Oh. I wish I'd thought of this before.

Dear Donk,

Remember that I GIVE UP moment at Hancock's I had last year during the making of the placemats and napkins? Where I ended up buying some mostly butt-ugly (to me anyway) striped fabric to match the mostly awesomely adorable (to me anyway) butterfly fabric? Oh, and let's not even mention that heinous hand-painted floral fabric. GAG.

Anyway, yes. I found a purpose for that leftover yard (!) of pink striped fabric and that purpose was this Tri-Pocket Ticking Tote.

Let me just say, bless you for choosing this as the project (and not only because we're running out of good projects in this book, whatever) and also for deciding we should be making this bag for others because:

1. I wanted to make this bag
2. Until you said make it for someone else you selfish whore (I added that last part in my head) I couldn't justify making another bag just because it was cute and I wanted it

Yes, even the depths of my childish desires have limits.

So, even though the pink stripey fabric wasn't "ticking" or "canvas" or any of the other very-specific-for-no-good-reason fabrics that the book called for, I had a yard of it I wanted to dispose of, the stripes would work well for the pattern and I happen to have a goddaughter who likes pink and green so there.

Well, I assume she likes pink and green, but who really knows what kids like? Certainly not me. I'm the one who gave a hand-knitted angora bunny to a newborn. What am I, simple? Anyway.

I'm not going to get into the exact number of times I didn't follow the pattern properly because we'd be here all day and you'd disown me as a friend, but let's say that while this is probably the simplest project in the whole wide world, my mind was preoccupied with the fact that it was 95 degrees outside and since we don't have A/C, I was doing this project while standing over a steaming iron in my house that was no less than 90 degrees inside, which resulted in a lot of DAMMIT and then seam ripping and then the use of stitch witchery which is not called for anywhere in the pattern. And then I ended up ripping out the stitch witchery and going in a whole different direction altogether.

Long story short, I forgot to sew seams on the tops of all the pockets at the outset and had to go back and sew them in once the tote was sewn together.

Yes, imagine that scenario, will you?

*Sigh* It's amazing I can put on pants.

At the end of this process, which I estimate took 50 times longer than it should have, I had a cute little library tote for Emma, Goddaughter to the Stars which I shall gift to her filled with some of my favorite childhood books and maybe a coloring book or something at a future gift-giving holiday.

These books are for demonstration purposes only and will not be gifted.
Thankyouverymuch.

Or maybe I will just hold on to it for a while (her birthday's not until April and I already have something for her for Christmas) and let it hang from the hook on my bookshelf as is since it's currently holding (and separating nicely) gifts I'm collecting for friend's birthdays.

Which is a nice idea. I mean, who couldn't use a Gifts to Give Bag, right? See, there's the reason I could have used to make this bag for myself. Anyway, too late now. I'm out of ugly striped fabric.



xo,
Finny