Tote bag

I have been worrying about making a tote bag for an acquaintance, Barbara, who is in the Friends of the Library and the Genealogy Club with me.  She asked me months ago about making it, and then didn't say anything more until I asked.  I thought maybe she thought it was an imposition.

Anyway, she came over a few weeks ago with some fabric she had used to make a quilt for her daughter-in-law.  She wanted me to make a tote bag out of the rest.  I wasn't wild about the fabric, but worked with it anyway.  The quilt had basket blocks and somehow she wanted baskets incorporated into the tote bag, too.  Here's what I came up with yesterday.

The smaller basket block is a pocket while the other side just has the basket motif.  It took me five hours to make this tote bag which seemed a long time.  But perhaps I just never kept track before.  And perhaps it's because I usually do things piecemeal over a few days.  And I took my time quilting it, too.

At any rate, per Barbara's request, I put a zipper at the top, and I put more pockets on the inside.  I like the way the zipper turned out, and the handles seem just the right length.  Best of all, Barabara likes it and will be taking it to Raleigh in a few weeks to give her DIL an early birthday present!