whole lot of books with samples to take home to see how it matches, walls, carpets, etc. but asked us to please bring them back as they still needed them. DH: “yes, you better tell her”, me: “what would I do with it?”, DH “well with you everything is possible…”, me: “unless I gave them to my friend Anne, she always finds things to make with all sort of stuff (corks, old bottles, material, etc…)” Anyway we left the shop and 2 weeks later we were back with the colour we had chosen. My DH stayed in the car and as I handed over ALL the sample books, the salesman greets me with a HUGE bag full of sample materials that were outdated!!!! Here I was, wondering what my DH would say and not having the heart to tell this nice salesman that really I didn’t need that stuff.

As I got in the car, DH: “what’s in that bag?” I told him…. his answer: “what on earth are you going to do with all that junk?”, me: ”give it to Anne!” I have to tell you that Anne only comes to visit once a year and her visit had just been…..

Anyway, some time later I decided that I needed a church bag where I could fit my Bible, writing stuff, extra set of glasses, etc. So I search in the upholstery sample stash and found a nice piece big enough for the bag I had in mind. OK, it was done and I was quite pleased with the result. Shortly after my DDIL comes for a visit, drools over my church-bag and asks if I couldn’t make her one too. So off we go searching in the stash again and here is my next handbag done. Of course my DMIL who was visiting at the same time thought she could use a bag too to take a few things with her when she goes to town for a bit of shopping, again the stash was searched and that was the birth of my 3rd handbag!!! Needles to say that when I took my handbag to church, the girls just went crazy over it and put in orders – by now I think most of them would at least have one or 2. Of course some of them asked if I could make larger ones, so my brain spit out ideas for city-shoppers. In the meantime I would have made at least 50 as a girl-friend of mine has a boutique for ladies over 40/50 and she ordered quite a few for sale.

Just a funny bit to this story: as the ladies from church met on our special day, we talked about the handbags and a friend of mine asked me if I could make sure the handles were sewn one real good as she said she would use the bag with her Bible in it to bash anyone trying to assault her on the street so it had to hold…..and then her fantasy went completely haywire!!!! She said I should call my handbag “Bible-bashing-bags”!!!! And then we could put a sign at the entrance of our town “This is the birthplace of the Bible-bashing-bag”!!!! Needles to tell you we had lots of fun and the place sounded like a pen full of hens!!!!

I never thought I had such a gift and I thank God for showing me and giving me the courage to give it a try so I can bless others.

I sure hope I haven’t been too boring with my story!!!

Too funny! Congratulations on your success!

Love your story. You never know where God will lead you:) What a great use of your talent:)

This is a delightful story and made me laugh. Thank you for sharing.

What a fun story. You would fit into our southern culture here in Louisiana with unbelievable finesse! I can see this story unfold and even envision myself and a few close friends in the story. Love it and would love to see a photo of one of your Bible-bashing-bags. Although I have to say as an English teacher, this phrase could be confusing.....it could mean a bag to bash a Bible or a bag with Bible with which one person bashes another. Just playing with the words, of course, just not as well as you! You really can write a story!

What a wonderful story. You need to post a picture so that we can see what your "Bible Bashing Bag" looks like.

Loved your story!!!! God works in mysterious ways.

It's a nice story. :) Thanks for sharing. Would love to see your bags. :thumbup:

Hooray for the Bible bashing bags! Yippee! God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

Thanks for the good story. The wonders God has in store for us.

Wonderful story, thank you for sharing. God will reveal our talents. Love it.

Amen! God blessed me with the quilting and I just love it so much!

Great story!

What a great story. Can you post a picture of your bags?

You can find some picture of my handbags which I posted yesterday under the topic "pictures" with the title Handbags

Yes, I have fallen in love too with quilting and alas the handbags have been put on hold for a while.... :?

I would like to see a picture too.

Great story, and neat bags!

Loved your story.

Great story!!!!!

Elfi, Your story is just so sweet. And, yes, it is amazing what we can do with the things that God gives us. He always has it all figured out for us (it just takes us a little longer to catch up with Him sometimes)! :)

God bless you,
Kim

Good for you & your friends for keeping you busy.We never know what the next day will bring.

Found a few more pictures....

Great story and I love your bags :D :thumbup:

A great story, and very inspiring !

That is how our church sewing and knitting classes began.....wonderful to be surrounded by women of faith.

Oh, I loved that story. Thank you for sharing and for inspiring us. I would love to see some pictures of your bags!

Oops! Found the pictures. They are lovely. Thank you!

What a wonderful story

Ha! I thought you were going to tell us you took all those samples, pieced them together and did your own recover job on that settee. Patchwork upholstery!! Did you find the perfect fabric for that job though?
A local senior group uses upholstery samples for walker bags, too.

That is a great story and reminds me of that old saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention."

What a nice story. I love to hear how God works in our lives. It is usually the simple things that we take for granted that end up bringing us the most joy. Thanks for sharing your story and God bless you.

What a wonderful story. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank youf or sharing. Love your story.

Nice story , hope you post a picture of your bag.

Love your story. Never know when God has a plan for you.

Very mice story.

Love it! The bags are terrific! I think you have a novel in the making also!

Thanks for sharing, very funny, you never know what paths material will take you. Happy bag making

Love your story. Hope you and all our friends from Australia are safe and DRY. The pictures of the flood are terrible.