A New Tote for this Mama

Today I am 40 weeks, 1 day. Overdue. Overdue also to blog something. That baby being late is not so bad after all, because I crossed more projects off my to-sew-list than I thought. And sneaked some new ones in, too. Like this happy summer tote. It makes me smile every time I look at it: a new bag, stripes, red, yellow, turquoise.

It's made from the leftovers of IKEA Vitaminer cotton fabric that I bought for the kid's room curtains (not that I've made curtains yet, I just cut the fabric so I would have leftovers to make this bag...) Oh and YES, I felt the need for a new TOTE arise after checking out Dana's series on TOTE bags.

here's the back

and the inside...lined and with pockets. (Technically "reversible" but who would want to hide the stripes?)

I added a pocket on the outside, too.

It's boxed out.

orange kisses turquoise? Yes. please!.

FREDERIKA

Source: ikea.com via Lydia on Pinterest

This is Frederika, she is Swedish, and she lives all around the world in IKEA. When I first met her, I loved her right away, she's so cheerful and happy and colorful. I had to take her home. And I did. I sewed up every little piece of her, I couldn't let the tiniest strip go to waste. From only 2 meters she gave us tons of pillow joy.

This is a large cover that is stuffed with 3 old couch back pillows.

It has an opening on the side so I can take it off for washing. It's basically made like a regular pillowcase, just with the opening on the long side, and than divided into 3 equal parts.

with the leftovers I made 2 cushions for little chairs...

I love how the large print works on the little square.

and the leftovers from that became little pillows - I mean doll size.

I like how the round one turned out. And some members of the family love the pillow fight quality of these.