Remember this?

This was the canvas that our STASH group painted in July when we met at Gerrie's. As you can see it was quite thoroughly painted! When it was dry Gerrie cut it into 6 equal pieces. At our next meeting we each randomly picked one of the pieces and our challenge has been to make something using our piece. My piece was the lower right hand corner as you see the canvas above. It looked like this:

It had possibilities, but lacked a certain cohesiveness. OK, let's be honest. It was pretty gross. However, our rules allowed that we could add more paint, so I did. Then I made a large tote bag and incorporated it into the bag as a big side pocket/decorative panel on one side.

I started by painting most of the white bits of canvas that showed through yellow which helped to unify it. Then I obliterated that disturbing mouth-like image in the lower left. Taking a cue from the existing white dots down the right side, I added more white paint to the sun-like area.

I seem to find myself carrying rolled up quilts to meetings and such on a regular basis and I needed a taller tote bag than I had. So that was my inspiration for the size and shape. I made it from a heavy nylon fabric and used nylon webbing for the handles that wrap under the bag and secure the edges of the pocket. When I got it finished it was pretty floppy and shapeless, so I am in the process of adding a lining with batting fused to it, which I can already see gives it more shape and body. And that canvas panel? To my great surprise, I love it!