Whatnot Bag: Create Your Own Antique

I made this bag at least a decade ago using scraps of fabric from an interior design fabric sample book I scored for under a dollar (and still have), a couple of vintage buttons, and a lot of hand embroidery. Since then, the bag has been tossing about in one handbag after another, carrying an assortment of small, loose objects. In that process it has been battered, bruised, and thoroughly well used. The inscriptions are from one of my favorite I-Ching readings.

Bag back: "You let your magic tortoise go and look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping."

Inside front pocket: "Misfortune"

What does this mean? In ancient China it was believed that the magic tortoise could fly through the sky and was able to live on nothing but air. The idea is that if you are given the ability to live on practically nothing and thrive, and you don't recognize this as a rare gift but instead complain about what you don't have, you will reap misfortune.