I’m ready to start shopping!
Ha, no I am not … but my long-handled, roomy Christmas shopping tote is! This is one of the projects I set aside to work on this summer while I have my sewing room partially packed up. It feels good to be getting these neglected projects finished off.
For a handful of reasons, I made this tote bag up a couple years ago. I got ahead of myself and didn’t quilt the layers of the quilt square before I finished assembling the bag. Which is fine, for a while anyway. But this bag proved itself worthy during that year’s shopping — it holds a LOT of stocking stuffers — and so I felt the need to put a little more work into it so it would last a long time.
I started by stitching the top edge in place finally. This really helps a bag to keep itself in shape.
Since it is darned near impossible to machine quilt on a completed tote bag, and I didn’t have the patience to do hand quilting inside the bag either, I opted for tying the layers together. But my ties just happen to contain buttons!
I think it adds some character and some dimension, and I like them :) They’re all different. It was fun choosing them out of my jar of mixed buttons.
There are a few camouflaged ties in the green holly print, tied inside the bag, to give yet more support to the batting inside the quilt square layers.
And now I am done. This can be put away until Christmas shopping season arrives.
I hope I can find it then!
Gail
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