NOT a quilt

My friend Alyson has a purse that makes me jealous. It's a nice big homemade tote bag that a Colorado friend gave her in exchange for babysitting services. And it's adorable. She generously allowed me to turn it inside out, check out seams, and discover its construction.

It turns out that making a tote bag is a quick and simple project. In the time it took Luke to watch a BBC wildlife special I had whipped up my very own sweet tote bag/purse complete with a pocket! I used a combination of a free Denyse Schmidt pattern I found online and a tote pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. Oh and I traced the applique design from a pillow pattern in Applique Your Way. (I promise I'm not name dropping, I'm just trying to give credit where it is due).