Four November bags are finished!

For November I made four bags to donate to Rebecca's nonprofit bookstore: In Other Words (in Portland, Oregon). They can sell these at the store and donate the money to the store (which always needs money!) These four bags are made from quilted place mats from Morocco. Each bag is made of two two matching, solid colored, quilted place mats. First I sewed pockets on them so there are big, roomy pockets on each outside surface of the tote. Then I sewed black cotton webbing on to secure the edges of the pockets and also become the handles. I found this pattern on the Internet, but it did not include a lining. I wanted to add a lining. So I made a fabric lining the same dimensions of the tote, and sewed it in as the final step. For the blue bag I used the same fabric for the lining and the outside pockets. But for the other three bags I had to use different fabrics for the pockets.

Here is the orange tote, showing the different fabric for the lining:

The bags were fun to make and fairly easy. But even so, each one has at least one big flaw so I am afraid that they will not bring in much money for the bookstore. I am also not sure if we will fill them with anything, because that would add to their cost and I think that might prevent them from being sold. I'll consult with Rebecca when I see her at Thanksgiving in a few weeks.

The placemats have a very tight quilting pattern (they came that way) and it makes for a nice looking bag. I tried out the blue one (which I made last month) and it worked very well as a tote for papers and a laptop at a meeting I attended in DC last month.

One of the nice things about this project is that it used up some very old pieces of fabric from my stash, which were used as lining an pockets. They came from a box of fabrics that Rebecca labeled "Browns and crap colors" when she sorted and organized fabrics for me three years ago. These fabrics were bought early in my career as a quilter and do look quite different from the colorful French and batik fabrics I tend to favor these days. But I must admit, they look very nice as linings and pickets of the quilted tote bags.

It pleases me to see the four bags hanging on my fabric board, and to know that they are finished except for cutting a few stray threads. I am eager to make my December bag or bags, which will be donated to a fundraiser for People in Wheelchairs. This was suggested by my quilting friend. I had bought some colorful woven placemats in Mexico last year, and I want to make these into tote bags. They are different from the placemats Iturned into the February bag. I will have fun figuring out how to turn those into attractive totes, and Eileen will fill at least one with products from Mexico for the silent auction.