Texas Totes

I have a sister in law that lives in The Netherlands. She loves it there in her little town of Schoorl, but she occasionally misses the crap out of Texas. Her birthday is coming up, so I made her a couple of my tote bags (tutorial here) to send her. You know how the reusable bags at the grocery are starting to catch on here in the states? Well, it is hardcore over there. If you don't have one with you then you buy one if you want to take your purchases home. Needless to say, you can't have enough bags there!

It is so dang cute!

Only thing better than one is two!

I used my weird cow skull fabric as my lining on both of these. It worked out perfectly. I had one yard each of both the lining and outer fabric and it made to great sized bags.

I used a plain red fabric from my scrap bin to make the handles. I started with eight inch wide strips and made the handles extra thick. I love the white top stitching on them!

Check out this fabric. It is part of last year's Quilt Across Texas line from Moda. I loved this one so much I bought a yard last year with my sister in law in mind. I have been sitting on it trying to scheme the best thing to make of it. I'm so glad I finally cut into it! Texas is kind of a proud state, and I think that pride is multiplied by the number of miles between Texas and The Netherlands for my sister in law. I hope she likes them!

Of course I did put them in the mail today, and that gives them five days to get there...oops. Better late than never!

Super naughty confession time: I was finishing these up when the Mister came in. He said they were cute and she would love them, blah, blah, blah. Then the temptation started to keep one for myself. What is it with me??? 

Me: I am tempted to keep one, but I have got to start sending people the gifts I make them....right?

Him: Yes.

Me: Mean!!!

So above is a picture of my assistant napping with the quilt we made that never got sent to the recipient and the bag that nearly became part of our collection. In the end I sent the bag, but that dog is still napping on the quilt. :-)