My new bags, part two

Hi There,

Last week I made some bags and I was having so much fun that I ended up making four of them.  I talked about the first two bags last week, you can read about them here.  I finished the last two yesterday and here is the third bag. 

 

You can't tell from the picture that the handles are navy blue. I have had these blue leather handles for sometime, but couldn't find a place to use them until now. I think they match the border of the crazy quilt block that I appliqued on the front really well. I hope you can see the interior, I have a loop to hang a key chain. I like that because I always have to dig out my keys when I need them. Having a place to hang them, I know exactly where they are. I put the loop in with the side seam of the lining. I also made a roomy inside pocket for my big phone too.

I used left over triangles from the other bag to decorate the pocket and purposely made the design asymmetrical just for fun.  Sometimes I was so obsessed with being perfect in sewing 1/4" seam, in placing my blocks and other things quilting related, so much that crooked things bothered me.  I think it's because of all those years of doing auto/furniture upholstery.  There is a lot of top stitching in auto upholstery and crooked lines are not tolerated.  We had to make every seam and every line perfect.  Now I can't help but examine the seams of car interiors, or pieces of furniture.  I will never buy anything that has a crooked seam.  I know it's weird, but that's me.  All in all I have to thank my upholstery teacher who trained me so well and gave me the foundation that I can apply to quilting.  Do you have this obsession?  Do crooked seams bother you?  

My last bag for this week is another tote bag.  I decided to piece the front of the bag using a crazy quilt block.  The front has a simple and minimalist look which I like.

I liked the idea of a key chain loop, so I put it in this bag too.  This time I sewed it on at the bag opening.  I want to see how this would work compare to the loop sewn to the side of the lining.

This break has been good for me.  I'm very happy with the way all the bags turned out.  I'll put two of them in my yearly Holiday boutique along with the other bags that I already had, and I plan to give away couple of them as gifts.  I found that while I was taking a break and worked on different things, my mind was more relaxed.  Now I'm ready to continue with what I was working on. 

Have a fun and productive week!