Awareness Month

September - so many wonderful things about this month! I love fall, it is my FAVORITE time of year.

Cooler temps, low humidity, lots of sunshine and time to be outside. Apple picking,

camp fires, s'mores (of course), 

start of the school year (well, technically we start in August, but it is still early in the year), and before long the leaves will start to change colors, which, I love. My bedroom has 6 windows - yes 6 - and they all have a view of hardwood trees. I'll have to show you pictures of that later this fall.

Family trip to the mountains in NC. I am a mountain girl - not so much a beach girl. So I always look forward to time in the mountains - even if it is just a couple of days. 

 

September is National Sewing Month. Which doesn't really change much for me, except I love to see all the new project ideas and fabric lines that are released. I sew just as much any other month, but there are lots of coupons that I like to use to get some sort of supplies I have been eyeing.

This year, I have had a special project to work on to help celebrate Chiari Malformation Awareness. In the process of learning more about this condition, I have actually learned of several people I know that are directly affected by this condition. :(  A special friend of mine (Sandy Simpson) is mom to this beautiful little girl who deals with Chiari every day. Sandy has taken on the HUGE task of organizing a local awareness walk to be held in Durham, NC Sept 22nd. There will be walks all over the country. Click here to find one close to you.

I jumped at the chance to create something that would be used in the raffle to raise money for Chiari research. I decided to design a new fabric (2 actually) and then make a large bag. This is what I came up with. Do you like it? 

Purple is the awareness color for Chiari. I found a beautiful photo of a lotus flower (made by C. Frank Starmer) and used it to create the fabric. The Lotus flower is a symbol of knowledge so I named the fabric 'Search for Knowledge'. The lining is a dot fabric with the same base purple and dark grey dots. The handles for this bag are dark grey suiting material. The bag features 2 large pockets and a center divider. I originally designed this bag as a gym bag, but it is so huge it can be used for lots of things. 

I am happy with how it turned out. I think I will probably make a few additional fabrics to go with this line. You can buy the fabric here. I will also be working on a pattern for this bag - but that will take some time. 

Do you have something close to your heart you want to spread awareness about? Let me know.