Professional Tote 2

I finished the Professional Tote I wrote about in an earlier blog. The pattern is amazing!  It is extremely clever and well put together. I did not have one issue with the instructions. Every time I was supposed to match another piece together, in my head I was like sure this is going to fit--and every time it did! It was amazing! There are so many pieces...it must have taken a very long time to make this pattern. I am an intermediate sewer and believe any sewer who has a pattern or two under his/her belt could manage this pattern. Don't worry...I was not working on it the entire time since I last posted---other projects and deadlines got in the way. I have already started another Professional Tote to give to my mother for Christmas..I will be sure to post it when I finish. So I am sure you are all dying to see the pictures so here they are!

I also had a chance to get the coasters done for the table settings I posted about before. These coasters were as pleasurable to make as the place settings and the whole set together is going to look amazing on my mother's kitchen table. I highly recommend this pattern as well. It is by Deborah Vollbracht of Creative Folk Quilting. As you can see, they are reversible. I put three of them on the other side so you can see this. And guess what the best part is??  The coaster pattern is free! Click on the website link for Creative Folk Quilting I have above and check it out for yourself!

The Professional Tote Bag

I finished cutting my materials for  The Professional Tote by The Creative Thimble. The fabric and embroidery I am using is so exciting and different! I cannot wait to get started and let you know how it goes. It seems to be a pretty involved bag (check out the description here to see all the cool things the Professional Tote can do) so I will keep you posted on how hard certain steps are or if the going is easy. I can say right now that the cutting went quickly--the layout diagrams were extremely easy to follow and the labels for which pattern piece you are cutting are very helpful. I also added embroidery to key places—you can see I am really personalizing this to my crazy tastes!  The monogram embroidery will be the front pocket. (I digitized this design myself using a font called Moonstar) The vampyr embroidery is for the travel strap that you can use to put the bag over the handle of wheeling luggage.(This design came from Urban Threads, but I tweaked it by removing the leaves and the E and the end of Vampyr...there is no E!)

The skull damask design is for the back pocket. (This design is from Embroidery Library)

I’m so excited to see how this bag will turn out! I started this bag last night at my Sewing Circle and my friend started cutting her bag out. She is using Michael Miller Fairy Frost fabrics in the most gorgeous lavender and purple!  So beautiful...if I make another of this bag I'm definitely going with Fairy Frost fabrics. Probably in yellows and corals.  (I used Fairy Frost fabrics on the table settings I showed you on an earlier blog, the green and the gold, but I chose the few Fairy Frost's that have glitter overlaid on them. Most of the Fairy Frost's just have the beautiful sheen without the actual glitter on them.)

So as a result of last nights sewing circle, I have included pictures of the front and backs of the bag which is as far as I got. It seems to be going along pretty quickly, and I haven't had a single tough spot in the directions so far. I am pleased as punch!