It's in the BAG!

Massive pats on the back to myself for tackling a new skill. I finished my tote as you can see here:

Here is a close-up of the quilting and the red pindot lining fabric:Biggest lesson learned: Pay close attention to measurements of lining vs. measurements of bag... I ended up with about four yards (or so it seems) of extra fabric in the liner. It's all baggy and wrinkley but goodness, it's mine! Unfortunately what was meant to be a beach bag has turned very quickly into a diaper bag-looking thing. Oh well. I think I'll hang it from a knob in my sewing room to add color. Afterall, it is a historic part of my quilt-making as it is both my first bag and my first attempts at free-motion quilting.

On to bigger and better bags! While at the big Sewing and Quilting Expo in Atlanta a couple of months ago, I purchased a bag pattern that caught my eye. This is another Melly & Me pattern. You may recall the adorable plush elephant Ellie that I made for a friend's new baby. That was made from a Melly & Me pattern. There must be something about their designs that draw me in! Here is their Meadow bag pattern and I could not be more thrilled with how easy it was:

You may have noticed that it is lacking the handles. I ran out of fusible fleece so I have to wait until I can get more tomorrow. As it is 11:30pm here, it's not happening today. The only question I have for you more experienced bag makers is this: the fusible fleece has gotten a bit wrinkley on the main bottom fabric of the bag. Is there a fix for this?

And you'll be happy to note that I have learned from my lining mistake and the liner on this looks much better:

So there we are. Well, only 3 more days of school for my big boy kindergartner. In the meantime his siblings are loving their summer fun without him: