A while ago, we were riding the bike somewhere and happened to come across a cloth bag lying on the street. It was wet and dirty and had been driven over multiple times, and we picked it up and brought it home. As you do.
It was mostly white afterwards. Mostly, with a few sots still on there. It also had a hole.
Some time later, I was dyeing a few t-shirts (with modern dye, in the washing machine...) and there was still dyeing space left, so in went the bag.
It came out spotty, but in a nicer colour. So... there's still that hole, right?
I was thinking about just stitching it up. Then I was thinking about sewing a contrast colour patch on it. And that, somehow, transformed into...
The design is inspired by a medieval manuscript marginal drawing of a cat, yes, licking its ass. Unfortunately I don't know exactly what manuscript this is from, but I don't really care too much about that at the moment - it's a cotton bag, it will be cotton embroidery, I'm not really transferring the thing exactly, and people won't (probably, hopefully) ask me all the time where the motif is from. (I do get that question a lot with some of the more historical sample things I drag around with me, and it's completely understandable that this happens - I know the source for these, of course.)
The hole, in case you haven't spotted it, is right on the nose of the cat...