Beware: Pixie Messenger Bags found in the woods

Pixies have been leaving their little messenger bags in the woods behind my house!

This is the bag that every stylish Pixie grabs before she sets out on one of her troublemaking adventures!  Inside is an official Pixie Journal where the little trickster plots her fiendish schemes.

 

A little secret... I am totally obsessed with my own version of pixies, which I call O’Pixies.  I have an entire fictional world constructed (in my mind and in my notebooks) about the O’Pixies Universe, including details for each of the six tribes that I created.  The little people are complicated and at times dark…

The O’Pixies take up such a large place in my imagination that it is almost hard to sort out all of the projects, stories and items that I want to create for them. It is actually overwhelming!  I will write more about the O’Pixies as the project continues, but for now, here are some of their tiny bags.

The Pixie Messenger Bags are a version of the my Ornamental Joy - Tiny Handbags pattern, the same pattern that I've used to make Mrs. Claus' Date Night Handbag and many other types of little wool purses.  I knit them and then felt them in the washing machine. 

I’ve made dozens of Ornamental Joy bags in various versions over the years. I've sold most of them at Center Fest in Durham or at my OJ Designs partner Juline’s Arts Education conferences.  They are a quick, fun way to use of scraps of yarn and other embellishments like beads and buttons.  Some people use them as Christmas ornaments, but I keep them around all through the year.

For these Pixie Messenger Bags, I embroidered little wool/rayon felt cloud faces and used a pastel pencil to give them rosy cheeks.  I embroidered around the handles in silver DMC floss.

I especially like the little snouty nose on this cloud’s face.

A proper tutorial is in the works for my blog.  The pattern was originally published in String Thing Theory, which my fiber arts group String Thing published on lulu.com, but if anyone wants a copy of the pattern, please just let me know and I'm happy to send it. It is super simple.

But, be very careful with O’Pixies. They have a dangerous streak. Next to the little bags I found piles of tiny bones, some hair that looked suspiciously like Rico's and at least one tooth that was decidedly human. That is all I’m going to say.