Not for the faint of heart!

This is the Professional Tote by The Creative Thimble.  I made this back in February.   

I purchased this pattern at a quilt show at least 6 years ago!  I loved the sample that the vendor had, it was so cute and had SO many pockets, a zip top and looked so - not - home - made!  (Not that there is anything wrong with home made!)  The problem was the directions scared the heck out of me!  I would open up the pattern package and see the cutting labels (18+) to put on all the pieces, everything rotary cut and then the sewing directions were 13 pages long - I was scared to start!  One day, I told myself I couldn't buy anymore purse/tote patterns till I actually made up some of the patterns I already had.  I had become a purse/tote pattern collector - almost in need of a file cabinet!  I think this was one of the oldest pattern in my stash, and one of the hardest so why not start on that?  I dug around in my stash and found this cute flip flop fabric - I had about 3 yards so even if I screwed up I could re-cut any parts that needed to be replaced.  I think it took me 3 days to finish this tote - this is the reason I say not for the faint of heart - it's not a quick project, but really not hard and a very good pattern!  The directions are very good - just take it one step at a time like I did and the results are very nice.  I think the only thing I don't like is the interfacing used - decor bond, which is not really bad - I just hate that it wrinkles so much.  It's not noticeable on this tote because of the black background.           

Thanks to everyone who left nice comments on my 1st post  - I have lots of other projects to share so keep checking back!  I'm not sure how often I will post yet - we will see how it goes!

Have a great Monday!!!