241 Tote

Sometimes when I see a pattern, I like it, but I'm not sure if I love it and absolutely need to make it. That happened to me with Noodlehead's 241 Tote.  Yes, I thought it was a nice shape and a good size, but did I really need yet another bag? Well, I didn't think I did. That is, until I went off to Sewing Summit, where I saw a bunch of 241 totes. If I had to guess, I'd say I saw 10, maybe a few more. I was convinced.

I ordered the pattern, thank goodness it's an instant downlaod, and I started to sew. I decided I'd do it quilt-as-you-go style. I kind of wanted to audition the technique, since that's how I'm planning to do my Weekender. The pattern for that baby arrived today actually, which means if I get going on it, I might actually be able to get in on the prize action in The Long Weekend Blog Hop.

One thing I like about quilt-as-you-go is that you can use scraps. It's not the saving money part or the actual making use of scraps, if you saw my scrap bins you'd know I'm not good at using them. It's the bits and pieces of other projects and even places that are all tied up in one project.

The green/blue/yellow Amy Butler fabric at the top of the bag was in my swag bag from Sewing Summit. The grey pieced strip underneath it came from a charm swap. The dark blue print under it is from the bag I made for Purse Palooza. I can go on and on, naming each project the fabric was originally in. I get a warm fuzzy feeling from stuff like that.

See the awesome Melody Miller typewriter? That came to me from Allegory who gave me a huge scrap pack a while ago.

There's even a little patch pocket inside. I bought the fabric from Material Girls Quilts while on the Sewing Summit shop hop! At the time, I had no idea what I'd use it for. Who knew it would make the perfect pocket?

My verdict on this pattern?

LOVE!