Tote Bag Redux

Thank you for all the wonderful comments about the Love of Home quilt!   I am humbled to have this quilt cited as an example of the generosity of our quilting community in this post by Gemma at Pretty Bobbins.  (I started following Gemma's blog for her beautiful quilting.  I recommend a stop by her weekly linky party on Thursdays where quilting technique ideas are shared.)

The gala with the silent auction was this past weekend.  I don't know specifically what the final bid for the quilt was but I do know that it went home to a wonderful family (friends of ours!) and the evening was a great success!

My little blog also got a nice shout out over on Little Island Quilting for a few of the blocks I contributed to her amazing project of making quilts for homeless kids in Mexico.   I plan to share many more of my scraps (in the form of 12.5" quilted blocks of course) with her.

Truly, I am inspired by the wonderful work so many of you do for others.  When I first started this quilting adventure two years ago, I was soothing an itch I had to learn something new and be creative.  I really didn't understand how much a handmade quilt could mean to someone.  I get it now.

On to New Business...
Last year I made my sister a bag for her birthday, Anna of Noodlehead's Super Tote Bag pattern.  She really, really loves this bag!

In hindsight, the color of the bag just wasn't right.  My sister is at "the stage of the game" (one of Mom's favorite expressions) where she is working full time (plus!), running around with all the activities associated with three busy kids, grocery shopping, etc., etc.  A darker bag would have been more practical.  I offered to make her a different bag either smaller, larger, more or less adornments but she insisted this bag was the perfect size to carry her life necessities along with her.  Therefore, here it is again.

OK, I couldn't make it completely black, I had to add a little color.  I think this black Architextures fabric looks great on this bag.  I also went a little heavier with the interfacing on this version.  I used a light weight and a craft weight interfacing on the gusset; I think this helps quite a bit to hold the shape.  Here you go, sis, a backup bag!

Linking up with Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday!


I hope you're having a good week...we're getting more snow tomorrow.  Just what we need...
Kathy