Little Sister's Tote and the Woes of "Knowing what You're Doing"..........

The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins. -Bob Moawad

Well it's done and I am sure she is going to love it! This is the front of the bag..........

There are 2 pockets on this side--a smaller one on the left side just under the flying geese and a larger one that starts at the left side of the Teacher's frame and extends to include the flying geese on the right.  I tacked the top of it down so it wouldn't sag but you can still slip larger items into that side.............

And here is the back.......no pockets on this side........just the teacher and a row of books.............

I know I keep saying this but I just love the Loralie panels!
Oh yes.............what about those woes you might ask???
Well the tote is my own design..........I just looked at some patterns (and the tote my Sis made me) to see what size to cut the back and front because I knew more or less what I wanted to do with it.........
and since I have been sewing for years ( and "know what I'm doing").........sometimes I get a little ahead of myself or maybe do things a little backwards.....or inside out???..........Here is my first attempt at sandwiching my stabilizer between the pocket and pocket backing:

Nice.........if I wanted the stabilizer to be the backing and the backing to be the stabilizer......................(where is that seam ripper???)
Ok then I wanted to be sure the tote straps were on before I sewed the pocket on......so I did that..........but instead of sewing each handle to one side of the bag I sewed them from one side to the other..........(no I didn't undo it all because I had sewed them down with LOTS of decorative stitching........the straps have a seam at the top of them)
And as if that wasn't enough..........after I basted the pocket down so that I wouldn't have any puckers when I sewed the bottom and sides together I realized it was sewn too low and would become part of the bottom of the bag instead..........(Paging Mr. Seam Ripper to aisle 1)

Finally after all my little fiascos......the bag was finished.........I might add a little embroidery to personalize it before sending it.........BTW......my little sister is a Kindergarten teacher............

Oh!..........I had some luck yesterday..........I had to attend an inservice at work.......about Leadership........and there were some door prizes ranging from movie tickets to the grand prize which was a book written by Ken Blanchard (it was the book from which our inservice was based ).........and I won the book so after reading it I will know "The Secret"................

and I'd really like to tell you about it when I'm done

..........But It's A Secret

TaTa For Now!