~~SOMETHING GOOD COMES FROM A NIGHTMARE~~

Do you hold onto stuff?? I tend too and somethings I wonder why, but this time.....sheer genius if I must say so myself.
Many, (and I do mean many) years ago, I bought this fabric and made beautiful kitchen drapes for my daughter and her husband's home.
Having bought much more than needed, I held on to the extra fabric. Now, I must confess, there were lots of times when I almost gave this fabric away to a charity and then decided at the last moment to keep it.
Boy, am I ever glad I did. I have always loved it but just couldn't decide what the heck to do with it.....
then one day I was going through my books, trying to weed out the ones I didn't use and sell them in a garage sale.
I came upon a book of projects with instructions, and low and behold, a shopping bag that was just perfect for said fabric, or so I thought!
Have you ever bought a book or pattern, tried as you will and nothing, I mean NOTHING makes any sense to you?? I even lost sleep over this bag. No matter how hard I tried, the pattern instructions had to be WRONG, JUST WRONG!!!
I used scrapes to try and make this bag the way they wanted, but no, still would not work.
So, I was thinking, why not make this bag the same way I make my holiday stockings? Oh yeah, I am on to something, what could be the difference? Both are lined and both are padded.
See? ALWAYS trust yourself, because, it worked......YIPPEE!!!

This is the lining fabric, pretty as a picture and just in time for spring.
The fabric is heavy and so getting it around the handles was not an easy task, but I did it and am in the process of creating more totes, or bags like this one.
I am proud to say that this bag is my pattern through and through, and the book??? well, lets just say it now has a price tag on it and can be located in the garage........oh yes, I am smiling from ear to ear.

Makes a great bag for sewing notions, going to the farmer's market, or just totin around.
This and more can be found on my WEBSITE.
Moral of the story, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP, you can do it.