Got some pretties in the mail!

Lovely Lori from Studio Waterstone had some leather scraps she was giving away.  Apparently she had a LOT of scraps because they went to three different women.  I was one of the fortunate recipients and I love every.single.piece!

There is such a nice assortment of colors and textures and weights of leather pieces.  Lori reclaims leather from different sources and that is why you see stitching lines or seams on some of the pieces.  There are two pieces that look like some sort of reptile and I am really loving those.  There is a piece of red leather and I know exactly what I am going to do with it.  For a while I have been pondering using bits of leather in some of my bag designs.  I like the way leather looks combined with quilted fabric on some VB bags I have seen lately.  I am not going hog wild (snicker, snicker) but just using small accents, closures and maybe a tiny strap or two.

I love leather.  I love the feel of it and the smell of it.  True story - about 35 years ago I worked for a large company as the receptionist.  The guys in the shop used to order their work boots through the company and they were delivered to the office via UPS.  When the UPS guy arrived, he would hand me the box and tell me he had something special for me.  I opened every single box just to smell the boots because they were always leather.  Thankfully, my obsession with boot sniffing ends after the first time the boots are worn!

If you are in the market for a beautifully designed and artfully crafted leather bag, please check out Lori's blog page and her shop.  Right now she is nursing a bad arm but will have new items for the spring.  She is an amazing artist and delightful blogger.