Love is in the bag!

So it's been awhile since I've sat down at the sewing machine. There's been a number of reasons - of course I was away for 2 weeks and upon returning home I was met with a couple of personal incidents that will more than likely have some lasting effects and may change my life in more ways than one. Having to deal with the fall-out from this has caused my fibromyagia to flare up terribly. So at best I'm getting about 4 good hours out of each day.
And I've also been remiss because the project that I had before me was a difficult one. As many of you know, I  try to salvage peoples cherished items. I was approached by Bev, who had a dear friend who lost her husband in a tragic work place accident. She has held onto his favorite suede jacket for many years. Bev commissioned me to use the jacket to make a handbag for her friends upcoming birthday. Well, this project really threw me off kilter - firstly because I hadn't met the person for whom the bag was to be designed. Secondly it was the situation itself that kind of staggered me. And thirdly because Bev told me her friend  doesn't ordinarily carry a purse!!
I spent many hours pouring over the design of the jacket so that I could best utilize it. Why I didn't take a picture of it is beyond me - sorry! I'm still new at this whole sharing thing! I didn't have alot to work with as far as design ideas - Bev didn't want a cross body bag and she wanted me to use the jacket lining which was a beautiful satin, to line the bag. She and I poured through my photo album of bags I've designed and she decided this one would be a good shape and size but without the ruffle detailing.

I kind of felt that if she didn't carry a purse she probably wouldn't want anything too feminine or anything too large.
So after many hours of thought - I grabbed my scissors and began the task of dissecting the beloved jacket. I must have re-worked this design a dozen times in my head, which is normally not at all my process. I usually contemplate the over-all design of the article and work to keep as many elements as possible, pockets, zippers, buttons, etc and from this, a design is born!
Why was this such a stumbling block for me? - I think because I envisioned how much this jacket had originally meant to someone. And then how much it had come to mean to someone else. I haven't had to design based around such emotion before. I felt that this bag needed to be just right - it needed to reflect love and life and the spirit of two people who's lives it ensnared. I finished the bag last night and I still didn't feel that I'd accomplished what I'd intended and it wasn't until I'd slept on it that it hit me what was lacking.
LOVE. Plain and simple. Love. Even though I'd treated that jacket with the love and respect it deserved. I wasn't feeling it. Because I'm not meant to.  It's not about me or evoking feelings or emotions from me. I can't intrude on the relationship formed by these two people. All I can do is what is asked of me. My hope is that this bag will be passed from generation to generation and that the love and sentiment that surrounds it will always be apparent. And with that said this is what I came up with -

The metal tags read "Live" and "Love".