Happy Birthday, Krissie

~ Jenny

So Krissie came to stay the week and it was wonderful and then yesterday we had her party. This time we got a fabulous cake from the fancy bakery at Krogers, a gorgeous sponge cake with cream and fruit filling, iced on the side with cream and white chocolate shavings and topped with glazed and sugared fruit. It truly was a work of art and I meant to take a picture, but then we ate it.

HOWEVER, I did take pictures of the purse I made for Krissie, the Krissie Multiple Pursonality Order Bag, so called because it sorts out all of Krissie’s personalities: The Writer, the Reader, the Quilter, the Snacker, and the Wife-Daughter-Mother Personal Life . . . Person. Whatever.

I started with this sketch . . .

. . . and made the four sides starting with the Reader . . .

. . . the Quilter . . .

. . . the Writer . . .

. . . and the Snacker . . .

The I sewed all four to stiffened side panels sewn to a black Krogers bag (those handles are built to take a lot of weight) and added boa handles:

After which I moved on to her personal persona and made her a cellphone case (so she could call her family easily) which I attached to the boas with handcuffs . . .

. . . and a photo/make-up/money bag tastefully decorated with a tiara-ed skull . . .

. . . that doubles as a merkin on the back . . .

and that’s Krissie’s Bag:

It weighs a ton–crochet this dense is not light–so I don’t think she’ll be sporting it around town, but she can use it as a desk organizer or something. Or put a potted plant in it. Damn thing will hold anything.

46 thoughts on “Happy Birthday, Krissie”

  1. It’s fabulous – as is the divine Krissie. Happy Birthday, Anne Stuart, and thanks for all the hours of reading pleasure.

  2. Awww. A gift made with such obvious love and psychosis is a gift to be treasured forever. Best bag ever. I don’t even think the hyperbole police can contradict that one.
    Happy Birthday, Krissie!

  5. Wow, a remarkable feat of ingenuity and engineering, indeed. Happy birthday, Anne Stuart. Your books are outstanding (as is your birthday bag, of course!).

  6. Terrific – amazing thought and humor and work went into that bag! Happy birthday to Krissie.

  8. Fabulous bag! I love Dee’s comment (“A gift made with such obvious love and psychosis is a gift to be treasured forever). Happy birthday, Anne! You’re so lucky to have such fabulous friends in Jenny and Lucy! And they’re lucky to have you, too!

  10. A lot of hours of love went into the making of that purse. Amazing! Happy birthday Krissie, and as others have said, thanks for the wonderful reads.

  11. Your amazing creative talents leave me in awe. That purse does everything, and has its own posse of attachments. You thought of everything!

    Happy Birthday, Krissie!

  12. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Krissie!
    The bag is awesome. Such love and engineering. If I might ask, how long did it take you to make it? Hope you are feeling better.

    1. About a month. I’d do a side and then wander off, then do another side. I put on a burst of speed once Krissie got here last week.

  14. Love the handcuffed phone attachment. That is just brilliant. Could you explain the Writer panel, please?

    Many happy returns to Krissie and to all friends and family celebrating with her!

    1. The panel is open at the top so she can put her Clairfontane tablet in there. Then there’s a pouch for supplies and a pouch for her glasses.

    1. I had to go look up merkin. I thought the term MacGuffin was origionally a merkin, which explains the confusing/ambiguous nature of the role of the MacGuffin in a plot…
      Too bad I’ll probably never get to use either word in Scrabble.

      1. I had to look up merkin too. Thanks for all the spam I’ll receiving in the near future. 🙂 A purple merkin? You know there’s a story in there somewhere…

          1. In the movie “PCU,” one of the bands referenced was called The Merkins. (Yes, I’ll watch anything. Don’t judge me.)

  16. wow, that’s awesome and I love love the thought behind each panel!

  17. Happy Birthday Krissie – how lucky you are to have friends who love you so much & know you so well. Sounds like you deserve such admiration!

  18. What a great present. I got a fab cake from my best pal for my 50th last week–and a CASE of printing paper. For my manuscripts. No pressure, right?
    Happy birthday Krissie, I hope you enjoy your gift as much as the crazy lady obviously enjoyed making it for you.
    Jenny–hope you’re all better!

  19. While I know I should go to Anne Stuart’s site to wish her a happy birthday, I’m lazy, so Happy Birthday Krissie! I also quilt so it is neat that one of the sides has pockets for stuff there. Scissors are a nice touch!

    The bag is amazing and while it probably won’t be hauled around a lot (not because of weight but to keep it from getting icky), I’m sure it will be treasured.

  20. A purple merkin? Somewhere right now Jennifer Love-Hewitt is thinking about trading in her bedazzler…

    1. considering what JLH bedazzled now I really need to look up the word merkin

  23. Tiara-ed skull… brilliant! I swoon! Quite the resplendent gift 😉

    Happiest Happy Birthday Krissie!

  25. Wow! Sometimes I forget that you are a visual artist as well as a prose one. Very cool. I’m sure she loved it.

  28. Okay I looked up merkin & I can’t even believe they have a word for that. Who? What? When? Why?

  29. I always thought that Terry Pratchett used that term as a shorthand for Americans.
    Now I’m wondering if I should feel a tad miffed.

  30. Hmmm… I can think of a couple other “personal” things she could use those handcuffs for…

    Damn. Right to the gutter for me. EVERY TIME.

    *Ahem* Very nice, Jenny. You win the friend of the month badge. You can attach it to your merkin.

  31. It sort of comforts me that I was not the only one who had to look up the word “merkin”. Before, I could not decide whether I would rather imagine it to be similar to a munchkin or a meerkat. (Or was it Philip Merkin, the British Poet Laureate?)

    Now I know it’s the cover of the Glittery Hoo-Ha. What are you going to crochet next? Did you already buy a skein of latex string?

    1. Har!! Pretty sure it was Philip Larkin. I knew someone who new him. Only two degrees of separation.

  32. That’s an amazing purse. As a desk organizer, it’s equally amazing. I love the purple boa handles! (Sadly, if I slung that over my shoulder, they would tickle me something fierce and I’d end up falling over.)

    I actually didn’t have to look up merkin, but only because I swear you’ve used that world before…or did I just dream that?

  33. Is the merkin intended to cover the glittery hoo-ha? For those formal occasions when one does not wish to glitter. 😉

  35. Absolutely fan-darn-tastic!! Much cuter than the hardsided Hello Kitty suitcase I saw in the window of a store in my neighborhood the other day. Had me thinking of the suitcase you made for Krissie last year.
    I’m wondering though – are they selling handcuffs at Kroger now, too, and if so — what aisle did you find them on?

  36. (-: Amazing . . . . I had more to say, but then I got distracted by the merkin definition, and forgot it all.

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