Lunch Tote

My parents came out for a weekend visit (my mom is doing much better!) and we made the most of every minute. My dad worked his tail off fixing things around the house ( and doing some much needed clean-up as well!) and my mom and I spent the weekend shopping and crafting. I'm still not nearly where I'd like to be shopping-wise, but I feel like I made a dent in it. In between, we spent a lot of time laughing with the kids and eating and drinking. And of course, watching Christmas videos. "You'll shoot your eye out!"

My mom loved all the different fleeces at Hancock's and picked out some great colors to make one of those tied blankets. We knocked that out this afternoon in about an hour and a half. I wanted to make my niece a little tote bag to carry the books I bought her but when I found a pattern for a lunch bag, I changed course. This is what I came up with:



The fabric is an embroidered denim I found on clearance at JoAnn's and the lining is a pink/white quilt fabric. I dusted off my embroidery machine (and manual!) to put her name on the bag.

I made a couple modifications to the pattern. I lined it and added a handle. If I did it over again, I would use two pieces of velcro for the closure to make it seal a little better. And I didn't realize until well after I was completely finished that I was supposed to sew the crease in each side to define the sides. Oh well, it is adorable as h*ll if I do say so myself. Even my 14 yr old son thought it was cute.