Colorful Totes

The first finish this week is called "Tidal Flats."  It's a late Christmas/early birthday gift for my MIL's twin sister.  I made an almost identical one for my MIL, which I'll post below.

The pattern I used is the "10 Strip Wonder Bag" by Suzanne Sievers' Designs.  I picked it and the Bali pop jelly roll of fabric up at one of the local quilt shops in town.

Full view of "Tidal Flats."

Side view of "Tidal Flats."

Full view of "Sandpiper Through the Water."

Side view of "Sandpiper Through the Water."

 As you can see, they are almost identical, save for the top row of fabrics being reversed in order and I used a different color of thread for the top-stitching along with a different decorative stitch.  Honestly it didn't feel right making one of these for one sister and not the other.  Especially when both of them love spending time on the beach and travel as much as possible.

My second finish this week is a bag for the girl FH's brother is engaged to.  She's a lot of fun to hang around with and I've turned her into a stitcher, so a pretty tote bag would be quite useful.  The fabrics for hers came from the same Bali pop as the twins' bags.  However the prints are lighter and more green and yellow.  In fact they made me think of snake skin and foliage, which is perfect since she keeps snakes as pets.  (For those concerned, the snakes are non-venomous and she used to work as the manage of an exotic pet shop.)  I call this one, "Snakes In the Trees."

"Snakes In the Trees," full view.

Button detail on "Snakes In the Trees."

Decorative stitching detail.

 There were a total of 40 strips of fabric in that Bali pop.  As the name states, you need 10 per bag.  The last bag from this Bali pop will be mine.  I'm hoping to have it finished as my project for next week.  It's pieced already, leaving the quilting and assembly. 

From the same pattern I also my a tote bag for my best girl-friend, who is a busy ICU nurse.  She loves the bright lime green that's en vogue again, and I'd bought these fabric strips with her in mind.  Personally I find the colors a little on the "eye-bleedingly bright" side, but she loves this bag.  This was an earlier finish, as it was her Christmas gift, but I thought I'd share anyway.  Oh and FH picked out the button for this one.  If you poke the picture on the right, you'll see I used two colors of thread on the top-stitching.  The regular quilting is done in blue whilst the decorative stitching in the narrow strip of blue is done in green.

"Super Groovy Tote," full view.

"Super Groovy Tote," close up of button and decorative stitching.

That's it for the first week of January.  I'm hoping to have my bag finished for next week.  I've also got a piece that I finished right after Christmas to show you.  See you next week!

**And in case you missed yesterday's post regarding the past year and new posting schedule, you may want to pop over here and take a look.