City Weekend Pinwheels and a Diaper Bag

I snuck outside today to take a few quick pictures of the quilt top I finished a week or so ago. I really love this fabric line and I look forward to seeing what the blogosphere does with it. Yardage hits the stores this month.

Yet another quilt top that needs to be quilted, now added to the pile.

This week I worked on Anna Maria Horner's Multi-Tasker tote. I had the pattern and fabric for over a year but I felt uninspired. I feared that the bag would be too big and maybe wasn't all that attractive. But along came the motivation - a dear friend had a baby in July and I felt the need to make her a much better purse than the one she received from me a few years ago. (What progress I've made compared to that shapeless sack I unfortunately gave to her.)

So this bag totally kicked my butt and it shouldn't have. Life most bag patterns- you make the lining first. I only skimmed through the directions because I have made many bag linings and didn't think this was any different. Imagine my shock when at 10:30 on Wednesday night, after having sewn the exterior of the bag to the lining (and clipping the curves on the seam allowance) - I couldn't get the inside of the bag to lay flat - it was EXTREMELY lumpy and full of extra fabric. Long story short, I did the lining TOTALLY wrong and there was no salvaging it. I had to use a plain white lining amidst some recent yard sale fines as a replacement.

This bag is easy to make if you follow the directions and it is a deceptively clever design. I had no idea that the exterior of the bag has 4 built in pockets - it is really a great pattern for a diaper bag. Despite my troubles, I am very happy with how it turned out.

Noelani- I assume you are too busy on your travels right now to be reading this - but if you are - surprise! This one is coming to you.