I'm so happy and relieved I received a story before this particular bag left!
I didn't think this bag would sell so quickly and was shocked when it did! It was around the same time as my red cashmere coat and both of them leaving were a big blow to me!
This purse is well loved! First my mom had it and when my aunt and I saw it we both fell in love with it. My mom eventually gave it to my aunt and my aunt eventually gave it to me!
I used it so much! I wore it a lot with my Free Mason coat. I know it's an odd combination, but it went well with it and seemed to some how match the large embroidered cross on each sleeve! Click on the highlight to see my cross coat.
I wore it as a cross body bag and also knotted the strap at the top and used it as a shoulder bag. This is one of the most handy and most beautiful handmade bags I've ever owned. The large detailed embroidered mirrored patch on the front is a pocket and there's a smaller pocket in the inside to hold important small items.
A couple of years straight I used to hang out at the cafe next to the Long Beach Museum, when my teacher vacation was two months in the spring and two months in the fall. I'd sit overlooking the ocean and with art sculptures all around with a coffee and a good book. This purse held many books I started and finished there! Here's a photo of my old haunt:
It's changed so much! It used to be all so green with grass with a sparse mixture of umbrellas and different garage sale sourced looking chairs and tables and a little scrappy bungalow booth for coffee!
Sometimes I stayed all day and at sunset they would have a free outdoor concert or theatre play. And of course, I visited the Museum on all it's free days!
Anyways, my Red Kantha bag went with me there everyday I did! I used that bag for years! I don't even know why I stopped using it, except that it probably got lost in my hoard one of the many times I moved.
Before, I get carried away with memories, here's the email I received with it's story from a kind and thoughtful Etsyian!
Well, I fell in love with it at first sight! I have been trying to make a purse like it since I visited India, ordering patches and such, but never found the right combination. I plan to use it when I travel to interesting places (New Orleans, Santa Fe, etc.). Maybe even India. Believe it or not, I even asked guides to take me to stores that had bags like this when I was in India, but could never find an authentic bag that I liked (they all had shiny polyester fabric, were very small or were poorly made).
Thanks!
So I'm so happy that someone else had the same reaction as my mom, aunt and I and fell in love with it at first sight! And to think someone went with guides looking for a bag like this all over India and found it here on Etsy! Now it's free to go on adventures in other states and countries!
And I know this person is going to take really really good care of it, use it and love it as much as I do because they too, appreciate the workmanship and quality that went into this creation!
Saying Good-bye: Even the back of this bag is a beauty! And when my hoard is gone, I plan to try out some kantha stitching of my own and would like to mend my clothes in the Japanese boro style too!
So after the shock of this leaving so quickly dissipated, there was a little twang of sadness, but it leaving reinforced my dreams of uncluttering the music art room, so I can reach my sewing machine, embroidery threads, even cowrie shell beads and have space to use them!
If you click on the highlight here, it'll take you to the original pictures of the bag and you can see them on zoom. It's really worth seeing on zoom, if you are an embroidery or kantha enthusiast or just enjoy looking at exquisite handmade detailed work!
What I Learned:
1. I have a quite extensive purse collection that I used to use as a wall display, but sense I'm dreaming of a minimalist organic home, I've been listing them on VintageToGoEtsy here. Also, my Mom has sewn me many purses and I use them now.
2. There are many patterns I follow as a hoarder and I never saw them before until I began this HoarderRehab with Etsy. Letting go of my hoard is more conscious and deliberate this time and instead of trying to pass it all back to family or forward it all to friends, donate or trash can it, I'm giving them all a chance for better lives and new homes to people who really really want them!
And at the same time, it gives myself the time I need to let them go and get used to the idea that I don't use these things anymore and I'm really holding on to other things--- memories, past worries, dreams and feelings and it's time to seek those things out in the moment and not in the past.
3. One of the patterns I can see now is that one of my Aunt's consistently gave me mostly gifts from India, so I have quite a collection of Eastern Indian jewelry. I've started to list them, since I'm allergic to metals: A copper metal kisslock evening bag here, coil wrapped bracelet with pleasant, but not too loud bells, here, a bead like floral collar necklace here and vest somewhat like the red kantha bag here.
4. One of the first patterns I saw was that I have a difficult time giving up gifts, even if they go unused for over 30 years! And gifts that I did use over the years at one time are even more difficult, so I still have to battle that one out!
I have found it's not too bad of an ordeal with this red kantha bag!
Thank you Etsyian from VintageToGoEtsy for sharing your story to a total stranger who was so happy and relieved to get one, especially from this particular special item.
Thank you Etsy for helping me with my HoarderRehab in a way that is almost painless now and with time I have come to find more joyful, sometimes full of delight and even fun!
Thank you US, Sweden, Canada, Russia, India, UK, France and Ukraine for stopping by and joining me in my HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things! Click on the highlighted shop names to visit my hoard listed today! VintageToGoEtsy, HoarderRehab and The Destiny of Things!
Related Stories: Click on the highlighted titles to link you to the story. Thank you!
1. Not My Red Cashmere Coat! This held good Christmas dinner memories of my aunts fawning and swooning over this coat!
2. Not My College Mugs! I bought these and the Empire State building lamp to hold my worries of going away to college and living in my first apartment away from home!
3. Not My Freddie the Frog Puppet! This puppet held good memories of my teaching days.
4. Not My Receipt Spike and Service Bell! These held the not so pleasant memories of my teaching days.
5. My attempt at boro style mending as stress relief for my hoarding ways: Mending as a Creative Outlet
Most Viewed Stories of the Week, Month, and All Time Favorite: My Louis Vuitton Collection and My HoarderRehab Meltdown
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