A Quilt as You Go Tote

I realized I haven't blogged yet about the tote bag I made last month for the Sewing Summit! At the very last minute, as I was running around stressed out, trying to get everything done for my class, packed, kids ready for me to leave town...I decided I just needed to make a handmade bag for my trip. I didn't have time to make a Weekender like everyone else, but I knew I could make a Jane Market Bag. I've had this pattern for awhile and the totes are so easy to put together. They hold a lot of stuff and make great teacher gifts. *hint* *hint*

I decided to make a quilt as you go (QAYG) version. This technique is fairly new to me. Recently some of us made quilt blocks for a special quilt for Penny with QAYG and I fell in love right away. It takes awhile, but wow is it worth it! You can find a tutorial for QAYG in the form of a quilt along here.

I made a couple changes to the bag (both intentional and not). First, the bag is about 1" smaller all the way around. That was the unintentional change. I should have started my QAYG with a larger piece of batting. Opps! That's ok though, the bag still works great.

The second change was I left off the outside pockets. Because I was QAYGing, I didn't want those to take away from the look of the sides. I also left out the option for a flat bottom (made with interfacing or cardboard). I like my tote bags all floppy like.

I highly recommend this bag pattern. It's very easy, even for beginners and the bag comes together very quickly. And you never can have too many bags!