Design Wall Monday on Tuesday 7/6/10

It was such a busy 4-day weekend but I didn't seem to accomplish much other than this tote bag for Mom's pending trip to Ireland. Do you think the oppressive heat had anything to do with it? Today's high was expected to be 94F and the rest of the week will be in the 90s as well. Last summer we had ONE day in the 90s. I know we aren't as hot as DC but I live in an rural area that doesn't normally have AC. Thankfully my house is generally 10-15 degrees cooler than outside.

Anyway, this bag is a copy of the Wizard of Oz bag I made but with one long handle to go over a shoulder and 3 interior pockets for Mom's "stuff." I again used texture magic for the red bottom and quilted multiple crosshatch patterns so that some areas were denser than others leaving a really nice texture. You can see that I started with a 19 by 27" piece of red and texture magic that covered most of my ironing board but ended with a much smaller piece (that I forgot to measure...sorry!). I find the steaming part very tedious, especially with a heavy iron full of water. I do however love the final result and it's very worth the expense and effort. I noticed that this red piece shrank a lot more than the yellow for the other tote - is that due to the quilting pattern or because this is newer (and improved?) textureMagic?

(quilted)                                 (steamed)

There's no place like home...

Mom and Dad are going to Ireland soon ... Mom wants a big tote bag to carry all her "essentials" and purchases. We picked out a pattern and fabric at the LQS - the pattern uses Texture Magic. And that's when I saw the yellow brick road fabric. I like the Wizard of Oz but I can't say I go gaga over it; I just couldn't resist making a practice tote with these fabrics...

And it was a good thing I made a practice tote - the directions are for two sizes of totes, with the larger cutting sizes in parenthesis. I didn't realize I cut the main fabric too small short until it was too late. The finished size is usable but more of the characters would  have been visible if I had cut them 3" larger like I should have. I'm going home to highlight the large size cutting directions so I don't goof again.

Mom wants one sturdy strap to cross over her body and inner pockets, possibly with invisible zippers. It's a cute pattern and I won't mind making one for mom and maybe more...